International Museum of Surgical Science

Film Screening and Special Guest: Tom Palazzolo and Surrealism in Chicago
2025-10-08 19:00 - 21:30 (America/Chicago) | International Museum of Surgical Science, 1524 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60610, United States
Join us for a mind-bending film screening with Tom Palazzolo exploring the surreal side of Chicago

The International Museum of Surgical Science and Luis Buñuel Film Institute Present “Surrealism in Chicago: The Films of Tom Palazzolo”
October 8th, 7:00pm-9:00pm
Doors: 6:00pm

Tickets:
$15 GA Presale
$10 Student Presale (Use code STUDENT at checkout)
$10 IMSS Member Presale (Use code IMSSMEMBER at checkout)
—
$20 at Door
$15 Student at Door
$15 IMSS Member at Door

Join us on October 8, 2025, at the International Museum of Surgical Science (IMSS) for a unique conversation with local artist Andy Somma about the surrealist films of Tom Palazzolo. Discover the creative process behind Palazzolo’s work, featuring films that showcase his ability to capture the absurdities of Midwestern life.
The evening will end with a film tribute to the legacy of Luis Buñuel.
Format: Digital
Director Tom Palazzolo in attendance.

Program 1 at 7:00 PM
Bride Stripped Bare (Bride Unveiled), Dir. Tom Palazzolo (1967, color, sound, 14 mins)
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 mouthed almost universally upon its unveiling, we get some of that social commentary here, as well as lots of souvenirs.
O, Dir. Tom Palazzolo (1967, color, sound, 12 mins)
From the “Chicago-Scope: The Films of Tom Palazzolo, 1967–1976” catalogue: “One of Tom Palazzolo’s first films, this inspired in part by René Clair’s 1924 film starring Francis Picabia, Entr’acte. O’s use of double exposure, free association and improvisation, chiaroscuro, and a nonsensical “musique concrète” soundtrack pay homage to these masters of Dada and Surrealism.”
The Tattooed Lady of Riverview, Dir. Tom Palazzolo (1967, color, sound, 15 mins)
Tom Palazzolo documents “The Tattooed Lady of Riverview,” part of the freak show in the waning days of Chicago’s Riverview amusement park.
TRT = 41 mins

Program 2 at 8:00 PM
A Conversation between Director Tom Palazzolo and artist Andy Somma. Questions and commentary welcome from the audience. (30 min)
Luis Buñuel Film Tribute (15 min)

The Luis Buñuel Film Institute aims to be the seminal resource for the film and writing, research, knowledge and scholarship on Buñuel’s life and work.

This program is presented in connection with the retrospective exhibition, “Buñuel: Master of Dreams,” on view at the International Museum of Surgical Science through February 22, 2026.

Tom Palazzolo (1937- ) was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1937 to Helen (née McEneny) and Benjamin “Teenie” Palazzolo. He spent two years at the John and Mable Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida. His interest in painting led him to move to Chicago in 1960 and begin studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he also studied photography with Kenneth Josephson. Ken encouraged Tom’s interest in filmmaking, and Tom was given use of a Bell and Howell 16mm camera that had been donated to the department by a veteran WWII cameraman. Tom’s first films were completed shortly after his graduation with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in photography in 1965. At this time, he also began teaching art and photography at Richard J. Daley College.In the 1960s, Tom was associated with a group of “underground” filmmakers and in 1968 had a one-person film show at MoMA. That same year he married fellow artist Marcia Daehn. In 1969, Jonas Mekas commented in The Village Voice that Palazzolo’s films were close to the work of Bruce Baillie in terms of their sensitivity and human compassion. Tom was hired in 1969 by the US Information Agency (USIA) to show and discuss American independent films in the Middle East.Tom has continued making and showing documentary films right up to the present; most recently, he produced Kapra Fleming’s film Lee Godie: Chicago French Impressionist (2021). In 2018, his films were part of the Art Institute of Chicago’s “Never a Lovely So Real: Photography and Film in Chicago, 1950-80” exhibition. He has also been featured at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Lincoln Center, Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, Museum of Contemporary Art, the New Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, Gene Siskel Film Center, and the Walker Art Museum, among other venues.Tom has been the recipient of grants and awards from the American Film Institute, National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council, Center for New TV, Illinois Academy of Art, and the Andy Warhol Foundation, as well as a National Film Preservation Foundation grant to preserve a selection of films in 2006. His work has been reviewed by Roger Ebert (Sun-Times), Gene Siskel (Tribune), New York Times, Variety, Village Voice, and London Times, among others, and has screened at festivals including the Chicago International, Ann Arbor, New York, Cannes (out of competition), Edinburgh, and more. Tom has had retrospectives at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 1977 and at Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art in Berlin, Germany, in 1989.He has three children (Sarah, Todd and Amy) and lives in Oak Park with his wife.

“Tom Palazzolo’s Life in Pictures,” by Jack Helbig, Chicago Reader, September 23, 1999.

Andy Somma, An Italian-born native, has been involved in the performance art scene in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco since the 1980s. He is an art historian, curator, producer, and performance artist, with a passion for mid-century modern design.
