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  A look inside Deep Tunnel

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  Chicago’s Deep Tunnel is a massive underground tunnel system that helps protect the region from flooding and wastewater. Beginning in 1975, two generations of workers have helped to build this 100-mile system of tunnels that is not scheduled to be fully completed until 2029. This month, construction was completed on the Thornton Quarry Reservoir, which will soon go online and be capable of holding 8 billion gallons of water. “The Deep Tunnel” is an impressionistic look at this underground tunnel […]

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  Surviving the Eastland

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  This summer marks the centenary of the 1915 Eastland disaster, one of the worst tragedies in Chicago history. On the morning of July 24, 1915, more than 2,500 people boarded the SS Eastland on the Chicago River near Clark Street. They were mostly employees of Western Electric headed to a company picnic in Michigan City, Indiana. Loaded to capacity, the ship tipped into the river, killing 844 people, many of whom were trapped in lower decks. Twenty-two entire families perished. […]

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  Who was Bill Veeck’s greatest hero?

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  BABE RUTH… Ask people to name five baseball players. Most will include “Babe Ruth,” even though his prime was 80 or 90 years ago and he died in 1948, 67 years ago this week. Many consider George Herman Ruth Jr. one of the greatest icons not only in baseball, but in all of American history. He was the most dominant player ever. In the 1922 season, he hit 54 home runs. No other player hit more than 19 and only […]

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  The Americans with Disabilities Act: 25 Years of Impact

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  2015 marks the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This law has made it possible for millions of people with disabilities to participate equally in society and live independently. This video is an excerpt from Julia Lesage’s 1995 “Getting Around,” which tells the stories of several University of Oregon students with disabilities. Watch the full version of “Getting Around” at Media Burn. Also, check out Julia Lesage’s article in Jump Cut, “Perpetual Subversion,” about her […]

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  A Visit to Hiroshima’s Peace Park

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  70 years ago today, the most devastating and destructive force the world had ever seen was unleashed on Hiroshima, Japan. The atomic bomb destroyed the city and killed nearly half of its inhabitants. In 1990, Jane Aaron, world class animator who shot just a few documentary videos in her life, went to Japan and created a series of short video vignettes. In this one, she visited the Peace Park in Hiroshima, where millions of people have left paper cranes to […]

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  The Cuba Caravan: Defying the U.S. Trade Embargo (1993)

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  Last week, the U.S. and Cuba formally resumed diplomatic relations after 54 years of animosity. This step is likely to lead to the end of the trade embargo and travel ban that have been in place for half a century. In this 1993 video, a group of activists from Chicago organize a “Cuba Caravan” to take supplies to Cuba in direct violation of the U.S. trade embargo, at a risk of ten year prison sentences. This footage was shot for […]

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  International Videoletters, 1975: Recently discovered rare tapes from feminist video network

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  We want to share two exciting early tapes from the collection of Kartemquin Films that we were able to transfer through the support of the Bay Area Video Coalition. Kartemquin Films is a collaborative center for documentary media makers who seek to foster a more engaged and empowered society. We’ve been working together over the last few years to preserve and digitize materials from KTQ’s incredibly historically significant archive of almost 50 years of work. The videos came from a […]

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  We Are Columbine: Director’s Statement

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  A NOTE FROM DIRECTOR LAURA FARBER: ALMOST HALFWAY THROUGH THE CAMPAIGN! Thank you so much to the folks that have contributed! We now have over $4.5K, putting us at 3%. This may seem like a drop in the bucket…A gentle reminder that we keep the money raised, so EVERY penny contributed truly DOES count towards finishing this film. Contribute here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/we-are-columbine-documentary-film From the Director from Lioness Productions on Vimeo.