Irish Chicago

As Comiskey Park, Chicago's 80 year old ballpark, prepares for its final season in 1990, expectations for the home team, the Chicago White Sox, are very low. Surprising many, the young team becomes a contender, and a bittersweet season becomes an exciting one.

A short documentary on wet t-shirt contests at a Chicago bar.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd's reverence for his musical roots are center-stage on Ten Days Out...Blues From The Backroads. The guitar-slinger is featured with the Double Trouble rhythm section of bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton performing with some of the greatest blues players of our time as well as lesser-known but historically significant bluesmen. Traveling to their hometowns to record everywhere from juke joints to front porches, from New Orleans to Kansas, Shepherd celebrates and becomes part of blues history with Ten Days Out...Blues From The Backroads.

Over the course of two centuries, seven million men, women and children abandoned their homeland for America's shores. In just one horrifying decade, two million left to escape a famine that left another million dead. This is the moving chronicle of the Irish immigrant experience.

Winnie, the daughter of a steel worker and a teacher, lives in Gage Park, a Chicago neighborhood that is changing from white to black. Her family struggles with racism, inflation and a threatened strike, as Winnie learns what it means to grow up white, working class, and female.

A view of the Ferris wheel from the Chicago Exposition of 1893, turning slowly.

A visit to Chicago, featuring the city's architecture and well-known landmarks.

A feature-length documentary on the 1990s Chicago rock scene.

This short Traveltalk visit to Chicago looks at some hotels known for their evening entertainment and for the rich and famous people who come to their dining rooms. Featured are the Walnut Room of the Bismarck Hotel, the Ambassador Hotel's Pump Room, and the boardwalk at the Edgewater Beach Hotel.

What Poor Gods We Do Make: The Story and Music Behind Naked Raygun," the 2-disc DVD/CD focuses on the band's history and the development of their music from "Basement Screams" to "Raygun,Naked Raygun" through interviews with the band and many interviews, including Steve Albini, The Lawrence Arms, 88 Fingers Louie, Jake Burns of Stiff Little Fingers, The Effigies and many more. Moreover, the film aspect also focuses on the history and influence of Chicago's independent and punk scene, even though it was often, and still, overlooked by punk historians and more recently, documentary filmmakers. The CD portion of the release will feature live highlights from their shows since Naked Raygun's reunion at Riot Fest 2006, and will include all of the songs most identified with Naked Raygun.

A video that takes a closer look at the city of Chicago.

“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.

Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.

2006 was the Bears' best season in 21 years, as they ended the regular season just one win short of the Super Bowl. Relive every moment of the powerhouse season in which head coach Lovie Smith delivered on his plan to return the team to glory. Rex Grossman led the hard-hitting offense with 23 touchdown passes, while Devin Hester earned an NFL record for most touchdown returns in a single season in his first year with the franchise.

"While in quarantine, Heyer has made extensive use of viral video platforms like TikTok and Instagram, exploring their potential as a vehicle for performance. Experimenting with cinematic genre, his minute-long comedy shorts offer a sort of rolling absurdist commentary on our present circumstances. That he has found inspiration in the limited resources available to him gives the work the sense of playful exuberance that is characteristic of Heyer's practice. In his “Art Tour” videos, Heyer confidently the viewer through his neighborhood as though he is on a museum walkthrough: a discarded fishtank becomes "a stunning Dan Graham," a shrouded window becomes "a challenging Wade Guyton.” Though playfully riffing on the jargon of the academy, the videos are also testaments to excitement art can bring to the challenges of our present." — Night Gallery, Frieze Viewing Room 2020

“While in quarantine, Heyer has made extensive use of viral video platforms like TikTok and Instagram, exploring their potential as a vehicle for performance. Experimenting with cinematic genre, his minute-long comedy shorts offer a sort of rolling absurdist commentary on our present circumstances. That he has found inspiration in the limited resources available to him gives the work the sense of playful exuberance that is characteristic of Heyer’s practice. In his “Art Tour” videos, Heyer confidently the viewer through his neighborhood as though he is on a museum walkthrough: a discarded fishtank becomes “a stunning Dan Graham,” a shrouded window becomes “a challenging Wade Guyton.” Though playfully riffing on the jargon of the academy, the videos are also testaments to excitement art can bring to the challenges of our present.” — Night Gallery, Frieze Viewing Room 2020

An examination of the 1998 MLB season and the home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. The two sluggers' race to hit the most home runs, later overshadowed by the steroid scandal, left a permanent mark on baseball history.

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!

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.

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.