Expanding Film Culture’s Field of Vision

Chuck Kleinhans and Julia Lesage’s passion for film moved beyond research and writing. Both were filmmakers themselves, working primarily with small gauge formats to create experimental video essays and documentaries highlighting social issues, such as the Postcards from Nicaragua, a “lyrical and political view of daily life in Esteli and Managua, Nicaragua, July - September 1984." Lesage’s work is often inspired by a critical feminist lens, documenting the lives of women, people of color, and working class people. 

Though Kleinhans’s work overlapped with Lesage’s experimental documentary format (they often worked together), he also created experimental films that took ready made images (such as adult films) and edited them with other films and audio to change the perspective and power dynamics in play. 

The screening flyers and brochures in the collection show how Kleinhans and Lesage's films were distributed and exhibited, in turn highlighting the venues, organizations, and circulation strategies for independent film in the United States and Chicago in particular, especially in the 1970s and 1980s.