LaPortean Jeff Dunk in a scene from "LaPorte, Indiana."
The acclaimed documentary “LaPorte, Indiana,” which debuted in LaPorte this summer, will be shown at two major venues in future weeks: Chicago and Brooklyn, N.Y.
The film’s creators announced on the documentary website (www.laportemovie.com) that the film will air at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., Chicago, on Thursday, Oct. 7, at 8:15 p.m.; and at indieScreen, 285 Kent Ave., Brooklyn, NY, on Thursday, Oct. 21, at 9 p.m.
“Four years ago, we published a book of beautiful portraits discovered in the back room of a diner in LaPorte, Indiana,” filmmakers Jason Bitner (FOUND Magazine co-creator) and Joe Beshenkovsky (Emmy Award winner) wrote on the website. “Today, we’re thrilled to announce the Chicago and NY premiere dates of the ‘LaPorte, Indiana’ documentary film. We’d be psyched for you to join us at the Siskel Center in Chicago and indieScreen in Brooklyn.”
In the documentary, the story of LaPorte evolves via 1950s and ’60s portraits taken by photographers Frank and Gladys Pease. Thousands of proofs of the portraits are still stored at B&J’s American Cafe in LaPorte, where the Pease studio was located on the upper floor.
“Some forty years later, the subjects of these portraits share their own life stories: deeply personal tales of love and family, divorce and loss, and the search for one’s place in the world. We also encounter the next generation of LaPorteans, grappling with the decision to stay and begin their adult life in their hometown, or to search for opportunities elsewhere, a truly universal dilemma experienced across America and beyond,” the filmmakers wrote.
DVDS of the film may be purchased through the website www.laportemovie.com.
