A palimpsest of history, politics, and art, a short film by Lisbon-based director is an ode to the Midwest’s largest city and its people. “” travels across time periods and neighborhoods in a poetic collage of community and culture: cutout photographs of children sit in front of reconstructed streetscapes, animated snippets depict cars from today and decades earlier driving next to each other, and the El runs through the background.
Created as a music video for , the layered imagery mirrors the composition, which infuses audio clips from civil rights-era speeches, police sirens, and news broadcasts into Skiiwalker’s otherwise soft, jazzy track. Opening on the South Side and traveling downtown, “Chicago” is a profound, nostalgic consideration of the activism, pride, and compassion that have shaped the city.
Pombeiro frequently works in this style that melds analog and digital, and you can watch more of his films on .
