1) Rent / Buy the film on Amazon (Running time 1 hour 21 mins)
We would suggest starting the film at 6:30 PM PM (EST) / 11:30 PM (UK) to be finished in time for the Q&A.
2) Join for the live Q&A: 8 PM (EST) / 1 AM (UK 21st April)
RSVP for the live Q&A featuring Judith Helfand (Film Director) and Danielle Perry (Executive Director for Growing Home, Incorporated), moderated by Kathy Leichter (Engagement Strategist).
The feature documentary COOKED: Survival by Zip Code, a searing exploration into the politics of “disaster,” blends investigative reporting about the deadly 1995 Chicago heat wave with a potent argument that the best preparation for a disaster may start with investing in racial and economic justice.
Twenty-five years after the 1995 Chicago heat wave, COOKED: Survival by Zip Code examines the events that led to the deaths of 739 people, mostly Black and in the poorest neighborhoods of the city. The film arrives at a time of growing calls across the country to declare racism a public health crisis and to reinvest in communities ravaged by the long-term impact of structural racism. And, now, in the time of Covid-19 and this pandemic, the map of which communities--ie: which zip codes--are hit hardest is the same. In COOKED, Helfand challenges herself, and ultimately all of us, to respond to the man-made disasters taking place in towns and cities across the country before the next unprecedented “natural” disaster hits.
Adapted from Eric Klinenberg’s ground-breaking book ‘HEAT WAVE: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago,’ the film is directed and produced by Peabody Award-winning director Judith Helfand (Blue Vinyl, A Healthy Baby Girl, Everything’s Cool), produced by Fenell Doremus (co-producer of Academy Award-nominated Abacus: Small Enough to Jail), and Kartemquin Films, the award-winning Chicago documentary production house behind Minding the Gap and Hoop Dreams. Join the conversation about the film: #CookedFilmPBS.
JOIN US MONDAY 20th APRIL:
1) Rent / Buy the film on Amazon (Running time 1 hour 21 mins)
We would suggest starting the film at 6:30 PM PM (EST) / 11:30 PM (UK) to be finished in time for the Q&A.
2) Join for the live Q&A: 8 PM (EST) / 1 AM (UK 21st April)
RSVP for the live Q&A featuring Judith Helfand (Film Director) and Danielle Perry (Executive Director for Growing Home, Incorporated), moderated by Kathy Leichter (Engagement Strategist).
SPREAD THE WORD:
“Looking for things to do during the lockdown? Join me for an online screening of Cooked: Survival by zipcode, followed by a Q&A with the directors! RSVP here: http://www.crowdcast.io/e/2h2ngl7k #StayHomeWatchTogether”
During the week of Earth Day (4/20-4/27) you can #StayHomeWatchTogether by throwing an Earth Day Watch Party with our two environmental selections: COOKED and Water Warriors. Sign up and get a watch party guide here provided by Exposure Labs. http://b.link/EarthDaySHWT
Judith Helfand is best known for her ability to use her quirky sense of humor, irony, personal storytelling chops and the power of transparency to tackle some of the most pressing issues of our time -- from toxic chemical exposure to climate change to the “politics of disaster.” Three of her films have premiered at Sundance and been nationally broadcast on PBS (POV, Independent Lens), HBO and The Sundance Channel. BLUE VINYL received the 2002 Sundance Excellence Award in Cinematography and two Emmy nominations and its prequel, A HEALTHY BABY GIRL, won a Peabody. Helfand’s other long-form films include EVERYTHING’S COOL and THE UPRISING OF ‘34. Helfand has more recently started directing shorts including the first iteration of LOVE & STUFF for the New York Times Op-Doc series and Absolutely No Spitting for 23&Me.
Kathy Leichter is an award-winning documentary producer, director, and impact producer, working in television and independent film for over thirty years. She has extensive experience designing and implementing successful audience engagement campaigns for documentaries, and has produced over 300 impact events across the country on issues such as racial and economic justice, climate change, mental health, women, civil discourse, juvenile justice, and Jewish identity. For more information, please go to: http://www.twosunsmedia.com/
Danielle Perry is the Executive Director for Growing Home, Incorporated. With Chicago’s first and only high-production, USDA-certified organic farms, Growing Home runs an innovative employment training program that uses urban agriculture to teach job skills for individuals with barriers to employment. The organization strives to provide affordable, healthy food and food education to the Greater Englewood community, where the farm is located
Connecting with #StayHomeWatchTogether: Why watch COOKED: Survival by Zip Code now?
The film explores why, despite massive funding and widespread support for programs designed to prepare for and respond to natural disasters like the coronavirus pandemic, each new disaster reveals similar themes again and again:
➔ Deep structural racism and systemic health inequities that determine which communities are most vulnerable everyday, and even more so during disasters
➔ How historic public policies like red-lining lead directly to the race and class disparities, the ‘slow moving, man-made tragedies,’ that put certain communities at higher risk for morbidity and mortality during natural disasters
➔ The resilience and ingenuity of communities that must band together to find solutions despite the structural barriers working against them
➔ That long-term disaster mitigation must address the root causes of why some communities are more at risk than others
Take Action Now
Share COOKED: Survival by Zip Code with family and friends:
On ITVS
On Amazon Prime
Plan an #EarthDayWatchParty through Exposure Labs between April 20 and April 27
Find more information and tools for screening at http://www.cookedthefilm.com/
Support local anchor institutions, like The Lower East Side Girls Club in NYC or RAGE/Residents Association of Greater Englewood in Chicago, who are racing to address the underlying crisis of systemic disparity, life-span, education and infrastructure gaps every day.
Elevate community-based grassroots movements that are pressuring, and in some cases collaborating, with local governments to respond to slow-motion public health disasters -- structural racism, income disparity, health inequity, life expectancy gaps and even gun violence -- with the same level of resources, courage, compassion and foresight that are deployed for “natural” disasters.
Advocate for investment in infrastructure, and in communities that have traditionally been under-resourced, as a new and necessary form of disaster preparedness.
Write online and share the stories of those most affected, using an equity lens that focuses on the underlying slow-motion disasters of poverty and racism, when thinking about the pandemic and future climate crises
Stay informed. Here are some recent articles about the inequities being revealed by the coronavirus pandemic:
Amid Limited COVID-19 Data, Grim Numbers Suggest Disproportionate Impact on Black Americans , Marissa Higgins, DailyKos.com, April 7, 2020
The Brother Killer , Charles M. Blow, NYTimes.com, April 12, 2020
The Coronavirus’s Unique Threat to the South , Vann R. Newkirk II, TheAtlantic.com, April 2, 2020
COVID19 is disproportionately Taking Black Lives , Fabiola Cineas, Vox.com, April 8, 2020
We Need Social Solidarity Not Just Social Distancing , Dr. Eric Klinenberg, New York Times, March 14, 2020
When White folks catch a cold, Black folks get pneumonia , EmbraceRace
Download the Discussion Guide: