Film Venues Archives: Chicago Park District

< Back to main Festival page

Adventures/Aventuras: Family Friendly Animated Shorts

  Various

  Germany, Mexico, Portugal, United States     30 minutes

Synopsis

Audiences of all ages can enjoy these three stories of adventure, all highlights from our Family Friendly Animation program, presented at the Harrison Park Field House in Pilsen.

A girl connects with her Mayan heritage on a camping trip with her father that turns into an exciting adventure in Balam (Mexico, U.S.). After a tiger escapes from the zoo, a bored subway worker gets the surprise of a lifetime in Town Hall Square (Germany). A curious girl gets sucked into the bizarre and magical world of the book she is reading in Ana Morphose (Portugal).

 English 

Screenings & Events

Sponsors

In Partnership With

logo: People's Center for Cultural & Contemporary Arts

< Back to main Festival page

Generations: Black Perspectives Shorts

  Various

  United States     34 minutes

Synopsis

Discover stories that resonate, inspire, and spark meaningful conversations in this year’s Community Cinema Shorts Program.

A lonely man is perplexed when his mother passes away and leaves him with her heart in a jar in the beautifully tender dark comedy The Heart (U.S). Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games (U.S.) delves into the historical use of hand games and artistic communication in Black culture.

  

 English 

Screenings & Events

< Back to main Festival page

A mother sits with her young daughter on her lap, in front of a plant with yellow flowers and a beige cloth backdrop.

Chronicle of a Summer Day [short film]

  United States     17 minutes

Synopsis

In the summer of 2021, John Caleb Pendleton and a team of designers created a floral installation in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood in commemoration of Juneteenth. Beautifully blending poetry and collage-style imagery, Chronicle of a Summer Day is a testament to the power of artistic expression as a unifying force. Produced by Bronzeville Collective.

This film screens as part of the Black Perspectives Special Program – Beyond the Frame program.

  

< Back to main Festival page

A girl in a warm hooded coat leads a horse by the bridle.

The Echo El Eco

  Tatiana Huezo

  Mexico, Germany     102 minutes

Synopsis

In the small rural Mexican village of El Eco, a teenage girl, Montse, dutifully works alongside her family, caring for the sheep and her grandmother with the same sense of curiosity and devotion. While frost and drought punish the land, she learns the ways of life and death. As in her auspicious fiction feature Prayers for the Stolen, with this lyrical coming-of-age docu-fable acclaimed Mexican-Salvadorean filmmaker Tatiana Huezo beautifully captures both the preciousness of adolescence and the region’s unforgiving elements.

Exquisitely textured and deeply empathetic, The Echo unfolds like a dream, shifting between the sweet and the dark. In sumptuous, vivid images, Hueso observes how children’s lives in these hardscrabble towns mirror those of their parents and grandparents in a generational cycle of struggle and hope.

 Spanish with subtitles 

Screenings & Events

Media

Film Credits

  •   Tatiana Huezo, Dalia Reyes
  •   Tatiana Huezo
  •   Lucrecia Gutiérrez (AMEE), Tatiana Huezo
  •   Ernesto Pardo
  •   Montserrat Hernández Hernández, Luz María Vázquez González, Sarahí Rojas Hernández, María de los Ángeles Pacheco Tapia
  •   Leonardo Heiblum, Jacobo Lieberman
  •   Maya Scherr-Willson
  •   Radiola films
  •   https://lineup.the-match-factory.digital/berlinale-23/the-echo

Sponsors

Documentary Program Sponsors

Logo: WTTW (2019)Cynthia Stone Raskin

< Back to main Festival page

Two black cyclists, in full kits, ride past camera on a flat road.

Bike Vessel

  Eric D. Seals

  United States     92 minutes

Synopsis

Pulled pork, ribs, and liverwurst sandwiches — these are a few of the Southern delicacies filmmaker Eric D. Seals grew up eating alongside his father, Donnie Seals, Sr. But after facing death and undergoing the first of three quadruple bypass operations, the elder Seals decided to completely overhaul his life. Bike Vessel chronicles Donnie’s new chapter after becoming an avid cyclist, and follows the two men as they set out on an epic bike ride from St. Louis to Chicago.

Filled with flat tires, GPS snafus, and fast-food detours, the documentary is both a funny document of a father-son road trip and a powerful social statement. Through Eric and Donnie’s relationship, it takes a hard look at health disparities in the Black community and the systemic racism plaguing the well-being of Black men in America.

 English 

Screenings & Events

Virtual Screening

This film will be available to stream from October 16 at 12:00pm CT to October 22 at 11:59pm CDT, available only in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Learn more about streaming…

Accessibility options for this screening:
  • Closed Captions
Learn more about accessibility options...

Media

Film Credits

  •   Donnie Seals, Resita Cox
  •   Eric D. Seals
  •   Cai Thomas
  •   Donnie Seals Sr., Sharon Seals, Donnie Seals Jr., Nicole Newsome, Eric D. Seals, Dr. Terry Mason, Dr. Medell Briggs-Malonson, Dr. Stanley K. Frencher
  •   Zo!
  •   Eric D. Seals
  •   Digife
  •   https://bikevessel.com

Sponsors

Documentary Program Sponsors

Logo: WTTW (2019)Cynthia Stone Raskin

Black Perspectives Program Sponsor

logo: Allstate 199x50

Film Sponsors

logo: SRAM 330x50logo: Chicago Sun-Times 333x40Logo: WBEZ 91.5 - 285x100

Live Captioning

Logo: Caption Consulting 164x150