Film Festival Comes To Englewood

Filmmaker Mark Harris managed to bring a film festival to Englewood after much rejection and criticism.

There were no banners hung outside the entranceway to Lindblom — a Classical Revival-style building built in 1919 with city landmark status that is across the street from four boarded-up houses.

The festival programs were printed on plain, white paper. And there was no red carpet to walk. Instead, those in attendance, more than 200 people, walked past disconnected metal detectors to the auditorium screening room.

It wasn’t fancy. It wasn’t a sellout. But Harris says he could see the weekend for what it was: a success.

Think about it. Englewood — the place better known as a murderous, drug-dealing, gangbanging hellhole on the South Side — was home to its own artsy, independent film festival.

No one was shot — and people had fun.

Harris says he’s ready to do it again next year. He doesn’t think it will be such a struggle.

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