Events

Nelson Algren: The End is Nothing, The Road is All

with Mark Blottner and Warren Leming

Nelson Algren: The End is Nothing, The Road is All (2015)

When:
Friday, November 20, 2015, 7:00pm - 7:00pm
Description:

Introduction by Judy Hoffman, Department of Cinema and Media Studies.

Rare interviews with Kurt Vonnegut and Studs Terkel, archival footage of 1950s Chicago, and the gritty voice of Nelson Algren himself unveil the compelling life story of one of America's greatest and least understood writers. Author of five novels and countless other stories, reviews, and essays along with the prose poem Chicago: City on the Make, Algren’s focus on disenchantment with consumer culture is still resonant and his concerns about FBI and CIA surveillance prophetic. 

Followed by a panel discussion with co-director Mark Blottner and Warren Leming, founder of the Nelson Algren Committee.

(Dennis Mueller, USA, 2015, DCP, 86 min)

Warren Leming is a Chicago/Berlin based artist, who along with Studs Terkel founded the Nelson Algren Committee (www.nelsonalgren.org). Leming produced, wrote, and narrates Nelson Algren: The End is Nothing, The Road is All, and his video-noir segments provide a tone that mirrors Algren’s last bitter years in the City where he “made his trade.”

Mark Blottner has worked on independent video productions ranging from community-organized documentaries to the 1997 BBC TV documentary “A Walk on the Wild Side” as a researcher/fixer.  He has an extensive history in corporate interactive design and development for a variety of distribution channels including mobile, web, and desktop digital media.