FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE IN AN ERA OF "COOKIE CUTTER INDIES" CHICAGO UNDERGROUND BREAKS THE MOLD ENTRY DEADLINE CLOSING IN FOR DEFIANTLY INDEPENDENT EVENT GOOSE ISLAND FUNDS CHICAGO FILMMAKER PRIZE As the May 15th entry deadline approaches for the Sixth Annual Chicago Underground Film Festival, Chicago prepares itself for another cinematic barrage from below. New for the 1999 festival is the Goose Island "Brewed in Chicago" Award-a special prize funded by the local brewery and presented to the best Chicago-produced film in the festival. Festival Director Bryan Wendorf said, "Chicago filmmakers have been an important part of CUFF since its inception. The creation of the "Brewed in Chicago" award reinforces our commitment to the local filmmaking community". At a time when once-provocative festivals are offering up what the Village Voice calls "cookie-cutter indies" and critics denounce the mainstreaming of independent film - CUFF continues to offer up uncompromising, challenging, and truly original fare. For this reason, CUFF remains a haven for visionary and maverick filmmakers and a focal point for the underground. Now in its sixth year, CUFF long ago established itself as a showcase for uncompromising cinema. CUFF has presented local and world premieres of such groundbreaking work as Sonic Outlaws, Craig Baldwin's experimental documentary about the band Negativeland, The Decline of Western Civilization Part 3, Penelope Spheeris' self-financed, thought-provoking glimpse into the world of street punks, Charlie's Family, Jim Van Bebber's ten-years-in the making dramatization of Manson's followers, and Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore, Sarah Jacobson's unabashed look at teenage sexuality. Moreover, CUFF has paid its respects to the history of the underground, honoring such celluloid renegades as John Waters, Jack Smith, and Richard Kern. As Roger Ebert has said, CUFF is populated with films "grittier, more anarchic, less eager to please, and more willing to outrage" than your average film festival a sensibility ever more important in the wake of indie mainstreaming. CUFF is not just an underground event, but a locus point for the underground scene. Filmmakers like Peter Hall (Delinquent) and John Michael McCarthy (The Sore Losers) cite the festival as the spawning ground for creative collaborations and future projects. Hall recently stated "At CUFF, I have communed with filmmakers I merely encountered at (other festivals)." The result of this kind of interchange between filmmakers makes CUFF a ground zero for the radical visions of tomorrow, provoking George Kuchar to say "CUFF gave me hope for the future." It is in this spirit that CUFF invites the subversive, maverick, and radical new visions to Chicago for it's annual festival of uncompromising cinema. The 6th Annual Chicago Underground Film Festival runs August 13-19, 1999 at the four-screen Village Theater, 1548 North Clark Street. For further information or festival entry forms contact: Bryan Wendorf, 773-327-3456 [log in to unmask], http://www.cuff.org ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite