Cooked: Survival by Zip Code

www.cookedthefilm.com Directed by Judith Helfand. Produced by Fenell Doremus. ABOUT THE FILM: COOKED: Survival by Zip Code is Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand's searing investigation into the politics of “disaster” – by way of the deadly 1995 Chicago heat wave, in which 739 residents perished (mostly Black and living in the city’s poorest neighborhoods). Asking open-ended questions that push people to deeply consider what it might mean to redefine the term “disaster” and reframe the concept of “resilience,” Helfand forges inextricable connections between the cataclysmic natural disasters we’re willing to see and prepare for and the slow-motion disasters we’re not – that is until an extreme weather event hits and they are made exponentially more deadly and visible. Using a combination of chutzpah, humor and candor, Helfand delves deep into one of our nation’s biggest growth industries: disaster preparedness. Whether it’s a deadly heat wave in Chicago or Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, Harvey or Maria, these disasters reveal the ways in which class, race, and zip code predetermine who lives and dies everyday, regardless of the weather and who gets hurt the worst and first in the wake of an “official disaster.” In COOKED Helfand challenges herself and ultimately all of us to respond to the man-made disasters taking place in towns and cities across the country before the next unprecedented “natural” disaster hits.

Judith Helfand/2018/75 min/Historical Perspectives, Social Justice, Climate Change

FILM DESCRIPTION: Chicago suffered the worst heat disaster in U.S history in 1995, when 739 residents – mostly elderly and black – died over the course of one week. As “Cooked” links the heat wave’s devastation back to the underlying manmade disaster of structural racism, it delves deeply into one of our nation’s biggest growth industries: Disaster Preparedness. Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand uses her signature serious-yet-quirky-style as interlocutor and narrator to forge inextricable connections between the cataclysmic natural disasters we’re willing to see and prepare for, and the slow-motion disasters we’re not.

Sunday, March 8, 2 to 5 p.m. [Lake County]
St. Joseph Catholic Church, 121 E. Maple Ave.
Koenig Center, Libertyville 

Stay for post-film dialogue with Robert Perez of Brad Schneider's office, who will address legislation concerns as well as leaders of environmental groups in Waukegan/North Chicago, who will address their experiences. Learn about solutions-based action opportunities from Lake County Audubon, Lake-to-Prairie Wild Ones, Lake County Sierra Club, Citizens Climate Lobby, Faith in Place, Lake County Green Congregation and HeroPower. Burr Oak saplings will be given to the first 25 attendees. Facilitator: Louise Przywara, St. Joseph Church. Refreshments will be available.

Doors open 30 minutes before start time. Arrive early to avoid lines and get best seats. ADA compliant accessible venue. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend. "PG-13" May contain heavy themes, graphic images or language.