"Spectacular and original."
Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune
A collaborative film project created by Chicago's theatrical, musical and visual artists.
Based on the stories of Ben Hecht's One Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago.
TheFilm
The following clip is a sample from the film of one of the three stories, Dapper Pete and the Sucker Play.
We want the film to do many things at once. To be a document of new artistic interpretations of the stories, to convey how the city links artists of the past and present, and to visualize the duality of Hecht's city, its gritty textures alongside its soaring inspirations. So just as the stories blurred the lines between journalism and literature, I decided the film could similarly blurs the lines between traditional documentary and narrative.Dave Less, Director
Produced by Half King Productions, the film presents three of the stories from 1001 Afternoons in Chicago: Grass Figures, Don Quixote and The Last Windmill and Dapper Pete and the Sucker Play, through the blending of four types of footage.
- The Straw Dog actors and the Access Contemporay Musicians performing their adaptations and interpretations of the stories. Their voices and music are the audio bed for the entire film.
- Archival footage of Chicago from the 1920s through the present.
- New Chicago footage filmed in the present day.
- Illustrations and animation.
The blending of these elements cinematically conveys the idea that through the conduit of the city itself, these stories are constantly being reborn and re-imagined by the next generation of artists that they inspire.