Radio Jammer // 2940 N Campbell
A fragmentary 16mm portrait of the lonely lives that haunt Chicago's underground rap scene. Alienated youth seek transcendence amid chaotic crowds, deafening noise, and the allure of occult aesthetics. The gaze of surveillance, both real and imagined, affirms their indignation.
Image + Edit by Jacob Kessler
Sound by Eislow Johnson & Dominic Bonelli
Screenings: Grain Urbain (Paris, FR), Lausanne Underground Film Festival (Lausanne, CH), Baltic Analog Lab (Riga, Latvia), Union Cinema (Milwaukee, WI), Mimesis Documentary Festival (Boulder, CO), Doc Films (Chicago, IL), ICDOCS (Iowa City, IA), Film Diary (Brooklyn, NY), La Lumiere Collective (Montreal, QC), Alternative Film Archive at the Academic Film Center (Belgrade, RS), Fatal Wave Cinema (Denver, CO), Xinema (Vancouver, BC), Oklahoma Film Exchange (Oklahoma City, OK), Chicago Underground Film Festival (Chicago, IL), Ethnografilm (Paris, FR), Experimental Film Festival Process (Riga, LV), Moviate Underground Film Festival (Harrisburg, PA), Experimental Superstars (Novi Sad, RS)
Awards: Grain Urbain: Prix du Jury, ICDOCS: Juror’s Best-in-Show
One Long Arm Blind
A hand-processed, sensorial meditation on the morbid history of Chicago’s Bubbly Creek through an index of traces left on the ecosystem and surface of the celluloid image.
Image + Edit by Jacob Kessler & Laura Gede
Watch: Sample Screenings: Baltic Analog Lab (Riga, LV) - Work in Progress
Supernova
A docufiction short following Astro Erle, an aged ex-Club Kid, as she prepares to re-enter New York's queer nightlife after years of leading a nomadic crust-punk lifestyle.
Directed by Jacob Kessler
Produced by Lorenzo Rugiero & Jacob Kessler
Cinematography by Liam Dillon
Edited by Steven Marcario & Jacob Kessler
Watch: Trailer | Full Film Screenings: NoBudge (Brooklyn, NY), NewFilmmakers NY (New York, NY), Nefiltravanae Kino (Minsk, Belarus), QRC.PRJCT (Athens, Greece), Alexandre Trauner Art/Film Festival (Szolnok, Hungary), Zlatý Voči (Prague, Czech Republic)