COMMODITY TRADING: DIES IRAE by M. Woods with GUILLOTINE by Sonnie Wooden | IN PERSON (3/15)
COMMODITY TRADING: DIES IRAE by M. Woods with GUILLOTINE by Sonnie Wooden | IN PERSON (3/15)
Chicago Filmmakers (map) | Friday, March 15 at 7PM Central
M. Woods’ COMMODITY TRADING: DIES IRAE is a surrealist nightmare wrapped in a documentary chronicling the void that emerged with the election of Donald Trump. The movie weaves a narrative through political hells, using 16mm film, mixed media digital experimentation, and archival footage to paint a hallucinatory landscape of Southern California’s break from reality. Visit www.thedigitalsickness.com for more details.
The feature presentation is preceded by Sonnie Wooden’s GUILLOTINE, a horrifying collage of abject hyperreality. Wooden presents a biting satire, which serves as a discourse on race and media, and makes us consider various rhetorics of protest.
Chicago Filmmakers does not deny admission to those who do not have the ability to make a donation. Please email coop [at] chicagofilmmakers.org to inquire about free admission.
From GUILLOTINE by Sonnie Wooden.
From Commodity Trading: Dies Irae.
From Commodity Trading: Dies Irae.
From Commodity Trading: Dies Irae.
From Commodity Trading: Dies Irae.
SHORT FILM PRESENTATION: GUILLOTINE By Sonnie Wooden
An excerpt from a review by Chicago Filmmakers Intern Ceninye Harris, Edited by M. Woods:
“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.”
Click here to see the full review on [IN]SIGHT Magazine.
FEATURE PRESENTATION: COMMODITY TRADING: DIES IRAE by M. Woods
*CHICAGO PREMIERE
A bad trip that replicates the dissolution of the self/government/family/body within the solvent of a white supremacist hyperreal suspension. M. Woods attempts to enter the Numb Spiral through the Great Incision of Oxoniae, lulled into the digital sickness to be with his doppelganger. After entering a portal in a webcam site, he becomes Abraxas, recklessly seeking completion through The Numb Spiral. Meanwhile, Joshua enters the Numb Spiral through 9DVR, a game platform installed at Culver City’s Westfield Shopping Center. The White Father haunts Joshua until Joshua decides to burn down the White Father’s house in righteous anger.
Warning: The following work contains accounts and representations of racism, violence, sex, and nudity. Parts of this work are based in actual events. Some parts contain fast edits and strobing imagery and that may negatively impact those viewers with epilepsy and other light-sensitive disorders.
From Commodity Trading: Dies Irae.
This is M’s 4th feature film, made possible through a residency with Lightcone Paris. M’s work has been previously exhibited at The Flaherty Seminar, The Rotterdam International Film Festival, The Ann Arbor Film Festival, Oberhausen International Film Festival, and Collectif Jeune Cinéma. M is the co-founder of the avant-garde art group Agitate, the label Disassociative Productions, and M works as the Marketing & Partnerships Manager at Chicago Filmmakers.
PROGRAM DETAILS:
GUILLOTINE (USA, 2020)
DIRECTOR: Sonnie Wooden
Total Run Time: 22 mins
COMMODITY TRADING (USA, 2022)
DIRECTOR: M. Woods
WRITERS: M. Woods with Josh Gray
PRODUCERS: M. Woods, Cory Mack, Josh Gray
STARRING: M. Woods, Josh Gray, Lauren Woods, and Annmarie Woods
Total Run Time: 80 mins
Trailer for COMMODITY TRADING: DIES IRAE.
Trailer for GUILLOTINE by Sonnie Wooden.
From Commodity Trading: Dies Irae.
Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse Cinema
In-person screenings are held at Chicago Filmmakers’ Firehouse Cinema located at 1326 W. Hollywood Ave in the Edgewater neighborhood. Please be sure to arrive 15 minutes prior to showtime and be ready to present your order confirmation number for admission.
