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).
Casts Michelle Landis Dauber, Judith Helfand, John W. Heltzel, Colleen Scott
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
Michelle Obama: Life After the White House
Disappeared: The Bradley Sisters
Tornado! Hurricane! Flood!: Wonders of the Weather
Fire Mountain: The Eruption and Rebirth of Mount St. Helens
The John Wayne Gacy Murders: Life and Death in Chicago
'85: The Greatest Team in Football History
The Story of TMB
The Lost Sons
Chicago at the Crossroad
The First Rainbow Coalition
Trouble the Water
Caged Men: Tales from Chicago's SRO Hotels
The Girl and The Tsunami
Life After People
The 11th Hour
Your War (I'm One of You): 20 Years of Joan of Arc
Chicago 10
The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari
L.A. Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later
Preschool to Prison
SIMILAR MOVIES
Michelle Obama: Life After the White House
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2020
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...Disappeared: The Bradley Sisters
IMDB 4.5 | Aug , 2023
In 2001, sisters Diamond and Tionda Bradley vanish from their Chicago apartment. Twenty-two years later, Detective Pam Childs gains access to the family, revisiting critical scenes, interviews, and inconsistencies -- leading to a shocking admission.Tornado! Hurricane! Flood!: Wonders of the Weather
IMDB 0 | Nov , 1996
This video presents a look at the forces of nature in their most devastating mode: lightning storms, tornadoes, flash floods, tidal waves, and hurricanes. The film, made for The Discovery Channel, accompanies professional storm chasers as they ride into the eye of a category five hurricane to gather data and get a close-up view. There is footage of a tornado with 300-mile-per-hour winds, as well as 100-foot tidal waves hurtling towards shore at 500 miles per hour. The viewer witnesses a flash flood and hears an interview with a lightning strike survivor.Fire Mountain: The Eruption and Rebirth of Mount St. Helens
IMDB 10 | Jan , 1997
In 1980, the eruption of Mount St. Helens leveled 230 square miles, sent 540 million tons of ash and volcanic rock twelve miles into the air, and blasted one cubic mile of earth from the crest of the Cascade Mountain Range. Illustrates the terrifying fury of the most destructive volcanic disaster in American history through aerial photography and survivors' own words. Shows examples of nature's plant and animal recovery seventeen years later.The John Wayne Gacy Murders: Life and Death in Chicago
IMDB 10 | Aug , 2020
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'85: The Greatest Team in Football History
IMDB 8.2 | Oct , 2016
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 Story of TMB
IMDB 7 | Jul , 2025
TMB (The Merry Band of time travelers) made their first appearance in the 2019 book The Mystery of The Patch. In the book, they assisted Captain John White, solve the mystery of the mysterious patch, on his map, which was discovered in 2012 by The First Colony Foundation and The British Museum. This short, animated, stop motion film tells the 5-year history of this charming group of characters. It contains scenes of their first public appearance, at the 2021 Kansas City Renaissance festival, through a combination of live action and animation.The Lost Sons
IMDB 6.5 | Mar , 2021
1960s Chicago, a baby is kidnapped from a hospital. Fifteen months later, a toddler is abandoned. Could he be the same baby? In a tale of breathtaking twists and turns, two mysteries begin to unravel and dark family secrets are revealed.Chicago at the Crossroad
IMDB 4 | Jun , 2019
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.The First Rainbow Coalition
IMDB 7.5 | Oct , 2019
Chicago 1969: Activists from the Black Panthers, Young Lords, and Young Patriots united African Americans, Latinos, and poor whites to confront police brutality and unfair housing practices in one of America’s most segregated cities. A timely story of collective action, The First Rainbow Coalition tells this little-known chronicle of political struggle with insight and urgency using archival footage and interviews with those who lived it.Trouble the Water
IMDB 6.8 | Jan , 2008
"Trouble the Water" takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. The film opens the day before the storm makes landfall--just blocks away from the French Quarter but far from the New Orleans that most tourists knew. Kimberly Rivers Roberts, an aspiring rap artist, is turning her new video camera on herself and her Ninth Ward neighbors trapped in the city. Weaving an insider's view of Katrina with a mix of verité and in-your-face filmmaking, it is a redemptive tale of self-described street hustlers who become heroes--two unforgettable people who survive the storm and then seize a chance for a new beginning.Caged Men: Tales from Chicago's SRO Hotels
IMDB 0 | Dec , 2017
Caged. Invisible. Shamed. Trapped. These words mark the tenants, clerks and even the owners of Chicago's last remaining Singe Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels. These small spaces are home for many at the bottom of Chicago's housing ladder. Cloaked in darkness and secrecy, these hotels are often maligned as drug dens and havens for prostitution but the people who live, work and own these hotels have never fully shared their stories. Caged Men is a feature-length documentary which examines the disquieting stories of near-homeless Americans living on the margins and their invisibility in a largely indifferent and, at times, hostile community. It attempts to lend a voice to SRO residents, clerks, owners and to the hotels themselves.The Girl and The Tsunami
IMDB 4 | Nov , 2021
February 2010. On a remote island in the Pacific Ocean called Juan Fernández, everyone slept in town. But a 12-year-old girl felt a tremor and warned of imminent danger.Life After People
IMDB 7 | Jan , 2008
In this special documentary that inspired a two-season television series, scientists and other experts speculate about what the Earth, animal life, and plant life might be like if, suddenly, humanity no longer existed, as well as the effect humanity's disappearance might have on the artificial aspects of civilization.The 11th Hour
IMDB 6.7 | Aug , 2007
A look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James WoolseYour War (I'm One of You): 20 Years of Joan of Arc
IMDB 0 | Feb , 2017
Your War (I'm One Of You) chronicles the life and career of Chicago's Tim Kinsella, frontman of ever-shifting band Joan of Arc and '90's pioneers Cap'n Jazz. With appearances from Tim's friends, family, and admirers, we learn what has made his legacy so unique and enduring for more than 20 years.Chicago 10
IMDB 6 | Feb , 2008
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.The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari
IMDB 7.2 | Nov , 2022
A close examination of the Whakaari / White Island volcanic eruption of 2019 in which 22 lives were lost, the film viscerally recounts a day when ordinary people were called upon to do extraordinary things, placing this tragic event within the larger context of nature, resilience, and the power of our shared humanity.L.A. Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later
IMDB 7.5 | Apr , 2017
Documentary film exploring the lives of the people at the flashpoint of the LA riots, 25 years after the uprising made national headlines and highlighted the racial divide in America.Preschool to Prison
IMDB 0 | Jul , 2023
Preschool to Prison is a compelling examination of how the United States public school system is built and operated like prisons. Zero-tolerance policies are used to justify suspension and arrests that set up a pathway to send children of color and children with special needs from school to prison. Children are being suspended, restrained, dragged, physically manhandled, and subsequently arrested for minor offenses such as throwing candy on a school bus. These personal accounts from people affected by the school-to-prison pipeline give riveting tales about the generational impact on society.