Radical Disciple: The Story of Father Pfleger

Solitud de Cristo

June 2020 •Spanish

From Jack to Juke

January 2013 •English

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!

Religulous

October 2008 •English

Commentator-comic Bill Maher plays devil's advocate with religion as he talks to believers about their faith. Traveling around the world, Maher examines the tenets of Christianity, Judaism and Islam and raises questions about homosexuality, proof of Christ's existence, Jewish Sabbath laws, violent Muslim extremists.

¿Que Haces Aqui? A Documentary About Karen

September 2021 •English

Can flipping through the channels change your life? For Karen, a former prosecutor living in Chicago, her world changed forever when she accidentally fell in love with telenovelas. Now she has quit her job, and she's moving to Mexico City to write the telenovela she's always wanted to watch.

Nightsong

January 1964 •English

A portrait of the Chicago Near-North nightlife scene in the mid-1960s, centering around the struggles and romantic desires of an African American singer played by long-forgotten folk sensation Willie Wright. (Courtesy Chicago Film Archives)

17 Seconds

October 2013 •English

“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.

The Janes

May 2022 •English

Defying the state legislature that outlawed abortion, the Catholic Church that condemned it, and the Chicago Mob that was profiting from it, the members of “Jane” risked their personal and professional lives to support women with unwanted pregnancies. In the pre-Roe v. Wade era — a time when abortion was a crime in most states and even circulating information about abortion was a felony in Illinois — the Janes provided low-cost and free abortions to an estimated 11,000 women.

The Family

July 2016 •English

Anne Hamilton-Byrne was beautiful, charismatic and delusional. She was also incredibly dangerous. Convinced she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, Hamilton-Byrne headed an apocalyptic sect called The Family, which was prominent in Melbourne from the 1960s through to the 1990s. With her husband Bill, she acquired numerous children – some through adoption scams, some born to cult members – and raised them as her own. Isolated from the outside world, the children were dressed in matching outfits, had identical dyed blonde hair, and were allegedly beaten, starved and injected with LSD. Taught that Hamilton-Byrne was both their mother and the messiah, the children were eventually rescued during a police raid in 1987, but their trauma had only just begun.

Irish Chicago

March 2009 •English

The colorful stories of Irish-American immigrants and their descendants who lived the history and exemplify the repeated cycle of the outsider becoming the ultimate Chicago citizen-insider.

Mary's Land

December 2013 •Spanish

A figure skater seeks wisdom from a local sage to cure her diabetes.

Eliot Ness vs. Al Capone

March 2009 •French

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.

Francesco

October 2020 •English

Francesco takes an unsparing look at the most pressing challenges of the 21st-century, asking deep questions about the human condition. The film is guided by Pope Francis who, with tremendous humility, wisdom, and generosity, offers moving lessons from his life that illuminate what it will take to build a better future. In doing so, he addresses issues such as climate change, immigration, peace and religious tolerance, LGBTQ support, gender and identity justice, and economic equality.

'85: The Greatest Team in Football History

October 2016 •English

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.

Merton: A Film Biography

January 1984 •English

In his lifetime, Thomas Merton was hailed as a prophet and censured for his outspoken social criticism. For nearly 27 years he was a monk of the austere Trappist order, where he became an eloquent spiritual writer and mystic as well as an anti-war advocate and witness to peace. Merton: A Film Biography provides the first comprehensive look at this remarkable 20th century religious philosopher who wrote, in addition to his immensely popular autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, over 60 books on some of the most pressing social issues of our time, some of which are excerpted here. Merton offers an engaging profile of a man whose presence in the world touched millions of people and whose words and thoughts continue to have a profound impact and relevance today.

Il delitto Varani

March 2018 •Italian

A docu-film about the events related to the murder of a Roman boy of Macedonian origins, Luca Varani, 23, which took place on the morning of 4 March 2016. Manuel Foffo, a 29-year-old university student, from a wealthy family, confesses to his father Valter the atrocious crime committed during a sex and drug-based party that lasted three days and three nights and which involved another boy named Marco Prato, thirty years old, homosexual and well known in the Roman environment of organized parties. Manuel and Marco, totally addicted to alcohol and cocaine, allegedly lured Luca Varani into Manuel's apartment on a pretext to then drug him, torture him and finally kill him cruelly with hammers and stabs. Manuel Foffo will plead guilty and will be sentenced to thirty years in prison with the abbreviated procedure, while Marco Prato, who will claim to be innocent and only subjected (for love) to Manuel's will, will commit suicide the day before the start of the trial.

Love God's Will

March 2024 •English

After graduating from Texas A&M as a petroleum engineer with a promising career ahead of him, Fr. Ryan Stawaisz felt God calling him to the priesthood. A year before his ordination, Ryan was diagnosed with cancer, and his desire became not only to DO God's will, but to LOVE God's will. Despite his battle with cancer, Fr. Ryan remained steadfast in his desire to serve others and to share the love of Christ with everyone who crossed his path. This is his story.

Vera Klement: Blunt Edge

September 2010 •English

As her 80th birthday is approaching, Vera Klement, an oil painter in Chicago, adamantly starts yet another new figure painting: a portrait of an artist under oppression, an homage to Russian composer, Dmitri Shostakovitch.

The Third Way

April 2014 •English

Documentary film about Catholic Church teachings about homosexuality. Describes the "third way", the lifestyle lead by orthodox gay Catholics practicing celibacy out of personal choice, an often overlooked demographic in the debates about homosexuality in the Church.

Pooh: The Derrick Rose Story

April 2019 •English

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.

Michelle Obama: Life After the White House

January 2020 •English

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...