20 Years of Chicago Film Archives

In celebration of Chicago Film Archives' 20th year, the CFA has put together a cavalcade of short silent films that they have photochemically preserved over the past two decades, many of which have never screened in public before. CFA is a regional film archive with a focus on collections representing midwestern lives and filmmakers. These films, all made in Illinois, are a snapshot of the wide variety of filmmaking practices and styles that flourished right here in the Midwest during the 20th century. Featuring Carmen (unknown, 1926), Hands Across the City (John H. Matthews, 1935), Chicago in Black-and-White (Helen Morrison, 1939), Camera on Chicago (Warren E. Thompson, 1940-83), Beauty and the Beast (JoAnn Elam, 1973), Disintegration Line #1 (Larry Janiak, 1960), and The City (Maurice Bailen, 1961). 

With live piano accompaniment by David Drazin for selected films. 

The program will include: 

Chicago in Black-and-White 

circa 1939, Helen Morrison, 16mm, 2 min 

A portrait of the wintry streets of 1930s Chicago, shot by Helen Balfour Morrison. Morrison was already an accomplished art photographer when she began working with motion picture film. This is one of three surviving films from her earliest years as a filmmaker; all have been preserved by CFA. 

This film is part of CFA's Morrison-Shearer Collection and was preserved from the 8mm reversal original in 2024 with funding from members of CFA's board. 

Camera on Chicago 

1940–1983, Warren E. Thompson, 16mm, 34 min 

A "love letter to the city” from Chicago native and amateur filmmaker Warren E. Thompson, assembled from footage shot in Chicago over multiple decades. 

This film is part of CFA's Warren Thompson Collection and was preserved from the original 16mm reversal workprint in 2019 with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation. 

Learn more: https://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/preservation/view/camera-on-chicago-1983-and-on-the-shores-of-lake-michigan-1948/ 

Carmen 

circa 1926, unknown filmmaker, 35mm, 4 min 

Legendary Chicago choreographer Ruth Page arranged multiple versions of Carmen, and this film likely records a 1926 performance of her earliest arrangement of it at Ravinia Opera in Highland Park, where it was set to music from Georges Bizet's opera. 

This film is part of CFA's Ruth Page Collection and was preserved from an original 35mm nitrate print in 2012 with funding from the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Learn more: https://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/preservation/view/carmen-1926-bolero-1928/ 

Hands Across the City 

1935, John H. Matthews, 35mm, 15 min 

A sponsored film made for the "Hands Across the City" fundraising campaign by the Peoria Community Fund Association, showing how various Peoria agencies care for vulnerable populations. 

This film is part of CFA's Charles E. Krosse Collection and was preserved from an original 35mm nitrate print in 2021 with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation. 

Learn more: https://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/preservation/view/three-1930s-films-out-of-peoria/ 

Beauty and the Beast 

circa 1973, JoAnn Elam, 16mm, 12 min 

In this film by Chicago experimental and documentary filmmaker JoAnn Elam, images of a shadow puppet play, intermittent rapid editing, and sweeping shots of a farm, dogs playing outside, plants, kitchens, and interiors provide a naturalistic portrait of peaceful spaces and friends. 

This film is part of CFA's JoAnn Elam Collection and was preserved from the 8mm reversal original in 2020 with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation. 

Learn more: https://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/preservation/view/four-short-films-by-joann-elam/ 

Disintegration Line #1 

1960, Larry Janiak, 16mm, 9 min 

"This film is a black and white full frame field texture motion as opalescent as the night sky. Chemically generated visual variations produced directly on 16mm film. The grey tones and the very subtle coloration effects are all the result of the persistence of vision in the eye. The abstract animation field textures depict the infinitesimal nuclei of energy called Tanmatra, a moving field of aggregates of atoms and cosmic motion called the dance of Shiva. The full field abstract animation is produced by the Brownian motion effect." — Larry Janiak 

This film is part of CFA's Larry Janiak Collection and was preserved in 2013 from the original 16mm A & B rolls with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation. 

Learn more: https://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/preservation/view/four-new-bauhaus-institute-of-design-films/ 

The City 

circa 1961, Maurice Bailen, 16mm, 17 min 

"A neon wilderness of shoppers where mounting tensions added to frustrations, scurrying pedestrians, sadistic drivers, sex mad movie displays, hamburgers, questionable bargains and no money down add to a psychotic beat seeking a tranquilizing cocktail." – Filmmakers Distribution Catalog, Center Cinema Co-op, 1969 

This film is part of CFA's Maurice Bailen Collection and was preserved from the original 16mm reversal workprint in 2020 with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation. 

Learn more: https://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/preservation/view/maurice-bailens-the-city-ca-1961-and-confrontation-ca-1968/ 

Presented by Chicago Film Archives as part of "Out of the Vault at 20," a series of screenings celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of CFA. Learn more at chicagofilmarchives.org