WBEZ: Rediscovering Norm Bruns: A Chicago filmmaker whose work was almost forgotten

By Courtney Kueppers

September 22, 2022

After his death at age 40, Bruns’s films weren’t shown for nearly three decades. They were sometimes spoken about in a near mythical manner among Super 8 buffs, but were mostly chalked up as long lost art, said Josh B. Mabe, a local filmmaker.

Now, thanks to Mabe’s determination and perhaps a touch of movie magic, Chicago audiences will be reintroduced to Bruns’s work at the 40th annual Reeling Film Festival — formerly known as the Chicago Lesbian and Gay Film Festival that showed his work more than 30 years ago.