This festival of films and videos by black artists from around the world runs Friday, August 3, through Tuesday, August 14, at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State. Tickets are $8, $4 for film center members, and $3 for SAIC students. For further information call 312-846-2800.

Downtown 81

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Scripted by rock critic Glenn O’Brien and directed by photographer Edo Bertoglio, this kaleidoscopic tour of the NYC underground was shot in 1981 under the title New York Beat, then lost for many years before being released in 2000. Doomed painter Jean-Michel Basquiat stars as an existential innocent just released from the hospital who roams the Lower East Side, making art and encountering an assortment of musical hipsters (including DNA, the Plastics, and Kid Creole and the Coconuts). He’s appealing in the role, which was modeled after him, and though the film digresses too much to cohere as a narrative, it works surprisingly well as a nostalgic document of a bygone era. 72 min. (TS) A 35-millimeter print will be shown. (8:15)

47 min.), the longest item on this program, Lisa Alspector wrote: “An industrious boy living in Cabrini-Green is often assaulted by other kids, and his mother is determined to leave the housing project even if it means moving out of state. When he finally makes a friend, a carriage driver who introduces him to the Magnificent Mile and things equestrian, the boy decides he wants to stay in Chicago. Writer-director Brigid Murphy, creator of Milly’s Orchid Show, transforms the city into a place of wonder while providing a child’s-eye view on matters such as gun violence and sexual bigotry. Dialogue that’s more allusive than evasive and plotting that’s more optimistic than unrealistic help create the fairy-tale tone of this featurette.” Also on the program, two videos: Marcie Aroy and Beverly Oden’s 24-minute Step Show: Portrait of a Black Fraternity and Kirby Ashley’s 33-minute Faithless. Murphy will attend the screening. (3:30)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5

See listing for Sunday, August 5. (6:15)

See listing for Saturday, August 4. Filmmaker Brigid Murphy will attend the screening. (8:15)