Focus Features

From Mrs. O’Leary’s clumsy cow to the machine gun bursts at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, from the Haymarket Riot’s bomb to the head busting at the ’68 Democratic Convention, Chicago has been a city where urban myths run face first into national history. Somebody’s always getting hurt, falling in love, starting a fight, or making in film in Chicago. The novelist Theodore Dreiser exclaimed, “It is given to some cities, as to some lands, to suggest romance, and to me Chicago did that daily and hourly.” And it has done the same for filmmakers, playwrights, and writers of all sorts. Movie City: Chicago looks at the Windy City from many directions. 

Ray Pride marries his profound knowledge of film with his lyrical photography to show how he sees his favorite films wherever he goes. Joel Bleifuss highlights Chicago marks the spot where actors and comics are trained at Steppenwolf and Second City respectively. And Nick Dawson looks over Chicago’s long cinematic history.

Chicago: a City of a Thousand films

Ray Pride captures the films about his home town in his own camera.

Creating Film Stars in Chicago, America’s Third Coast

Joel Bleifuss looks at Chicago’s talent factories.

Movies, Chicago Style

Nick Dawson surveys some of the city’s better known films.

From Mrs. O’Leary’s clumsy cow to the machine gun bursts at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, from the Haymarket Riot’s bomb to the head busting at the ’68 Democratic Convention, Chicago has been a city where urban myths run face first into national history. Somebody’s always getting hurt, falling in love, starting a fight, or making in film in Chicago. The novelist Theodore Dreiser exclaimed, “It is given to some cities, as to some lands, to suggest romance, and to me Chicago did that daily and hourly.” And it has done the same for filmmakers, playwrights, and writers of all sorts. Movie City: Chicago looks at the Windy City from many directions. 

Ray Pride marries his profound knowledge of film with his lyrical photography to show how he sees his favorite films wherever he goes. Joel Bleifuss highlights Chicago marks the spot where actors and comics are trained at Steppenwolf and Second City respectively. And Nick Dawson looks over Chicago’s long cinematic history.

Chicago: a City of a Thousand films

Ray Pride captures the films about his home town in his own camera.

Creating Film Stars in Chicago, America’s Third Coast

Joel Bleifuss looks at Chicago’s talent factories.

Movies, Chicago Style

Nick Dawson surveys some of the city’s better known films.