Episode list

Reel Midwest

Inquiring Nuns

Wed, Jan 02, 2019
Two young nuns explore Chicago-from a supermarket to the Art Institute to the front of churches on Sunday-to confront people with the crucial question, "Are you happy?" The answers they get range in sincerity and depth.
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Diverse Voices

Wed, Jan 09, 2019
This collection of short films follow the life and times of a variety of everyday people, including a shoeshine technician, a magician, a skateboarder, a mom-and-pop hardware store owner, and more. Films include: Shinemen, The Amazing Mr. Ash, and Parts and Labor.
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Vietnam, Long Time Coming
Back in 1998, the World T.E.A.M. (The Exceptional Athlete Matters) took a 16-day, 1,100 mile bicycle expedition through once war-torn Northern and Southern Vietnam. For the veteran athletes, the ride is more of an exorcism than a race.
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Now We Live on Clifton
10-year-old Pam Taylor and her 12-year-old brother Scott grew up in a multiracial Chicago neighborhood, but they worry that they'll be forced out of the neighborhood by the gentrification following the expansion of DePaul University.
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Winnie Wright - Age 11
Winnie, the daughter of a steel worker and a teacher, lives in a Chicago neighborhood that is changing from white to black. As her family struggles with racism, inflation, and a threatened strike, she learns what it means to grow up white, working class, and female.
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My Sister Hali

Wed, Jan 30, 2019
After 50 years of burying the past, Paul Sheriff returns to his childhood hometown of Blue Mound, Illinois to reconstruct the pieces of his extraordinary childhood filled with Olympic dreams and catastrophic loss.
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The Gun Shop

Wed, Feb 06, 2019
Go behind the scenes at a gun shop in Michigan where customers come to get advice, handle the weapons, and practice at the on-site shooting range. Each has their own rationale for wanting to own a gun, some thoughtful, and some shocking. All are thought-provoking.
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On Beauty

Wed, Feb 13, 2019
In hopes to change the way we see and experience beauty, fashion photographer Rick Guidotti refocuses his lens on those too often relegated to the shadows. His photos challenge our narrow scope of beauty and the dehumanizing black-bar convention of medical textbooks.
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In the Game

Wed, Feb 20, 2019
This Kartemquin documentary film, directed by Peabody award-winner Maria Finitzo, follows the ups and downs of a girls' soccer team on Chicago's South side, and reveals the very real obstacles that low-income students face in their quest for higher education.
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The Way to Andina
A witty personal documentary about the discovery of a long lost opera written by a pioneering Colombian-American immigrant composer, and his great-grandson's comical attempt to put the show on for a world premiere 80 years after it was written.
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Edit Focus

A Luv Letter 2 Buffalo

A Luv Letter 2 Buffalo

A tribute to the 10 victims of the Tops Shooting in Buffalo, NY, blends documentary testimonial segments with performance art pieces to create a narrative of the black experience in America. On May 14th, 2022, a white supremicist traveled 200 miles to the nearest most African American populated area, and opened fire in a Tops Market, killing 10, injuring 3, and changing a community forever. Director, Tony Merkurii blends elements of docu-drama and a Spike Lee-esque urban fantasy, to convey the abstract life that many Black Americans face; All while following the 10 families of the shooting victims, to discover who these people were and the legacies they will leave behind. Filming predominantly in the community of East and Downtown Buffalo, Nightmare K!dZzz Productions has made it known that they are determined to make this film for and by Buffalonians; Hiring mostly from the area, and welcoming victim's family members onto the production team, this film is a proud community effort to remember these 10 beautiful people with dignity. The production is set to start principal photography in April of 2023, and to release in the summer of 2023. Additionally, the intention of the team is to submit the film to a number of film festivals across New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, as well as broader festivals like Sundance and the Nicholl Committee. Roberta Drury. Andre Mackniel. Geraldine Talley. Celestine Chaney. Ruth Whitfield. Margus Morrison. Aaron Salter. Pearl Young. Heyward Patterson. Katherine Massey. Remember their names. Remember their lives.

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