GUILLOTINE by Sonnie Wooden
GUILLOTINE by Sonnie Wooden will precede the feature presentation of COMMODITY TRADING: DIES IRAE by M. Woods hosted at our Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse Cinema . Both Sonnie Wooden and M. Woods will appear in person for a post-screening conversation moderated by Grace K Schuler.
Friday, March 15 at 7:00 PM Central
1326 W Hollywood Ave, Chicago
Review by Cenìnye Harris
Everyone ought to watch Sonnie Wooden’s GUILLOTINE twice to absorb all of the information being juxtaposed into a horrifying collage of abject hyperreality. On first viewing, Wooden presents a somewhat comedic and biting satire, which serves as a discourse on race and media. Upon second viewing, GUILLOTINE opens further, and makes us consider various rhetorics of protest.
Wooden begins his critique with the “Youtube monologue” of a middle-aged white man, a poster child for the antithesis of progress. This absurd monologue does not just examine race, but duality of identity and its context. GUILLOTINE flirts with the idea of reconcilement, and seemingly contrasts ideas of Black pessimism. Letting a white man narrate the film, as he realizes his own bias, suggests the possibility of his counterparts realizing too. The hyperrealism that Sonnie Wooden depicts is archival, experiential, and at times, a mockery of the real, a flattening or oversimplifying that some may find off-putting if it were not for Sonnie’s ability to use the cinematic artifice as a means of satire and horror. Wooden’s own authorship is in the GUILLOTINE: the splicer and that which doles at justice.
The GUILLOTINE, in that sense, is a form of retribution, and sometimes, of a need for revenge against an institution. Wooden’s GUILLOTINE splices together these awful and sardonic truths of a human hive mind steeped in narcissism and a lack of self-consciousness, attempting to surpass irony while depicting the midst of racist nihilism. And in this critique of distinctly USA-cultivated horror and kitsch, Wooden is not making any simple statements, or general attacks. Instead, his erudite juxtaposition of these elements invites a post-screening conversation. There is no answer. The figure of Kanye appears and explains that he is speechless and unable to find resolve. GUILLOTINE acknowledges this lack and does not shy away from keeping its audience within the ambiguities of the emptiness in our reflections and the media we use to reflect.
Trailer for GUILLOTINE by Sonnie Wooden.
Co-Presented by HotHouse
Friday, October 30, 7:00 PM
Chicago Filmmakers (1326 W. Hollywood Ave)
Catherine Murphy and Iris de Oliveira | 2025 | 70 min | Digital Projection
Hosted by Toni Asante Lightfoot!
In 1963, global icon Paulo Freire led an experimental project teaching hundreds of rural farmers to read, write and vote in Brazil, until he was arrested and forced into exile during a U.S.-backed coup d'état.
Told through the collective memories of farmers, students, and educators who participated in the “Culture Circles," where they learned to read and write in 40 hours, Reading the World contains rare archival footage of 1960s Brazil that was recently recovered after being buried for decades. The innovative teaching method used critical and creative thinking instead of memorization and repetition. By contextualizing and personalizing the lessons, educators used their surroundings to teach vocabulary and construct meaning. Hundreds of Brazilians became literate and were allowed to vote as a consequence, strengthening the blossoming democracy and social movement that was disrupting the colonial structures. After a shocking coup d’état, the farmers’ notebooks were set on fire, and Freire was eventually forced into exile for 16 years, spreading his pedagogy around the globe and impacting democracy and education until today. Today Freire is considered one of the most influential philosophers of education in the twentieth century, and revered by educators across the world.
Toni Asante Lightfoot is a poet, educator, and community activist dedicated to improving the physical, emotional, and financial health of her adopted community of Chicago and of her home Washington, D.C. She has edited several collections of poetry . Lightfoot has taught poetry for over 25 years in libraries, prisons, universities, and juvenile detention centers across the United States and in Trinidad and Tobago, where she also co-owned a bed & breakfast dedicated to housing artists and connecting them with Trinidadian artists and activists.