JEAN GENET IN CHICAGO: A Review by Sofia Migaly
In celebration of Pride Month, Chicago Filmmakers is proud to screen the short film JEAN GENET IN CHICAGO by Frédéric Moffet, accompanying the film GREAT FREEDOM, the third installment in our special Pride Month programming for Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival.
Frederic Moffet’s JEAN GENET IN CHICAGO (2006) is a bold documentary retelling the protests at the 1968 National Democratic Convention. The film follows Genet’s journey to Chicago as he protests the Vietnam War with the Yippies and supports civil rights for Black Americans alongside the Black Panther Party. Genet also condemns the state’s violent suppression of free speech and the Chicago Police’s brutality.
Moffet dubs this documentary a “thief-video”: a synthesis of archival clips, newspaper excerpts, and bizarre reenactments of the events. Perhaps most chilling is the graphic footage capturing the Chicago Police mobilizing to beat and gas protesters of the Vietnam War, as Genet meditates on the cruel nature of the policeman’s body.
The film’s discussion of the inherent queerness of counterculture is especially poignant during pride month. Moffet draws a parallel between the state’s extreme reaction to alternative ways of thought and the criminalization of Genet’s very existence as a gay man. With the recent uptick in anti-LGBTQ legislation JEAN GENET IN CHICAGO remains immensely relevant as a queered protest against hegemonic violence.
A review by Chicago Filmmakers Marketing Intern & student at Northwestern University, Sofia Migaly.
The REELING PRIDE MONTH FILM SHOWCASE, presented by MUBI, is hosted at our Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse Cinema.
Friday, June 16th, at 7:00 PM CST.
1326 W Hollywood Ave, Chicago
Don’t forget to take advantage of this exclusive, free 30-day trial from MUBI in celebration of Pride Month!
Trailer edited by Chicago Filmmakers Marketing Intern & student at the School of the Art Institute, Bella Miller.
Co-Presented by HotHouse
Friday, October 30, 7:00 PM
Chicago Filmmakers (1326 W. Hollywood Ave)
Catherine Murphy and Iris de Oliveira | 2025 | 70 min | Digital Projection
Hosted by Toni Asante Lightfoot!
In 1963, global icon Paulo Freire led an experimental project teaching hundreds of rural farmers to read, write and vote in Brazil, until he was arrested and forced into exile during a U.S.-backed coup d'état.
Told through the collective memories of farmers, students, and educators who participated in the “Culture Circles," where they learned to read and write in 40 hours, Reading the World contains rare archival footage of 1960s Brazil that was recently recovered after being buried for decades. The innovative teaching method used critical and creative thinking instead of memorization and repetition. By contextualizing and personalizing the lessons, educators used their surroundings to teach vocabulary and construct meaning. Hundreds of Brazilians became literate and were allowed to vote as a consequence, strengthening the blossoming democracy and social movement that was disrupting the colonial structures. After a shocking coup d’état, the farmers’ notebooks were set on fire, and Freire was eventually forced into exile for 16 years, spreading his pedagogy around the globe and impacting democracy and education until today. Today Freire is considered one of the most influential philosophers of education in the twentieth century, and revered by educators across the world.
Toni Asante Lightfoot is a poet, educator, and community activist dedicated to improving the physical, emotional, and financial health of her adopted community of Chicago and of her home Washington, D.C. She has edited several collections of poetry . Lightfoot has taught poetry for over 25 years in libraries, prisons, universities, and juvenile detention centers across the United States and in Trinidad and Tobago, where she also co-owned a bed & breakfast dedicated to housing artists and connecting them with Trinidadian artists and activists.