HALLOWEEN-a-go-go

Stay up to date on what’s happening at the archive! Sign up for the CFA newsletter > Stay up to date on what’s happening at the archive! Sign up for the CFA newsletter > CFA is teaming up with the Black Cinema House and Chic-a-go-go to present a spooooky evening of films, dance and puppets! The frightening films in the mix (more films TBA!): Disney’s Haunted Halloween, 1984, 16mm., 8 min. A talking pumpkin and a gaggle of Disney characters take us on a journey through Halloween’s pagan lineage. Spooky Boos and Room Noodles, 1976, J.P. Somersaulter & Lillian Moats, 16mm., 8 min. Nighttime monsters and demons scurry for cover when a child exerts power over them by invoking a simple rhyme. Hansel & Gretel, 1951, Ray Harryhausen & Jacob Grimm, 16mm., 9.5 min. Three-dimensional puppets enact the legendary story about the woodcutter’s children and the luring witch. Fat Albert: Old Folks are A-Okay, 1979, Bill Cosby, 16mm., 15.5 min. Fat Albert and the gang think that old Mrs. Bakewell is weird and mean until they learn otherwise on Halloween night. Film program by Anne Wells _______________________________________________________________________________________ Black Cinema House is the brain child of Chicago native, artist, and urban planner Theaster Gates. It is part of Gates’ Rebuild Foundation, a “not-for-profit, creative engine focusing on cultural and economic redevelopment and affordable space initiatives in under-resourced communities.” Just getting its start this fall, The Black Cinema House will provide screenings and discussions of underseen works by film and video makers of the African and other diasporas in the historically underserved neighborhood of Grand Crossing in particular and the South Side of Chicago in general. Video classes and workshops will provide area youth with the skills to make their own films and tell their own stories. Chic-a-go-go is a Chicago public access children’s dance show (with more than 600 episodes!) that bills itself as “Chicago’s Dance Show for Kids of All Ages”. Drawing from legendary dance programs like Soul Train and American Bandstand, as well as Chicago’s own 1960s shows Kiddie-A-Go-Go and Red Hot and Blues, Chic-a-go invites popular musical acts to lip synch to their songs as studio participants (kids, adults & puppets!) cut a rug. Catch the show every Tuesday at 8:30PM & Wednesday at 3:30PM on CAN TV (channel 19) and/or preview some of their past episodes on the Chic-a-go-go Youtube channel.