“Holding Pattern,” a documentary covering the decades-long fight over the proposed Peotone airport, will premiere with a free screening at the Chicago History Museum on June 13.
“There’s a Park Forest council meeting about this airport authority they’re creating, so they have a greater say if and when it gets built. And I think it’s in 2003 that this happens,” said editor and producer Brian Kallies. “And when the council member says, ‘This airport is coming, it’s coming,’ that was 23 years ago. So, yeah, that’s why we called it ‘Holding Pattern.'”
The proposed south suburban airport has long been a topic of fierce debate. Proponents say it could become a much-needed economic driver for the region, while opponents object to the taxpayer expense and potential environmental harms, among other concerns.
“I like the David and Goliath aspect of it,” Kallies said.
Kallies’ own view on the issue has evolved over the years he’s worked on the documentary, he said.
“In the beginning, I was kind of anti-airport. I was like, oh, these poor people, they’re going to build this airport and it’s going to take away their way of life,” Kallies said. “Then we started going on the other side and realizing, well, this could be an economic salvation for a depressed area that needs jobs and has needed jobs for a very long time.”
Director Tom Desch has worked on the movie since 2003. He said the first time he ever heard about Barack Obama, before he was elected to national office, was in the context of working on the documentary.
“It has not been a straight line process by any means. We’d film, we’d let it sit on a shelf, we’d go film more, numerous edits over the years,” Desch said.
The lack of movement on the issue made it difficult at times to see an endpoint for the project, Desch said.
“It would kind of have this flashpoint in the news, then it would go under the radar and then there would be another flashpoint. We didn’t really have an end in sight,” Desch said. “How do we craft this story, but also finish the film in our lifetime?”
Most recently, the idea of constructing the Peotone airport has been revived by politicians Robin Kelly and Jesse Jackson, Jr., who have both been vocal supporters.
Desch grew up not far from Peotone, about 15 miles west of Kankakee, he said. He recalls first hearing about the proposed airport as a child.
“Any time we traveled through Chicago, we were on I-57,” Desch said. “I remember a very young age, my mom kind of waving her hand out and saying, ‘Did you know they’re considering building an airport here?'”
Desch’s college graduation coincided with a particularly active time in the fight over the airport, he said, because then-Gov. George Ryan was in the process of buying property for the project.
“About the time I got out of college, was kind of, I guess you could say, high drama in the narrative,” Desch said.
After so long working on the project, Desch said, he hopes the movie is received well.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking,” Desch said. “Something that’s been in the works for so long, you’re a little nervous about how people are going to receive it.”
Kallies said he hopes the documentary will serve to revive and advance the conversation around the airport, which has been in a state of limbo for years. That’s been taxing on everyone involved on both sides of the issue, he said.
“The ones that are waiting for this thing to happen that could possibly save their communities, they’ve been waiting for decades,” Kallies said. “And the other people who’ve been fighting for their homes to not be destroyed, they’ve been waiting for decades.”
The documentary doesn’t ultimately come down on either side of the debate, Desch said.
“Each side has their motivation, and we think a viewer watching this can kind of sympathize with both sides of this issue,” Desch said. “We do not come down on either side, we really want the viewer to kind of determine for themselves.”
If you go…
Where: Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St.
When: 12:30 to 3 p.m., June 13
What: Free movie screening followed by panel discussion
More Info/RSVP: Go to chicagohistory.org/event/ and scroll down to June 13.
elewis@chicagotribune.com
