Program:

Chicken Elaine, 1983, 1:00

Made for TV, 1984, 15:00

Hustle With My Muscle, 1986, 4:00

The Mother Show, 1991, 4:00

From the Files of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge, 6:00

Listen to This, 1992, 15:30

Drag Queen Marathon, 1986, 5:00

Total Run Time: Approx. 51 Mins + QA

The Closing Night of the 34th Onion City Experimental Film Festival.

Chicago Filmmakers (map) | April 7 at 7PM

Presented in partnership with Nightingale Projects and Video Data Bank, programmed by Emily Eddy.

“A quintessential New York underground film/video artist, the late Tom Rubnitz took a bite out of the Big Apple and spat it out in a wild kaleidoscope of unequivocal camp and hallucinogenic color. Ann Magnuson, the B-52s, The “Lady” Bunny, and the late John Sex are but a few of the stars that shine oh-so-brightly in Rubnitz’s glittering oeuvre. A genre artist par excellence, Rubnitz treated the sexy-druggy-wiggy-luscious-desserty qualities of the ’80s downtown club scene with the loving care only a true hedonist could show. Rubnitz died from an AIDS-related illness in 1992.” - Video Data Bank

The work of Tom Rubnitz can be described by an array of adjectives including sexy, glamorous, campy, hallucinogenic, hedonistic, joyful, and romantic, but the heart of the work is the New York City queer community who collaborated on this bouquet of images from the 1980s-90s.

Originally from Chicagoland, Tom Rubnitz, a New York transplant, injected both humor and clarity into the deadliest decade of the AIDS crisis. From playful takes on advertising and drag performances at the renowned Pyramid Club to more serious commentary, such as his collaboration with artist and writer David Wojnarowicz, this program describes a decade of queer culture, performance, and friendship.