Resfest

Tyger

This touring festival of digital videos celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, with programs screening Thursday through Sunday, October 19 through 22, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago.

Music videos continue to provide an inviting market for adventurous video artists, which Resfest has recognized through its long-running emphasis on music clips. Videos That Rock (Fri 10/20, 9 PM) includes clips for John Cale, Sufjan Stevens, Nada Surf, OK Go, and Death Cab for Cutie, while Cinema Electronica (Sat 10/21, 7 PM) highlights dance music acts like Basement Jaxx, Massive Attack, and Gnarls Barkley. The festival concludes with two retrospective programs: Best of Resfest Music Videos (Sun 10/22, 5:30 PM) and a collection of music videos for video-art stalwarts Radiohead (Sun 10/22, 7:30 PM).

Among the festival's other compilation programs, State of the Art (Thu 10/19, 8 PM) showcases new approaches to digital video, By Design (Sat 10/21, 3 PM) focuses on motion graphics and broadcast design, Fear and Trembling (Fri 10/20, 11 PM) emphasizes grim and horrific videos, and Everything Under the Sun (Sat 10/21, 5 PM) collects videos on political issues.

The festival's sole feature is Rock the Bells (Sat 10/21, 9 PM), about which Peter Margasak wrote: "A Los Angeles hip-hop promoter tries to stage the first concert in six years by the legendary Wu-Tang Clan in this entertaining video documentary shot in 2004 by Casey Suchan and Denis Henry Hennelly. Suspense is provided by clan member Ol' Dirty Bastard, who's still in his hotel room at showtime, with an audience of 10,000 growing restless and violent at the concert hall (he died of a drug overdose four months later). This isn't about the verities of hip-hop so much as the chaos and confusion of mounting a big production with a slew of stoned MCs."

Tickets to Resfest are $12, $10 for students in advance; a festival badge, good for all screenings, is $79. Call 312-397-4010 or visit www.resfest.com for a complete schedule. --J.R. Jones

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