Computer Chess

press release: Andrew Bujalski in Person!

USA | 2013 | 35mm | 92 min.; Director: Andrew Bujalski

Cast: Wiley Wiggins, Cyndi Williams, Gerald Peary

In the early 1980s, the nascent days of video gaming, a group of scientists, software programmers, game theorists, and graduate students descend upon a Midwestern Holiday Inn for one of the country's first computer chess tournaments. Our nerdy protagonists attempt to engage in social interactions, which get complicated when they cross paths with some swinging participants in a New Age encounter group who are also staying at the hotel. Bujalski’s breakthrough fourth feature is a multi-character study of human behavior worthy of Robert Altman's best films. Shot almost entirely on a primitive black and white video format (and now transferred to 35mm film by the Chicago Film Society), Computer Chess is a frequently very funny, sometimes nostalgic look at the dawning of what we know today as artificial intelligence. Writer and director Bujalski will answer questions following the screening.

Andrew Bujalski: A shining light among filmmakers working in low-budget independently produced features, Andrew Bujalski started a movement with the semi-improvised, character-driven style he later coined as “mumblecore” in movies like Funny Ha Ha. In his subsequent work, notably Computer Chess, he emerged as a daring narrative strategist with a distinct visual style. Our series covers the first four features of the writer, director and sometimes actor, all shown on 35mm prints. Andrew Bujalski will join us in person March 28-30 to present Funny Ha Ha and Computer Chess, as well as a special screening of Sylvester Stallone’s Paradise Alley.

Admission free for all screenings, seating limited. No admission 15 minutes after scheduled start times.