AMIA Spring 2021

Films from a long-shuttered Co-op end up in a closet. 37 years later the films are dragged out and shown as a curiosity. Some are quite good. But who is this female Polish immigrant underground filmmaker using the pseudonym HJ Roman? A beloved Super 8 Chicago filmmaker named Norm Bruns passed away from AIDS in 1990. Friends assume the films are lost and over the years calls to suspected relatives and partners are fruitless. Where are the films? Thankfully, some of these mysteries were cracked with the use of common public library resources like genealogical databases, reverse directories, microfilmed newspapers, and the patience and cooperation of fellow librarians.