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"Year of the Rooster (2005), the first feature by Hart
Ginsburg and Dave Schmüdde, is a compelling mixture of documentary,
essay, and fiction. Shot in Chicago and the countryside of Japan,
the film is a portrait of the people and places encountered by Donald
Stevenson on his travels. But just who is Donald Stevenson and what
is his relation to the director. Along the way there are interviews
with homeless men and rural Japanese villagers, random violence,
opinions by foreign visitors on the "Bean" and everyday people reading
the "Poetry" of Donald Rumsfeld. The disparate elements combine
to form a complex, mysterious, disturbing, and encouraging portrait
of the post 9-11 world."
-- Patrick Friel, Programming Director, Chicago Filmmakers -- Fall 2005
"Filmmakers Hart and Schmüdde have put together a lot of interesting pieces and the net effect is to represent people who are suffering and the difficulty of the struggle in life in the post 9-11 phase... The expressive qualities of the film and the human compassion qualities of this film are striking to me."
-- NPR's Jonathan Miller appearing on Chicago Public
Radio's 848
-- November 18, 2005
"Ginsburg and Schmüdde's rambling video consists mostly of
awkwardly shot person-in-the-street interviews in Chicago and Japan
on subjects ranging from racial injustice to gay marriage and the
Iraq war. But it has the virtue of oddness. Though we hear about
police chasing a black kid on his bike and a war veteran's suicide,
the framing story implies that we're seeing videos made by a recently
deceased gay man on a delusional mission to save the world - their
loose organization and offhand nature hint at some impending collapse,
perhaps his, perhaps all of ours."
-- Fred Camper, Chicago Reader -- November 18,
2005 |
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"Aijo this experimental documentary by local filmmakers Hart Ginsburg and Dave Schmudde is part of their series that explores basic human needs and the resilience of people who are denied those things. Aijo takes its title from the Japanese word for love and consists mostly of street interviews of marginalized members of society-addicts, the elderly, the homeless. Ginsburg and Schmudde ask disarmingly simple questions ("What is love?"; "Have you ever felt loved?"), and though the rambling, hard luck responses can be numbing, they're shaped into something richer and more affecting thank I initially expected."
-- Reece Pendletonh, Chicago Reader -- September 25, 2008
"Aijo is an interesting documentary that uses the camera
as confessional. The documentarian simply asks questions about
love and life and allows people to have their own personal catharsis
right on camera. It seems very simplistic by design but it gets
deeper and deeper as you go."
-- Michael Eschenbach, Chairman of Somewhat
North of Boston Film Festival -- November 10, 2006
"Aijo was wonderful it should have been in an earlier
time block, but it certainly made people think and
become very quiet.
Very nice and thanks so much for submitting it."
-- Eric Sommer, Chairman of Georgetown
Film and Music Festival -- November 18, 2006
"Shot in Japan and Chicago, Aijo is an exploration of
love and regret through conversations with strangers on the street.
Ginsburg said the film was inspired by a suicide note found at
the Golden Gate Bridge in 2003 that read 'I am going to walk to
the bridge, if one person smiles at me on the way I will not jump.'"
-- Ed M. Koziarski Reel
Chicago, director of Homesick
Blues -- Summer 2006 |
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"Reflections (2007/2009) by Hart Ginsburg and Dave Schmudde. Continuing to explore human truths in a vox populi format, Ginsburg trains his camera on Chicago citizens to ask "What is freedom?" The answer is always surprising. Like their previous films Aijo and The Year of the Rooster, narrative elements add suspense and a poignant dimension to the interviews featured on screen."
-- Todd Lillethum, Programming Director, Chicago Filmmakers -- August 2009
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