When the filming of “City So Real” was completed, Steve James had a lot of material to sort through to construct the eventual docuseries. “All together, we probably shot for about a year and we certainly shot over 400 hours of material,” James tells Gold Derby in our Meet the Experts: Documentary and Nonfiction panel (watch the exclusive video interview above). Other than focusing on the mayoral race in Chicago and the trial for the police officer who murdered Laquan McDonald, James didn’t want to have too firm idea of what the project would be. The point, he says, “was really to embrace the uncertainty and the serendipitousness of capturing the city at this time.”
“City So Real” premiered on National Geographic Channel back in October and can now be streamed on Hulu. It chronicles the chaotic race for mayor of Chicago in 2019, which saw 14 candidates attempt to succeed outgoing...
“City So Real” premiered on National Geographic Channel back in October and can now be streamed on Hulu. It chronicles the chaotic race for mayor of Chicago in 2019, which saw 14 candidates attempt to succeed outgoing...
- 8/10/2021
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
Long before Kanye West tardily disrupted the 2020 presidential election, the pioneering force in American hip-hop put himself smack in the middle of Chicago’s crowded 2019 mayoral race. West endorsed candidate Amara Enyia at a “pop-up” rally, standing quietly next to fellow supporter Chance the Rapper and behind their progressive candidate as she spoke to a small crowd from the sidewalk. These celebrity endorsements were meant to help boost awareness, but even then, questions were asked if West’s support of Donald Trump would negatively effect the young, Black candidate’s attempts to court Black voters.
And Steve James was there.
Before the GOP’s attack on voting, including inflated claims of voter fraud and the outright theft of people’s ballots, delegates for Chicago mayoral candidates sat around a computer and made knowingly false claims to try to boot their opponents from the ballot entirely. Lawyers cited mistakes on pages that didn’t exist,...
And Steve James was there.
Before the GOP’s attack on voting, including inflated claims of voter fraud and the outright theft of people’s ballots, delegates for Chicago mayoral candidates sat around a computer and made knowingly false claims to try to boot their opponents from the ballot entirely. Lawyers cited mistakes on pages that didn’t exist,...
- 10/29/2020
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Dickens had the teeming streets of Victorian-era London, Balzac had Paris during the Bourbon Restoration period, and Steve James has 21st century Chicago. A key part of the team behind the groundbreaking Hoop Dreams, this veteran documentarian has dabbled over the years in everything from biopics (Prefontaine) to bigger-picture looks at social ills (Abacus: Small Enough to Jail). It’s the City of Broad Shoulders, however, that’s provided him with a creative home base via Kartemquin Films and a subject rich enough to examine in depth. Every U.S.
- 10/29/2020
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Chicago is the subject of “City So Real,” a sweeping epic five-part documentary series by Oscar nominee Steve James premiering commercial free on NatGeo on Oct. 29.
Chicago is the third biggest city in the U.S. with its rich cultural diversity divided into 77 distinct neighborhoods including Bucktown, Pilsen, Lincoln Park, Goose Island, River West and South Loop. And its pizza is considered the best or one of the best in the country. But the Windy City has been marred by corruption for the years-its politics are often referred to as a “blood sport.” And the city has been gripped by so much gun violence that the it’s been labeled the “murder capital” of America.
The metropolis is at the crossroads when “City So Real” opens in the summer of 2018. Mayor Rahm Emanuel finds himself increasingly unpopular due his handling and perceived cover-up of the shocking killing of a young African American teenager,...
Chicago is the third biggest city in the U.S. with its rich cultural diversity divided into 77 distinct neighborhoods including Bucktown, Pilsen, Lincoln Park, Goose Island, River West and South Loop. And its pizza is considered the best or one of the best in the country. But the Windy City has been marred by corruption for the years-its politics are often referred to as a “blood sport.” And the city has been gripped by so much gun violence that the it’s been labeled the “murder capital” of America.
The metropolis is at the crossroads when “City So Real” opens in the summer of 2018. Mayor Rahm Emanuel finds himself increasingly unpopular due his handling and perceived cover-up of the shocking killing of a young African American teenager,...
- 10/26/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Fox may be “gratified” that all criminal charges against Jussie Smollett have been dropped, but there are some hard choices coming for the broadcaster now regarding the fate of Empire.
Fueled by ongoing outrage from outgoing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and others, the growing blast radius from the controversial decision yesterday by state prosecutors finds the home of Empire in a tricky position over what to do with the series and one of its stars.
It’s a position that seems headed towards Empire coming back for another season, but most likely without Smollett, who has always claimed and continues to insist that he is innocent.
“Things are so unclear and there is a feeling that this isn’t over, that there’s more to come,” said an insider of the actor’s legal circumstances and ramifications for Empire. Coming off the close of the $71.3 billion Disney deal and a...
Fueled by ongoing outrage from outgoing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and others, the growing blast radius from the controversial decision yesterday by state prosecutors finds the home of Empire in a tricky position over what to do with the series and one of its stars.
It’s a position that seems headed towards Empire coming back for another season, but most likely without Smollett, who has always claimed and continues to insist that he is innocent.
“Things are so unclear and there is a feeling that this isn’t over, that there’s more to come,” said an insider of the actor’s legal circumstances and ramifications for Empire. Coming off the close of the $71.3 billion Disney deal and a...
- 3/27/2019
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
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