AMERICAN ALTERNATIVE: KURT HEYL (2025)

Before Brakhage and Landow, there was Kurt Heyl, a South Side native, musician, and School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s first film student, who briefly held together that school’s experimental film program with spit, spirit, and stubborn grit. Built from Heyl’s own words and images, this video essay kicks off the Chicago Media Histories Project with a rough-edged tribute to a nearly forgotten chapter in underground cinema.

If you liked AMERICAN ALTERNATIVE: KURT HEYL, you might also like…

92% match

The Director and the Jedi

2018

88% match

Milius

2013

86% match

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond

2017

80% match

Tropic Thunder: Rain of Madness

2008

75% match

Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream

2006

75% match

Crumb

1995

70% match

The Making of Star Wars

1977

69% match

The Skywalker Legacy

2020

64% match

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films

2014

60% match

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound

2019

60% match

Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story

2025

60% match

Car Wash

1976

60% match

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years

1988

60% match

Woody Allen: A Documentary

2011

60% match

They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

2018

60% match

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession

2004

60% match

Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return

2022

60% match

Cadillac Records

2008

60% match

Einstein and the Bomb

2024

60% match

I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale

2009