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The Chicago International Movies and Music Festival has lifted the veil of secrecy about its opening night film this Thursday, March 4: it's Yony Leyser's William S. Burroughs: A Man Within, which I wrote about in the Reader in August. The story behind the film is fascinating; do check it out.
Begun while Leyser was an undergrad at KU in Burroughs's adopted hometown of Lawrence, Kansas, this is the first posthumous feature-length doc about the writer of Junky and Naked Lunch.
Fresh from its January premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival, A Man Within boasts a who's-who of counterculture icons who've known and been influenced by Burroughs: Patti Smith, John Waters, Iggy Pop, Jello Biafra, Gus Van Sant, Iggy Pop, David Cronenberg, Amiri Baraka, Sonic Youth, and on and on.
CIMMfest opens at 7 PM with Thomas Woschitz's intercontinental romance Universalove, scored live by Naked Lunch (the band), followed by a Q-and-A with the filmmaker and band. A Man Within screens at 9, followed by a Q-and-A with Leyser. (CIMMfest cofounder Ilko Davidov is the producer and editor of A Man Within.)
Then at 11, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, who's featured in the film, performs with Thee Majesty, along with Warhol superstar Penny Arcade, also in the film. It's at St. Paul's Cultural Center, 2215 W. North. $20 tickets include beer.
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