Chicago 1919

Feature Film

Over eight harrowing days, two teenage brothers fight to survive a coordinated attack on their community, confronting racism, misinformation, and the struggle for justice in a city that was supposed to protect them. Intense, deeply human, and achingly timely.

In 2016, in the aftermath of Alton Sterling's death, Seanne N. Murray set out to understand gun violence in America, not from a distance, but from inside it. She traveled between Los Angeles and Chicago, sitting with perpetrators, survivors, activists, and solution builders. What she found beneath the surface of the present crisis was a history that most of America has never been told.

The Chicago Massacre of 1919. Eight days. Thirty eight lives lost. Over five hundred injured. A city torn apart by fear, power, and the refusal to see another human being as fully human. A moment that shaped the architecture of racial violence in America for the century that followed.

She wrote the treatment in days. Actress and activist Rosanna Arquette, who had been part of the journey from the beginning, read it and immediately came on board. The treatment reached director Julie Dash, who called it the best she had ever read and signed on as director without hesitation.

Actor Keith David, attached to the project, put it plainly: "There are three kinds of theater. Good theater, bad theater, and important theater. This project is important on so many levels — its historical relevance, its social conscience, and its familial resonance."

The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center serves as historical consultant, ensuring the story is told with the integrity and precision it demands.

This film has been in development since 2016. The package is complete. The story is ready. Conversations are underway with partners who understand what it means to put this moment on screen correctly.

Directed by Julie Dash. Written and developed by Seanne N. Murray, Esq. Historical consultation by the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center.