Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Park District General Superintendent Michael P. Kelly today announced selections for Chicago Onscreen, the Park District’s initiative to enhance the Movies in the Parks series with locally produced independent features, documentaries and shorts that focus on Chicago. Films were chosen in response to a call for submissions in December 2015.

“Chicago Onscreen is a unique part of one of our city's most popular summer traditions, and it contributes to our thriving film industry. I'm so proud to welcome its return in 2016,” said Mayor Emanuel. “Through Chicago Onscreen we are providing a platform for local artists to showcase their work and a big screen window into the richly diverse and talented neighborhoods throughout Chicago.”

Homemade short and feature-length films and documentaries created by and about Chicagoans will focus on four themes and distinctive characteristics of our city and its residents: Identity, Memory, Victory and Vitality.

“We are very proud to continue to support the artistic endeavors of local filmmakers through this dynamic program,” said Chicago Park District General Superintendent and CEO Michael Kelly. “Big screens, provided by our Movies in the Parks program, help activate our parks during summer nights by providing an outdoor stage for creative projects to be seen and local stories to be told.”

Chicago Onscreen will feature 13 films in nine locations from August 30 to September 3.

Now in its 16th year, Movies in the Parks is part of the Mayor’s Night Out in the Parks initiative. The year-round event series features more than 1,200 citywide cultural and arts activities, including 200 movie screenings this summer.

Movies in the Parks is presented by Bank of America and supported by One Medical Group.

Highlights this year include:

● “In the Game”, a feature-length Kartemquin Films (“Hoop Dreams”) documentary directed by Maria Finitzo which chronicles the resilience, dedication and strength of the girls’ soccer team at Kelly High School as they try to turn their season around before graduation.
● In the bilingual “I’m an Actor (Yo soy Actor),” filmmaker Aaron Greer follows two young men pursuing careers as actors – one in Chicago and one in Cuba – and provides insight into the life of an artist.
● Director Alex Thompson’s lyrical dance film “Bedrooms” explores the complicated beginnings and ends and ins and outs of relationships at many stages of intimacy.

Full schedule and details are as follows:

IDENTITY (runs 1 hr, 21 min)
August 30, Northerly Island (1521 S. Linn White Dr.)
September 1, West Pullman Park (401 W. 123rd St.)
September 3, Midway Plaisance Park (1130 Midway Plaisance North)

Six (6) short films investigate the fluid mechanics of identity through documentary, narrative and dance filmmaking.
• The Amazing Mr. Ash, directed and produced by Brian Gersten
• Baby Mary, written and directed by Kris Swanberg
• Bedrooms, written by Quinn Tsan, directed by Alex Thompson
• Crystal Lake, written and directed by Jennifer Reeder
• I'm an Actor: Yo Soy Actor, directed and produced by Aaron Greer
• Oreo, created and directed by Cydia Flowers

MEMORY (runs 1hr, 11min)
September 2, Revere Park (2509 W. Irving Park Rd.)
September 3, Gage Park (2411 W. 55th St.)

Five (5) short films wrestle with the palpable symptoms of having and losing memories and the lingering effects of trauma on ourselves, our society and the natural world.
• Calumet, written and directed by Alex Thompson
• Chi-Voices: A Poetic Film Series, written for the screen by Jessica Estelle Huggins and Shiri Burson
• Hacia Adelante: Moving Forward, produced by Free Spirit Media, John Mjoseth, Chad Rispalje and Jessica Olney Work
• Half-Life of War, directed by Kyle Henry
• Power(less), directed, produced, designed and animated by Cristen Leifheit

CONTENT ADVISORY: This program contains depictions of gun violence, and vividly rendered sounds of battlefield combat.

VICTORY (runs 1 hr, 36 min)
August 31, Kelly Park (2725 W. 41st St.)
September 1, Margate Park (4921 N. Marine Drive)

In these films, some of Chicago's fiercest young women fight for personal victories over discrimination, poverty and injustice on an uneven playing field.
• In the Game, directed and produced by Maria Finitzo
• Crystal Lake, written and directed by Jennifer Reeder

VITALITY (runs 1 hr, 26 min)
August 31, Palmer Square Park (2200 N. Kedzie Ave.)
September 2, Pulaski Park (1419 W. Blackhawk St.)

This selection of films chronicles the intricate emotional and spiritual dance of relationships and examines the birth, life and death of romantic partnerships that hover on the edge of do and don't.
• Cool Apocalypse, written and directed by Michael Glover Smith
• Bedrooms, written by Quinn Tsan, directed by Alex Thompson

*CONTENT ADVISORY: This program contains some instances of adult language.

Visit www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/events/chicago-onscreen for more information and a complete schedule of screenings.

Click here for the full Movies in the Parks 2016 schedule. Admission is free, and all movies begin at dusk, weather permitting. Patrons can call the Movies in the Parks hotline for daily listings and updated weather-related cancellations at 312.742.1134.

Information is also available on the Chicago Park District: Movies in the Parks Facebook page.

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The Chicago Park District is the 2014 Gold Medal Award winner, recognized for excellence in park and recreation management across the nation. For more information about the Chicago Park District’s more than 8,300 acres of parkland, more than 585 parks, 26 miles of lakefront, 12 museums, two world-class conservatories, 16 historic lagoons, nearly 50 nature areas, thousands of special events, sports and entertaining programs, please visit www.chicagoparkdistrict.com or contact the Chicago Park District at 312/742.PLAY or 312/747.2001 (TTY). Want to share your talent? Volunteer in the parks by calling, 312/742.PLAY.