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Howard Alk: A Life on the Edge

January 9 - February 1, 2009

Chicago Film Archives along with The Gene Siskel Film Center and the Chicago Cultural Center present Howard Alk: A Life on the Edge

A Film Retrospective Hosted by Chicago Public Radio’s Alison Cuddy

As part of CFA’s initiative to shed light on the many unheralded local filmmakers, CFA is producing a first-ever film retrospective of the life, work, and times of the late Chicago filmmaker Howard Alk. Alk entered the University of Chicago at the age of 14 in 1944, co-founded The Second City in 1959, and went on to become a brilliant and sought after film editor of the counter-culture film scene until his death in 1982. Early in his film career, he became inextricably entwined in the African-American perspective. Alk edited composer Ed Bland’s striking avant-garde film The Cry of Jazz in the 50s, and the political documentaries The Murder of Fred Hampton and American Revolution 2 in the 60s. Finding political and social expression within the music scene as well, he edited Murray Lerner’s Festival, a compilation of performances from the Newport Folk Festival; directed Janis, a portrait of Janis Joplin, and collaborated with Bob Dylan in Eat the Document, Hard Rain and Renaldo and Clara in the 60s and 70s. This retrospective will not only paint a portrait of Alk’s short career, but of those complicated and turbulent times.

Howard Alk Film Series
Programs include interview excerpts from the CFA archives

January 9, 2009
8:00pm
Janis
Gene Siskel Film Center
164 North State Street, Chicago

January 14, 2009
7:00pm
Festival
Guest Speaker and Director – Murray Lerner
Chicago Cultural Center
Claudia Cassidy Theater
78 East Washington, Chicago

January 16, 2009
8:00pm
Seasons Change
Guest Speaker and filmmaker – Peter Kuttner
Luxman Baul’s Movie
Guest Speaker – University of Illinois musicologist, Charlie Capwell
Gene Siskel Film Center
164 North State Street, Chicago

January 21, 2009
7:00pm
Murder Of Fred Hampton
Guest Speaker and co-founder of The People’s Law Office – Dennis Cunningham
Chicago Cultural Center
Claudia Cassidy Theater
78 East Washington, Chicago

January 23, 2009
8:00pm
American Revolution 2
Guest Speaker – filmmaker Jones Cullinan
Gene Siskel Film Center
164 North State Street, Chicago

January 28, 2009
7:00pm
Search For The Lost Self
Cry Of Jazz
Guest Speaker filmmaker & composer – Ed Bland
Chicago Cultural Center
Claudia Cassidy Theater
78 East Washington, Chicago

February 1, 2009
5:00pm
And This Is Free
My Friend Vince
Panelists– Filmmakers Mike Gray, Jones Cullinan, Gordon Quinn and David Rothberg.
Moderator – Judy Hoffman
Gene Siskel Film Center
164 North State Street, Chicago

Many thanks to our sponsors who bring us this programming.

Draupnir, LLC
National Endowment for the Arts
Kartemquin Films
Hugh M. Hefner Foundation
The Chicago Film Office
This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly.

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