This is a mini-documentary commissioned as part of splitpillow’s decade-long “chicago 360” project, which hopes to chronicle early 21st century life and culture in the windy city.

this documentary focuses on charlie lawrence jr and his trade: selling peanuts on the intersection of harrison and sacramento, off the highway in the south side of the city.


“... Aaron Brown and Alan Ortiz’s is especially strong: handheld footage of a peanut vendor working auto traffic in winter captures the precariousness of street life, while the intercut remarks of a businessman explaining the economics of the trade give an expanded perspective worthy of Dziga Vertov “
-- fred camper, chicago reader

Directed by: Alan Del Rio Ortiz and Aaron Brown
Produced by: Ben Poster
Edited by: Alan Del Rio Ortiz
Music by: Zach Goheen
Made Possible by Splitpillow