SYNOPSIS
FIREFIGHTERS UNDER FIRE
|
North Riverside, Illinois is a village just west of Chicago with a thriving mall that has provided outsized revenue to its population of less than 7,000 residents since its opening in 1974. This picture of suburban affluence was shattered in 2008, when the housing crash, the resulting economic recession, and the concurrent rise of e-commerce decimated brick and mortar store profits, and thus the village’s sales tax revenue. The Village finds itself more deeply entrenched in financial woes each year, and by 2013 is massively in debt to their firefighters’ pension fund. The newly-elected Mayor, comes up with a plan to eliminate the pension plans by privatizing the entire union fire department. There’s only one problem: the firefighters say no. In response, the Mayor terminates them all — illegally. What ensues is a half decade long legal battle that threatens to upend labor laws not only in Illinois, but the entire country.
|
|
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
|
Research began in January of 2020, with filming starting later that summer.
We had originally planned to wrap filming of this story in May of 2021 when the election for Mayor and a new Firefighter's union contract was reached. However, after the election, we were able to gain additional access to follow the North Riverside Fire Department during their shifts at the fire house. We wrapped filming in late 2022. Post production began in early 2021 with our editors moving mountains to make sense of hundreds of hours of footage. After many, many edits and revision, the film was picture locked in mid 2023. Score, legal clearance, final color and sound were completed during the end of 2023 and early 2024. The film had its world premiere at the Blue Whiskey independent Film Festival on May 4th and 5th, 2024 to two sold out crowds! We hope to have news to share about additional screenings in the coming weeks! |
