Since homeless people often gather and seek sanctuary in parks, it is fitting that @home, a feature-length doc about the homeless, directed by Susanne Suffredin for The Kindling Group will have seven screenings at Chicago Park District locations across the city.
@home screenings start with the May 29 opening of the Chicago Park District’s new “Chicago on Screen” showcase of locally-produced and Chicago-focused indies, docs and shorts, an enhancement of its traditional summer “Movies in the Parks.”
@home follows the cross-country journey of Mark Horvath, a former TV executive, who spent years living on the streets before becoming an advocate for homeless people and founder of invisiblepeople.tv.
The hourlong doc was co-produced by producer Danny Alert’s The Kindling Group and See 3 Communications and coproduced by Michael Hoffman. Suffredin also edited; co-editor was Matt Lauterbach; associate producers, Nicholas Green, Laura Wilson and Beth Sternheimer and Ines Sommer and Michael Dwyer were the DPs.
The Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness will lead post-screening discussions to facilitate dialog and answer questions about how to get involved.
@home is one of only two films to address Chicago’s critical homeless problem. (Kartemquin’s The Homestretch is about three homeless teenagers.) An estimated 116,000 people were homeless in Chicago during the 2012-2013 school year, an increase of 11.4% over the previous year, according to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.
After the park screenings June 6, @home will premiere June 9 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, followed by a discussion featuring Horvath and Sufferdin.
Park District and MCA screenings are free and open to all, starting at 7 p.m.
