A Christmas parade in downtown Chicago is intercut with mail carriers on their routes, suggesting their role in delivering gifts during the holiday. This footage is identical to, and may be the original for, the first half of JoAnn Elam’s full film ” The Christmas Story ” (F.2011-01-0132).
“Piano & Kitty” appears to take its label from the window-framed feline and movers transporting a piano that appear at the end of the film. However, the majority of the runtime instead consists of a series of short, mostly underexposed vignettes depicting different lamps and lightbulbs, a car parking at night, and lace curtains and
Scenes of a street fair in the Haight-Ashbury disctrict of San Francisco, CA, filmed as a mix of close-up and long shots (as if from a balcony). A rock band plays on stage while attendees stroll through the street and look at items for sale. Along the booths, special attention is paid to a face-painter.
With intermittent flashes of light leak, this film primarily consists of underexposed shots of twisting tree branches located somewhere outside. Occasionally cars are visible driving by in the background. “Southport” likely refers to Southport Avenue, a street in Chicago, and the date of production remains unknown.
The structure, water, La Salle Street Bridge, and pedestrians of the Chicago River are described through a succession of very short shots. The first two-thirds are filmed through a chain-link fence, while the latter third focuses on stairs, handrails, and brickwork.
A short montage of a black cat sitting in a windowsill within the creeping vines of a plant. Date of production unknown.
“Test Backyard” explores the different views of the area surrounding and within JoAnn Elam’s Logan Square backyard (a frequent locale in her work). The perspective on her neighbor’s back porches, trees, and Elam’s own garden changes from indoors and outdoors, close-up and from a distance, and in and out of crisp focus. Although its title
This footage by JoAnn Elam was shot during a snowstorm around 1974, probably in Chicago where Elam lived. Everything is covered in snow and the screen is almost entirely white, save for a few people walking around and shovelling snow and their dogs. Similar to much of Elam’s film work set in nature, Struggle also
After beginning with a short shot of JoAnn Elam and who appears to be her sister Susam Elam in the doorway of a barn, this film subsequently focuses on Susan riding a horse, Marlboro, around a corral in Grayslake, IL. Occasionally, the back of a third woman’s head is visible. Another film, ” Susan Riding
In this footage, JoAnn Elam follows postal workers during a protest that their unions organized in Washington, D.C., in the late 1970s. Prominently featured are signs from representatives of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), of which Elam was a member. Following the daytime protests, Elam also