iwdrm:

“A boy’s best friend is his mother.”

Psycho (1960)

koshkazine:

Disco and Atomic War (Disko ja tuumasõda) 2009, dir. Jaak Kilmi

Though the weather in Chicago during the month of March is terribly wet, freezing, and all-around terrible, the one promising element of the month is the European Union Film Festival going on at The Gene Siskel Film Center.  Thankfully, every year I can avoid the slushy March blues by seeing a plethora of amazing films from the EU.

I attended my first film of the festival this Saturday, the Estonian documentary Disco and Atomic War. This look into the media politics of the Cold War tells the story of radio and television waves traveling from Helsinki, Finland, through the Iron Curtain and into northern Estonia, including the Soviet metropolis of Tallinn. Jaak Kilmi gives viewers both insight into the deeply political ramifications of these free media waves, while also using staged narratives to tell (perhaps real, perhaps altered) personal stories of Estonians who engaged with illegal Finnish television and grew to love it.  It is these narratives that really drive the story with their humor and combination of voice-over and visual narrative, and also point to the power western popular culture has in the face of enforced propaganda in the media. With the former Iron Curtain countries being only over 20 years old, and with social media websites driving youth in the Middle East to organize during recent government overthrows, Disco and the Atomic War is a timely film showing that pop can have power.

If you’re in Chicago, the European Union Film Festival happens throughout the month of March at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Click the photo above for schedules, location, and other information.  Disco and Atomic War plays a final time on Thursday, March 10th at 8:15pm.

pocketfullofdeadlyposies:

Tim Burton, Vincent Price & Johnny Depp on the set of Edward Scissorhands.