by Hank Brockett
03/19/03
Amid the clatter of folding chairs and chatter of friendly talk, the show’s about to begin. And while a makeshift aisle separates the chairs from children quietly coloring in the back, there’s no red carpet in sight.
The house lights dim and the film fades in on the big screen television. Far from the glamour of big budget dreams, dozens get the first look at a different cinematic form.
“You don’t get more indie than this,” jokes Ken Gumbs prior to his story hitting the screen. “I don’t see any Hollywood types.”
Before the show, Gumbs - a Coal City resident and recent graduate of Southern Illinois University - sits on one of those folding chairs inside the Eastern Will County Senior Citizens Center in Monee. Beside him Tom Desch, the producer to Gumbs’ director, wears corduroys without shoes.
Hours later, however, the work of these filmmakers provokes the feelings and emotions that films in much glitzier locales only hope to provoke. As the image of John Grueling - head of the Will County Center for Economic Development - begins explaining his thought process, another man voices his.
“This is a bunch of crap,” he grumbles.
A new involvement
The man wasn’t badmouthing the film.
His reasoning lies in his company this Saturday night. STAND, or Shut This Airport Nightmare Down, sponsored this particular film festival. And in Grueling’s rationalization, the STAND supporters heard what they’re up against in preventing construction of a third Chicagoland airport in Peotone.
Such reactions benefit these two filmmakers, who along with co-director Kate Oestreich have set out to chronicle the controversy in a documentary tentatively titled The Field.
After glimpses at other documentaries the crew has put together, STAND proponents viewed a 10-minute preview of what’s been shot so far. All involved realize the film - just like the issue - remains far from settled.
“You have an idea of what it will look like and it’s just like people are giving you pieces,” said Gumbs, who also serves as editor on the documentary. “And you’re putting those pieces together and you’re thinking, ‘Well, if I get some more over here and I get some more over there, we can make the whole story.’ But until you’re there, you don’t really know.”
Just how Gumbs and Desch arrived in Monee isn’t so puzzling. After graduation from SIU in May, both contemplated their next move. As they continued to monitor the headlines, the subject of an airport documentary nagged at Desch, a Herscher native.
“It’s just something I didn’t want to see fade away,” said Desch.
Desch soon approached his college friend to see if he was interested.
“I think Tom sucked me into the idea of being poor artists and making important documentaries, and I’ve hated him ever since,” deadpans Gumbs.
Their humor stands as a stark contrast to their work, which entails learning the personal stories of those involved on both sides of the issue. And their stories reveal this isn’t a joke to them. While Gumbs earns a paycheck as a substitute teacher, Desch works on commercial crews and attempts to secure funding for the project.
Because even with digital cameras and computer editing software, making a documentary isn’t cheap. Just this month, though, the film received fiscal sponsorship from the Center for Independent Documentary in Boston. This, along with other contributions, could alleviate the strain already placed on their respective credit cards and supportive parents.
Achieving balance
Mainstream interactions with documentaries might create a different picture than the one that represents this three-person crew.
Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine - which served as a critical eye at the American gun culture - enraptured some and enraged others in 2002. But Moore’s form of pseudo-vigilante filmmaking differs greatly from the likes of the Bob Dylan film Don’t Look Back or Hoop Dreams.
The latter, which follows two Chicago-area basketball players from high school to college, eventually was released in many commercial theaters. Movie critic Roger Ebert in the Sun-Times called it one of the best films he’d ever seen.
Gumbs said he expects his film to take on a similar fly-on-the wall approach, letting the course of daily life uncover some of the greater themes that the airport issue represents.
“I was kind of leery of [the subject] to start,” said Gumbs. “And then we started going to meetings and some people and I started to see that there was a good story here and interesting people involved on both sides of the issue.”
Making sense of such a volatile issue - one that can make a man shout out during a screening, even - requires a balance of both sides as each new development tips the scales.
“I think the big problem is to balance their (STAND) excitement with the ‘pro-airport’ side because you just run into a lot of interviews with guys behind desks with ties on,” said Gumbs. “...We’re trying to balance it out. We’re not just trying to make a David and Goliath-type film.”
Cameras rolling
The lights come up after the audience relives the destruction of a Monee house in the proposed airport’s “footprint.” Afterward, Gumbs receives the approval of STAND President George Ochsenfeld and others in the audience.
“I feel like our story is in good hands,” said Karen Cassin, special events coordinator for STAND.
Desch said this teaser, with a broad overview of the issues, will help secure additional funding and show current benefactors their money is well spent. The finished form, whenever that may come, should take on a more character-driven approach.
“Characters are what make people interested in Hollywood films,” said Desch. “But with documentaries it’s like these characters and what they’re going through represent so much more of society and culture and what the whole country is dealing with.”
Desch, Gumbs and Oestreich in just five months have identified the themes of suburban sprawl, local government power and grassroots organization spring up from casual conversations. While all involved may play to the television cameras at major events, this film also identifies with the less publicized aspects of the battle.
“We see them when it’s not that exciting,” said Desch.
From this screening, Gumbs said the crew will continue gathering interviews, meeting new people and waiting for another airport issue development. As for the film itself, Saturday marked a new glimpse at where they’re at today.
“When you’re working on it and you’re in front of the computer, you look at it differently,” said Gumbs. “When you have a screening you’re able to look back at the entire movie.”
Soon, the crowd dissipates with handshakes and talks of the next meeting. As the filmmakers plot their move and head home, some in the audience rearrange the chairs.
There’s bingo on Sunday, after all.