The third annual Chicago International Documentary Festival runs Friday, April 1, through Sunday, April 10, with screenings at the Beverly Arts Center; Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division; Copernicus Center; Facets Cinematheque; Northwestern Univ. Block Museum of Art; Northwestern Univ. Thorne Auditorium; Society for Arts, 1112 N. Milwaukee; and Univ. of Chicago Doc Films. Unless otherwise noted, tickets are $8.50, $7 for seniors and students, and $6.50 for shows before 2 PM or after 10 PM. Passes are available for $250 (all screenings), $125 (20 screenings), and $70 (10 screenings), but only the first includes admission to the opening- and closing-night galas; for more information call 773-486-9612. Following is the schedule through April 7; a complete schedule is available online at www.chicagoreader.com.
“Farmer John” is John Peterson, an eccentric farmer in northern Illinois who’s devoted his life to preserving both his family farm near the Wisconsin border and his 60s ideals. After his father’s death, Peterson ran the business while commuting to Beloit College and falling in with a clique of hippies who adopted the farm as their retreat. During the Reagan years, as family farms collapsed across the country, Peterson lost most of his land, but eventually the business was reborn as a subscriber-supported organic farm that drew Chicagoans to work the fields and divide the crops. Directed by Taggart Siegel and narrated by Peterson, this video memoir is a beguiling combination of agrarian ode and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, deepened by Peterson’s square sincerity as he struggles to find himself in relation to his family’s land. 83 min. (JJ) Siegel will attend the screening. Tickets are $20. (Univ. of Chicago Doc Films, 8:00)
An absorbing and intelligent Brazilian documentary about the legendary 1964 Soviet-Cuban coproduction I Am Cuba, a monumental revolutionary epic that was disastrously received, then shelved before being revived in the early 90s. Interviewing Cubans as well as Russians who worked on the film, directed by Mikhail Kalatozov, Vicente Ferraz clarifies some facts about the production–revealing among other things that cinematographer Sergei Urusevsky’s wife, Bella Friedman, played a significant creative role. He’s also attentive to the ironies implicit in the film’s fate without being derisive or uncritical. In Spanish, Russian, and Portuguese with subtitles. 90 min. (JR) Reviewed this week in Section 1. (Facets Cinematheque, 2:00)
Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan
Susan Kaplan’s 2004 documentary about a Manhattan threesome ought to be more engaging. Two young men fall in love and move in together, but they both also enjoy women. So after a few unsuccessful attempts, they add a woman to their relationship, Samantha, who eventually has a child by each. They all claim it’s not mostly about sex, but we learn little about how they negotiate their relationships over 13 years and even less about their careers or other interests. As their desires become more conventional and self-centered, fissures develop. Yawn. And Kaplan’s decision to violate documentary principles by using songs to “narrate” some sections is simply irritating. 95 min. (FC) Kaplan will attend the screening. (Society for Arts, 7:30)
Heroes–Between Day and Night
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If this loving portrait (2004) of the late Minnesota senator by Laurie Stern, Lu Lippold, and Dan Luke veers close to hagiography at times, the filmmakers’ unabashed reverence can be excused somewhat: in an age of partisanship and cynicism, Wellstone was a principled politician who commanded respect from both sides of the aisle. A restless college professor who from early on fought for social change when he believed injustice was being committed, Wellstone emerged the unlikely victor in Minnesota’s 1990 senatorial race against the Republican incumbent. In an unheard-of act of testosterone for a rookie senator, he immediately distinguished himself by filibustering the Johnston-Wallop energy bill, which would have opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. While soft when addressing anything even remotely critical of Wellstone, who was killed along with his wife and daughter in a 2002 plane crash, this is a candid portrait of a real iconoclast, as much a loving family man as an irascible champion of the underdog. 88 min. (JK) The directors will attend the screening. (Facets Cinematheque, noon)
