“The reality is, in the first 134 days of this year—since January 1, 2015—there’s been 780 shooting. That’s nearly six a day being shot in Chicago, and we must face the reality…of guns in America. Where it’s easier in so many neighborhoods to get a gun, [rather than] a computer,” Father Michael Pfleger exclaimed outside Saint Sabina Church in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood in Chicago; a neighborhood that knows all too well the harsh realities of gun violence.
Complex NEWS traveled to Chicago to attend a press conference held by Spike Lee to publicly discuss his upcoming film Chiraq for the first time. Among the speakers were community leaders, organizers, mothers whose children were victims of gun violence, and actor John Cusack, a Chicago native who will star in the film.
During the conference, Lee discussed the importance of making a film that highlights the realities many Chicagoans—and Americans nationwide—face. “Hopefully he shines a light on what the solutions to gun violence verses the actual gun violence, because we know the problem,” one resident told us after the presser. Overall reactions from residents were positive, with many agreeing that shining light on the issue of violence in urban communities can only have a positive outcome.
Details surrounding the film remain scarce, and there has been controversy surrounding the title. ScreenDaily reported that the film will be based on the ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata, which was penned by Aristophanes in 411 BC. Lysistrata is the tale of one woman’s quest to end war by banding together the women of Greece to withhold sex from their husbands. How this will look in contemporary Chicago is anybody’s guess.
Chiraq will begin filming in June.
