The new Sloppy Seconds screening series from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF) kicks off Feb. 4 with Todd Verow’s pioneering digital feature “Little Shots of Happiness.”
Running every other Wednesday in the 100-seat Viaduct Theater, Sloppy Seconds features highlights from the festival’s 10-year history. Eventually it will showcase films that haven’t appeared in the fest.
Said CUFF director Bryan Wendorf: “For this series we’ll primarily stick with feature-length narratives and documentaries, to distinguish ourselves from year-round shorts programs like the one at Chicago Filmmakers, and Prime Shorts at the Hideout.”
The second Sloppy Seconds Feb. 18 screening will be “Surrender Dorothy,” Kevin DiNovis’ 1998 debut. “Dorothy,” a twisted power exchange shocker about a busboy who transforms a male heroin addict into his “ideal woman,” was called “the most disturbing film of the ’90s” by Film Threat.
Wendorf plans to screen documentaries for the series’ March offerings, and eventually include work by local filmmakers like James Fotopoulos (“Migrating Forms,”) Shawn Durr (“Meat F**ker,”) and Ben Berkowitz and Ben Redgrave (“Straightman”).
“Little Shots,” (1997) the story of a woman on a bender desperate to escape her job and marriage, was the second feature by New York filmmaker Verow, whom CBS called “the Spielberg of film’s new digital age.”
“‘Little Shots of Happiness’ was one of the first shot-on-video features to get widely shown,'” Wendorf said. “Todd has been a very strong and outspoken proponent of DV features, and he’s had a number of films in CUFF.”
Verow’s new film, “Anonymous,” premiering at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, features a performance by longtime CUFF graphic designer Lee Kohler.
“There’s a good chance that ‘Anonymous’ will have its Chicago premiere at CUFF this year, provided it’s as good as I’ve heard it is,” Wendorf said.
“Dorothy” was the first picture to win the “triple crown of alternative film festivals” with best film awards from Slamdance, CUFF and the New York Underground Film Festival.
The 11th annual CUFF will run Aug. 18-24 at a venue to be determined. Submission deadline is June 1, early deadline May 1. Application deadline for CUFF’s finishing funds grant of up to $2,000 is March 1.
“Little Shots of Happiness” plays Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 7 and 9 p.m. at the Viaduct, 3119 N. Western. Tickets are $6; cash bar.
For more information, to download entry forms or to join the CUFF mailing list, see cuff.org. – by Ed M. Koziarski, edk@homesickblues.com.
