Reaching back into the past century, Chicago cultural institutions have coveted a home to call their own, notably the still-unsatisfied ambitions of Michael Kutza to have a permanent, year-round locale for the Chicago International Film Festival. Boosted by the 48th Ward alderman Harry Osterman’s push for a redevelopment agreement with the city, Chicago Filmmakers, which eschewed programming for the past year in favor of coping with the protracted process, is opening the doors to a spanking-new, classically old home in Edgewater. After four decades, the storied nonprofit can sustain a long legacy of celebrating artistic innovation and historical awareness at a modernized site that also reflects the quiet glory of the building’s brick-and-terra cotta past. Building out a two-story former firehouse, built in 1928 and designated a historic landmark in 2008, Chicago Filmmakers has a splendid new home not only for exhibition of the rare, the good and the breakthrough in experimental cinema, but for its classes and workshops that embolden the current and future generations to continue to make media matter locally, and then extend influence around the world.
