Join us the 2nd Tuesday of the month at the Hideout for our new series, CFA CRASHERS! At CFA we are constantly inspired by the sea of talented individuals who call Chicagoland their home. For our CFA CRASHERS series, we’ve invited some of our favorite locals into our vault to curate a film program all their own (absolutely no rules or strings attached). The general motivation behind the series is to have a lot of different communities and voices engaging with our materials, as we’re increasingly interested in collaborating with those who are eager to mix it up with the CFA films in ways not thought of before. Beginning this August, a guest programmer (aka “Crasher”) will introduce a screening of their making over happy hour at the Hideout. All films will be presented in 16mm.
This November we are excited to have Christen Carter on board to pick the films!
Christen Carter founded the Busy Beaver Button Company in 1995 after spending some time in England, where buttons (called “badges” over there) were still very popular. She moved back to the States and started making buttons for bands and record labels. Busy Beaver has gone from a one-woman operation in Christen’s college apartment to a Logan Square storefront with fifteen employees. Over the last 17 years, the Busy Beaver crew has overseen over 60,000 designs and produced millions upon millions of custom buttons for clients like Brooklyn Brewery, NBC Entertainment, The Art Institute of Chicago, Threadless, WordPress as well as thousands of bands, non-profits, small businesses and other great folks. Along with her brother, Joel Carter, Christen also founded The Busy Beaver Button Museum, one of the world’s only museums dedicated solely to pinback buttons.The museum, which is located at the company’s Logan Square headquarters, displays over 9,000 historical buttons and is open to the public M-F from 10-4 or by appointment.
and here’s what Christen has to say about her selections:
“CFA has loads of great films that I have never seen before and didn’t know existed. Here’s a collection I chose so we can have some fun together, they are short and have good music.”
Goldielocks and the Three Bears (1934, Universal Cartoon Studios, 16mm., B&W, Sound, 8.5m)
A delightful animation starring the usual bunch – Ma, Pa, Baby and that golden-haired criminal.
Kimberly-Clark Corporation “Kleenex X-Periments” (1960s, Goldsholl Design & Film Associates, 16mm., Color, Sound, 6.5m)
A series of five fantastically innovative commercials made for Kleenex Tissues by the Chicago-based design firm, Goldsholl Associates.
Daytime Television (, JoAnn Elam, 16mm., Color, Sound, 3.5m)
Pans of cleaning supply labels and packaging are set to the Beatles’ 1965 song “You Like Me Too Much.” JoAnn Elam refuses to pull back and the abstracted visual effect is both dizzying, hypnotic, and full of rapidly flashing colors. The film looks at the feminist discourse of the “politics of housework,” and of the anti-consumer discourse of the counterculture and left of the day.
Life and Film (1966, Larry Janiak, Robert Stiegler & Jeffrey Pasco, 16mmm., B&W, Sound, 4m)
Chicago based designers and artists experiment (and have fun) with their cameras to the tune of “Tomorrow Never Knows” by the Beatles. This film about filmmaking was shot at the nearby Michigan dunes and Chicago’s Humboldt Park.
WLS (1968, Chuck Olin Associates for WLS, 16mm., Color, Sound, 12m)
A sponsored film made for Chicago radio station WLS as a promotional tool to sell airtime to advertisers. Includes scenes inside the studio with DJ Clark Weber, footage of the WLS programmer as he rides the train into to the city from the suburbs, and shots of potential radio listeners amongst picturesque views of Chicago.
Jail Keys Made Here…And Other Signs (1970, Lee Boltin, 16mm., B&W, Sound, 8m)
A playful record of advertising signs in urban America set to the music of Dave Brubeck. The film is an adaptation of the book of photographs by Lee Boltin.
The 2-Year Machine (1970, David Alexovich, 16mm., Color, Sound, 5.5m)
Through animation, a young UIC student illustrates the traumatic consequences of the Vietnam War on young draftees. The film is part of a series of student films that all won awards at the 1971 Young Chicago Filmmaker’s Festival.
General Mills Fun Group Inc “Craft Master Toy” (1970, Goldsholl Design & Film Associates, Color, Sound, 7m)
An enthusiastic host introduces viewers to a wide array of Craftmaster products (Paint by Number, Magic Paper Art Make & Quick Color Embroidery, to name a few) and discusses how General Mills will promote the products. This sponsored film, which originally targeted potential distributors for the product, now acts as a humorous time capsule of kitsch craft products.
Close to You By the Carpenters (1971, 16mm., Color, Sound, 5m)
A Chicago high school student’s take on a 1970 Carpenters’ classic. This stop-animation film went onto win an award from the “Young Chicago Filmmakers Festival” back in 1971.