Ray Pride

* = Recommended

The African Diaspora Film Festival plays this week at Facets Multimedia; consult www.Facets.org for details. The Gene Siskel Film Center presents entries from the 72 Hour Feature project, movies produced as quickly as most consumer porn. Details below.

Fri 20

Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death

(2002, USA) Directed by Jamie Doran. "The horrific forced journey undertaken by thousands of prisoners who surrendered to America's Afghan allies after the siege of Kunduz..." The doc alleges that "American Special Forces took control of the operation, redirected the containers carrying the living and dead into the desert and stood by as survivors were shot and buried... the greatest atrocity of the entire Afghan War." 50m. Video. Polvo Art Studio (773)677-1914, 1257 W. 18th, 7:30.

A Day on the Force

Directed by Ronit Bezalel. Chicago's first women's professional tackle football team. $8. An entry of the 72 Hour Feature Project at Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6.

Man Follows Birds

(Chelovek Ukhodit Za Ptitsami) (1975, Uzbekistan) Directed by Ali Khamraev. "A young boy gets a brutal sentimental education under the open skies of medieval Uzbekistan." 87m. 35mm. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6:15.

*The Lady from Shanghai

(1948, USA) Directed by Orson Welles. Thrillingly weird, baroquely funny. Virtually unfathomable plot finds Welles a sailor caught between the variously suicidal and homicidal fantasies of a crippled lawyer and his frustrated young wife. Despite front-office-mandated reshoots, Welles' first studio picture after "The Magnificent Ambersons" is cheerily, deliriously incoherent; Welles' dense Irish brogue is as thick as his character's head; love interest Rita Hayworth, Columbia's biggest star and Welles' then-wife, made famous by her flowing red hair, waltzes through in a perverse blonde bob that, with her icy performance, makes her even more forbidding; supremely strange Glenn Anders and Everett Sloane cackle through insane machinations. There's a wealth of bravura filmmaking, including the justly celebrated shootout finale in an amusement park's hall of mirrors. 86m. Music Box (773)871-6604, 3733 N. Southport, 11:30am.

*Never on Sunday

(Pote tin Kyriaki)(1960, Greece) Directed by Jules Dassin. An American scholar (Dassin) visits the port city of Piraeus to explore the ideals of ancient Greece; he tries to reform a free-spirited prostitute (Melina Mercouri). 97m. New 35mm print. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8.

On Guard

Directed by Kevin Lee. A security guard at work, told in ten-minute takes. $8. An entry of the 72 Hour Feature Project at Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6.

*Radiohead: Meeting People is Easy

(2001, England) Directed by Grant Gee. Road movie: Radiohead on their "OK, Computer World tour. Enervated but not enervating. Music Box (773)871-6604, 3733 N. Southport, Midnight.

Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation

Music Box (773)871-6604, 3733 N. Southport, Midnight.

Sat 21

Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog

(1997, USA) Directed by Don McGlynn. A portrait of the composer. 75m. BetaSP video. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 5:308.

*The Cistern

(Akrovates tou Kipou)(2001, Greece) Directed by Christa Dimas. Likable 1970s-set coming-of-age drama about a clutch of boys in an Athenian suburb whose lives go out against the backdrop of the military dictatorship. 105m. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8.

Colossus: The Forbin Project

(1970, USA) Directed by Joseph Sargent. 100m. Shown with the 1975 short, "Learning About Nuclear Energy." $5. LaSalle Theater (312)904-9442, 4901 W. Irving Park, 8.

The Daughter-in-law

(Nevestka) (1972, Turkmenistan) Directed by Khodjakuli Narliev. A "plaintive cinematic poem... as delicate as a desert breeze." 35mm. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 4.

Fathom

(1967, USA) Directed by Leslie H. Martinson. "Sexy dental hygienist-turned-skydiver Raquel Welch is recruited by a top-secret government agency to parachute into Spain and search for elusive defector Tony Francioso."99m. Video. Free. Delilah's (773)472-2771, 2771 N. Lincoln, 6.

