Local underground auteur James Fotopoulos screens his suburban gothic feature “The Nest” in its Chicago debut at the Chicago Underground Film Festival Aug. 22.
Fotopoulos continues his trademark minimalist terror with “The Nest,” in which he builds an atmosphere of mounting dread through sound design and surrealistic images in a young couple’s new apartment.
“There really wasn’t any inspiration,” Fotopoulos insisted. “Things just collage together over time and then I shape them together and get them out. Anything around me can trigger it.”
“The Nest” has screened at Cinematexas, New York Underground Film Festival, Cinevegas and Consolidated Works in Seattle. It will screen in December at New York’s Anthology Film Archives with two other Fotopoulos features, “Families” and “Esophagus.”
A Columbia College dropout who works in isolation or with stripped down crews on shoestring budgets, Fotopoulos has been a staple on the underground scene since his debut feature “Zero” (1997). He enjoys a growing reputation in the art world, screening his work at this year’s Whitney Biennial at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art and at next year’s Michelen Biennial. Time Out New York called him “America’s foremost poet of sexual anxiety.”
Last year Facets Video released DVDs of Fotopoulos’ first three features, “Zero,” “Migrating Forms” (1999) and “Back Against the Wall,” (2000). “Migrating Forms” won awards at the Chicago and New York underground festivals in 2000.
Fotopoulos is notoriously prolific, churning out dozens of shorts and multiple features in the last few years. “I have no rational way to explain it,” he said.
Fotopoulos is at work on a series of hour-long video pieces and live music/video performances in collaboration with the band Grandpa’s Ghost. He’s finishing the video feature “The Ant Hill” and an untitled 16mm feature.
CUFF runs Aug. 18-24 at the Three Penny Cinema, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave. See www.cuff.org.
“The Nest” screens Sunday, Aug. 22 at 5:30 p.m. at the Three Penny. Fotopoulos’ video work screens with live music by Grandpa’s Ghost, Friday Aug. 20 at 9:30 p.m. at The Hungry Brain, 1938 W. Belmont.
Fotopoulos’ Fantasma, Inc. is at 1400 W. Devon #440. See www.fantasmainc.com.
? Ed M. Koziarski, edk@homesickblues.com
