Filmed over a period of 20-years, 70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Green chronicles the demolition of Chicago's most infamous public housing development, Cabrini Green, the displacement of residents, and the subsequent area gentrification. This complex, poignant film looks unflinchingly at race, class, and survival.
SYNOPSIS:
70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Green is a stunning documentary that explores the effects of Chicago's 1.5 billion dollar Plan for Transformation, an edict requiring the demolition of the city's public housing. Shot over a period of 20-years, the film follows the impact this has on the lives of the residents of Chicago's Cabrini Green housing development.
With its central location, Cabrini was hailed as a public housing triumph and demonized as an urban disaster. Beginning in 1995, it was demolished and then repackaged as a mixed income development, where, unsurprisingly, the former, largely black residents have been marginalized or driven away. 70 Acres documents this upheaval, from the razing of the first buildings in 1995, to the clashes in the mixed-income neighborhoods a decade later. The film tells the story of this hotly contested patch of land, while looking unflinchingly at race, class, and who has the right to live in the city.