Hither and Thither

Directed by Beth Berolzheimer. Three girls chitchat. $8. An entry of the 72 Hour Feature Project at Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6.

*The Lady From Shanghai

Music Box (773)871-6604, 3733 N. Southport, 11:30am.

Martin & Orloff

(2002, USA) Directed by Lawrence Blume. A South by Southwestern film festival entry that dabbles in latter-day surrealism. 86m. 35mm. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 4:15.

Paradise Lost/Paradise Found: New Experimental Film and Video

Including work by Brian Frye, Leslie Thornton, Julie Murray, Robert Mead, Augustin Gimel, Robin Dupuis, Myriam Bessette, Takashi Ishida, Vincent Gremier and James Fotopoulos. Program 81m. $7. Chicago Filmmakers (773)293-1447, 5243 N. Clark St., 2nd Floor, 8.

Piece of Mind

Directed by Dino Koutras. "Dogme-influenced" drama of a father abusing his son. $8. An entry of the 72 Hour Feature Project at Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8:15.

*Radiohead: Meeting People is Easy

Music Box (773)871-6604, 3733 N. Southport, Midnight.

Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation

Music Box (773)871-6604, 3733 N. Southport, Midnight.

Sun 22

Beach Party

(1963, USA) Directed by William Asher. Antediluvian "Kelly and Justin." With Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Video. Free. Delilah's (773)472-2771, 2771 N. Lincoln, 6.

A Day in the Life

Directed by Miguel Barreda. An American tour guide in Rome has fantasies. $8. An entry of the 72 Hour Feature Project at Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 3.

*The Lady From Shanghai

Music Box (773)871-6604, 3733 N. Southport, 11:30am.

Man Follows Birds

See Jun 20. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 5:45.

Mon 23

Hanging

Directed by Elizabeth Spear, James Teems. Doc-style portrait of a 15-year-old's life in a youth shelter. $8. An entry of the 72 Hour Feature Project at Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6.

Why Should I Live?

Directed by Melinda Adams. Doc as strangers are confronted to offer alternatives to a potential suicide. $8. An entry of the 72 Hour Feature Project at Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8:15

Tue 24

*The Cistern

See June 21. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8.

Cyberlounge

Directed by Ravi Jain. Doc on a 72-hour Boston arts festival held in a subway station.. $8. An entry of the 72 Hour Feature Project at Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8:15.

The Daughter-in-Law

See June 21. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6:15.

Money Shot

Directed by PolyVinyl Films. "Mockumentary" of a porn shoot. $8. An entry of the 72 Hour Feature Project at Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6.

*Never on Sunday

See June 20. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8.

Wed 25

Car Seat Polyvinyl

Directed by Hovey Grosvenor. "Mockumentary" on plastic addiction. $8. An entry of the 72 Hour Feature Project at Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6.

Prime Shorts

Work includes animation by Lebanese artists Lena Merhej, Brazilian director Ricardo Machado, Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Winner "Bean Cake" by David Greenspan and the première of a new short animation by Arthur Jones. Prime Shorts, Hideout (773)227-4433, 1354 W. Wabansia, 8:30.

The Way of the Coyote

Directed by Steve Bilich. A half-Irish, half-Cherokee shaman travels to Manhattan. $8. An entry of the 72 Hour Feature Project at Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8:15.

Thu 26

Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog

See June 22. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8.

Down into Happiness

Directed by Kline, Fingerhut, Fingerhut. Three thematically linked stories about losers who find unlikely routes to success." $8. An entry of the 72 Hour Feature Project at Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 8:15.

Martin & Orloff

See June 21. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6:15.

Optimism

(2002, USA) Directed by Christopher McDonald. A juvenile escapes a mental hospital and takes a rural road trip. 82m. 16mm. $8. Siskel Film Center (312)846-2600, 164 N. State at Randolph, 6:15.

(2003-06-18)

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(2003-05-21)

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