Z Film Festival
The Z Film Festival is a microcinema media-showcase that was created by filmmaker Usama Alshaibi and launched on December 1, 2000 at the Heaven Gallery in Chicago. The following year, Kristie Alshaibi teamed up with Usama as director and programmer for the Z Film Festival. In 2001 the Z Film Festival began to solicit short movies internationally, and screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center in downtown Chicago. The festival had its final event in 2006.
Some of the filmmakers that were featured in the Z Film Festival: Miranda July, Richard Kern, James Fotopoulos, Tom Palazzolo, Mark Hejnar, Shawn Durr, Carey Burtt, Meg McCarville, John Goras, Piotr Tokarski, Steve Hall, and Cathee Wilkins.