Tom Palazzolo Movies

An experimental silent film by Tom Palazzolo documenting the comings and goings of Chicago's "El" rapid transit system in the 1970s. Exact year...

The two filmmakers use the style of direct cinema to film the Italian/Polish backyard wedding shower of a young couple, Ricky and Rocky. The pair...

JERRY'S DELI is a testament to a bygone era when shrieking lunatics could run successful (even popular) businesses. Shot on film-stock leftover from...

On August 13, 1969 thousands of Chicagolandians flocked to downtown Chicago to get a glimpse of the first humans on the Moon (Neil A. Armstrong,...

Tom Palazzolo's rapid-fire, seemingly spontaneous documentary style captures Chicago with pizazz. For more than ten years, Palazzolo has been...

The once teeming Riverview Park was shut down in 1967. The Tattooed Lady of Riverview is a portrait of its final occupant, Jean Furella, the titular...

Rita, a young high school student, recounts and reflects on her life in a monologue played over footage of her wandering through various beautiful...

Venus and Adonis offers a playful retelling of the Classical myth. Filmed at Chicago's North Avenue Beach, filmmaker Tom Palazzolo plays the handsome...

ADDED LESSONS is an absurdist fever dream that follows young Francis (Liam Hayes) as he's bounced between maternal demands, burgeoning sexual...

Palazzolo's cameras are there as Mayor Richard Daley reveals the Picasso gifted to the city from the famed artist. Nicknamed "the Bride" and bad...

Based on a comic Heather McAdams created for the Chicago Reader, the short comedic film was made by Tom Palazzolo's 1990 film production class at the...

I've always been interested in recording Chicago's history, particularly its offbeat and unofficial aspects. In a way, I consider myself a renegade...

Set in a bizarro St. Louis and populated with characters from Palazzolo’s boyhood memories, Caligari’s Cure is an irreverent retelling of...

A portrait of the spectators and press covering the dedication of Claes Oldenburg's "Batcolumn" sculpture on April 14, 1977, outside of the...

Home movie capturing the 6th birthday party thrown for Palazzolo's daughter, Sarah Marie, who was born in 1972. Features scenes of children eating...

A fascinating and touching portrait of isolation in big cities, Roger the Dodger features an extended interview with a man who was arrested by the...

Tom Palazzolo takes us on a tour of the Chicago neighborhood where he lived in the 1960s, stretching down Clark Street from Chicago Avenue to the...

A short film by filmmaker Tom Palazzolo with his students of an informal illegal gambling type of game on a sidewalk of the Maxwell Street Market....

This film follows a film crew as they make a TV spot for a Ford new/used car dealer who (even though he is dressed in white) is not the kind of...

Tom Palazzolo films the goings-on at Labor Day festival in East Chicago.