Podtalk: Nicole Brending’s ‘Dollhouse’ Closes the Chicago Underground Film Fest, June 9, 2019

CHICAGO – Closing Night is upon the 26th Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF), and a provocative film will bring down the curtain on the fest. “Dollhouse,” subtitled “The Eradication of Female Subjectivity from American Popular Culture,” will screen at 8:30pm on Sunday, June 9th, 2019, at the Logan Theatre in Chicago. Click here [16] for details and tickets.



“Dollhouse” – created and directed by Nicole Brending – is a puppet film, similar to “Team America” by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, that is framed in a mock-cumentary “Behind the Music” format. Junie Spoon is a stage-Mom-driven child performer, who burns bright with sexual-themed pop songs before becoming a teenager. The society that uplifts also burns her out, as this extreme farcical satire puts Junie Spoon through the wringer before discarding her. As frank and un-PC as a film can be, it symbolically comments on misogyny in American culture, through the blank stares of creator Nicole Brending’s cast of puppets.

Closing Night Film for CUFF is ‘Dollhouse,’ Directed by Nicole Brending
Photo credit: CUFF.org

Nicole Brending wrote, directed, edited, composed pop songs and did voices in “Dollhouse.” She grew up in Minnesota, and lived in New York City for ten years as she was developing her art. She did professional theater as a child, and got her MFA graduate degree in film from Columbia University in New York. “Dollhouse” is her debut as a filmmaker.



In a Podtalk with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, filmmaker Nicole Brending uncovers the mechanics of making a puppet film, her message within it, and the development of the story.



The Chicago Underground Film Festival is an annual event showcasing independent, experimental and documentary films from around the world. The festival showcases the best in new American and international cinema, and provides its audiences access to some of the most critically acclaimed filmmakers and emerging talent from around the world. The main body of the festival is comprised of 25 programs, with narrative, documentary, experimental features, shorts and music videos, representing more than 20 countries, along with nightly parties and live music, discussions and other networking and community building events.

[19]	By PATRICK McDONALD [20] Editor and Film Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com [19]