Eliot Ness vs. Al Capone

January, 1947. The public receives the news of Al Capone's death with indifference, although twenty years earlier he had ruled Chicago's crime underworld with brute force and corrupting many touchable individuals. Until the day the head of the Untouchables Brigade, Eliot Ness, entered the scene. Since then, a cruel battle between the two of them began, a battle that ended in trial, conviction, disease, insanity and death.

From Jack to Juke

Currently all the rage with hipsters worldwide, Chicago Juke music has roots that run deep. The film chronicles the birth and evolution of a genre over 25 years. A fascinating watch!

17 Seconds

“17 Seconds” provides an all-access pass inside the Blackhawks locker room party in Boston and the airplane ride home with the Cup following Game 6, in addition to insight from the players on the Stanley Cup-winning team and members of the organization. Fans can ride along on the players’ buses during the championship parade and follow the Blackhawks as they spend their Cup days with family and friends, sharing the greatest trophy in sports with their communities. It also includes footage from the opening night banner raising ceremony.

Michelle Obama: Life After the White House

Former First Lady Michelle Obama's story has just begun. The Obamas have remained quite busy with their new life of activism which includes their issue-oriented production company, Higher Ground, which won an Oscar for Best Documentary in 2020. Mrs. Obama's autobiography, Becoming, has become the best-selling memoir of all time and even won a Grammy following the publication of her book. Get lost in the incredible journey of this modern-day First Lady's story in the making...

'85: The Greatest Team in Football History

Through never-been-seen-before footage and fascinating interviews with key members of the 1985 Chicago Bears -- Mike Ditka, Jim McMahon, Mike Singletary, and others -- you will hear the inside story of their historic season.

The John Wayne Gacy Murders: Life and Death in Chicago

Summaries "The John Wayne Gacy Murders: Life and Death in Chicago", Focuses on serial killer John Wayne Gacy's time in Chicago and includes information about Gacy's childhood, his career of crime in Waterloo, Iowa, and Gacy's becoming a celebrity in prison. Containing interviews with Chicago attorneys, news reporters, law enforcement officers, and history experts, the film illustrates what the atmosphere was like in Chicago when Gacy was murdering and ultimately apprehended. Gacy's time in prison as a celebrity serial killer is also explored in this groundbreaking film by Chicago native filmmaker John Borowski. —John Borowski

Chicago 10

Archival footage, animation and music are used to look back at the eight anti-war protesters who were put on trial following the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Urbanites - You Can't Rewind The Years

When you listen to The Years, the debut studio recording from Urbanites, you're hearing a band in progress. They wanted to make The Years differently, and decided to record the album together, live, in the same space - Studio A of Electrical Audio in Chicago, Illinois. With the exception of limited overdubs, (vocals, drum ensembles and laptop atmospherics) each song represented one collective take, warmly captured to two inch analogue tape. This recording method embraced the mistake as much as the moment. They also chose to document the making of the record with a film, appropriately titled, 'You Can't Rewind The Years'. With a new understanding and years of progress to come, these longtime friends are making the music that they'd always hoped to. As they sing, in The Years' standout track Restless, "Not without trial, not without err - this brokenness is ours to share."

Hoop Dreams

Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.

Pooh: The Derrick Rose Story

A never before seen look at the meteoric rise of Derrick Rose, the young Chicago superstar that was suddenly derailed by devastating injuries and unrealistic expectations for a hometown hero.

Der Stoff, aus dem Träume sind

The Spider and the Fly

Few amateur films with sound were produced in the 1930s and fewer remain extant. A charming artifact that demonstrates the expressive possibilities and technical limitations of amateur talkies, "The Spider and the Fly" includes a backyard Labor Day gathering, a trip to the Riverview Amusement Park, and a homemade Halloween parade of witches and ghouls.

Chicago at the Crossroad

While gun violence was on the decline in most major US cities, why did it continue to increase in Chicago's segregated communities? What is known about the systems that created the problem, the laws that isolated it, and the policies that abandoned it? Using dramatic footage, including interviews with residents on the front lines over the last 15 years, this documentary opens a rare historical window into the systematic creation of poverty stricken communities plagued by gun violence. 

Dandara: Enquanto Morar for um Privilégio, Ocupar é um Direito

Cooked: Survival by Zip Code

Filmmaker Judith Helfand's searing investigation into the politics of “disaster” – by way of the deadly 1995 Chicago heat wave, in which 739 residents perished (mostly Black and living in the city’s poorest neighborhoods).

Disney: Through the Looking Glass

Tito del Amo, a passionate 72-year-old researcher, takes the final step to unravel the enigma about the alleged Spanish origin of the American cartoonist Walt Disney, making the same journey that his supposed mother made to give him up for adoption in Chicago. A journey that begins in Mojácar, Almería, Spain, and ends in New York. An exciting adventure, like Alicia's through the looking glass, to discover what is truth and what is not, with an unexpected result.