Podtalk: Jack C. Newell’s New Doc ‘The Candidate’ & Wabash Lights

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CHICAGO – This is an important upcoming weekend in the art evolution of Chicago’s own Jack C. Newell. The filmmaker will have a (click) WORLD PREMIERE of his new documentary “The Candidate” at the Gene Siskel Film Center (8/17/24) and “turn on the glow” for an installation ten years in the making, Wabash Lights (8/15).

Part of DOCS FOR DEMOCRACY, “The Candidate” is a verité documentary directed by Newell, as the production is embedded with progressive democrat Qasim Rashid as he battles xenophobia (as a Pakistani-American and Muslim), Covid, and corporate interests in two different congressional races against well-funded incumbents … first against a Virginia Republican in 2020, and in 2024 against an Illinois Democrat. After the August 17th World Premiere, the film will embark on a multi-city tour in the Fall.

Art & Cinema from Jack C. Newell
Photo credit: SiskelFilmCenter.org

The Wabash Lights is a plan ten years in the making, designed to reenergize the Wabash Avenue area in Chicago’s Loop – framed by the el train tracks above the street – with programmable LED tubes on the underside of those tracks, and will finally see the light on its August 15 dedication. Fifty feet of lights, spanning one block between Madison and Monroe Streets, will be switched on at 8:15pm, starting Phase One of the project. The plan, formulated by Jack C. Newell and design strategist Seth Unger, is to eventually light seven blocks, from Lake Street to Van Buren Street, and make the lights a permanent public art display.

In a Podtalk interview with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, filmmaker Jack C. Newell talks “The Candidate” and Wabash Lights …

In a video excerpt from the interview, the pitch for the cinema and art events …

By PATRICK McDONALD Editor and Film Critic/Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com