Monday, December 16, 8:15 p.m. | Initially conceived as a portrait of directors Jeff Preiss and Josiah McElheny’s mutual friend Christine Burgin, THE SECRET WORLD is a phantasmagoria of structural and intuitive methodologies. Throughout, Burgin is heard informally leading a guided tour of her unique personal library, while the images that appear on the screen are scrambled and reformed into a riotous mélange. All footage in the film has been transmuted through a process of “re-filming” with a hand-held,16mm Bolex camera, ultimately unifying the incompatible formats of film: VHS video, and 35mm slides. Taking form as a shifting clockwork of 30 short chapters, THE SECRET WORLD responds to the library's matrix of visionary ideas. Looked at another way, it is a home movie, a record of the friendships between the filmmakers, and the film’s central subject. Co-presented by Chicago art gallery Corbett vs. Dempsey.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu