Lakefront Trail Maintenance Alert: Over the next several months, repairs will be made throughout the trail, one section at a time. Work will start on the south end and move north. Signage will be placed ahead of the construction site. Please be alert and safe, and avoid these active construction work zones. Learn more: Lakefront Trail Maintenance. Posted 9/15/26
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The Good News
Directed by Christopher Hoerdemann
Produced by Norma Hoerdemann
The Good News is a documentary about the transformation of Chicago’s Austin neighborhood—told by the people who are leading it. Once dismissed as a lost cause, Austin is now home to a movement of organizers, business owners, and residents who are reshaping the story of their community. The film captures the pride, history, and urgency of a neighborhood that refused to be defined by its past and chose to build its own future.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
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Christopher Hoerdemann is an Emmy Award-winning, Chicago-based documentary filmmaker known for dynamic storytelling and an agile, small-footprint production style that brings energy and authenticity to real-world stories.
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CHICAGO CONNECTION
It focuses solely on Chicago's Austin community, with the story told through the voices of Austin residents.
STATEMENT FROM THE FILMMAKER
We were originally brought in to create a 10 to 15 minute piece commemorating the progress of the Austin community's Quality of Life Plan. But as we began listening to the people who had lived this work, it quickly became clear that the story was simply too big for those boundaries.
What emerged through production was this consistent sentiment that the narratives about this community have been imposed from the outside for a long time. We saw this film as an opportunity to do something different; to get out of the way and let the community tell its own story, in its own voice.
What began as a short commemorative piece ultimately became a 35-minute documentary because that's what the story demanded. The Good News is not our interpretation of this community. It is our attempt to listen, and to create a space where the people who call it home could speak for themselves. The resulting piece comprises all of the nuance, honesty, pride, joy, and enthusiasm that we encountered while making it.
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