When budgets are tight, how can a public library put on screenings of independent documentary films and build a documentary film collection? The Evanston Public Library has found a way with it’s Reeltime Independent Film and Video Forum -- a program created by Chicago-area New Day members in 1999.

The Reeltime series has brought patrons into the library and helped build a more than 200-title independent documentary collection within the library’s 7,000-title VHS and DVD collection. “These are not the type of films you would go to Blockbuster and pick
up. I think it’s a really special addition to the Evanston public library,” said Audiovisual Librarian Laura Hirshfield. “People will come to the free film screenings and then come to the library and say, ‘I want to check the film out -- and by the way -- what else do you have?’ ”

The Reeltime series now offers a monthly screening at either the Evanston (suburban Chicago) library or Northwestern University’s Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art. Screenings are followed by speakers and audience discussion. Reeltime emphasizes work by local filmmakers, but still tries to fly in non-local filmmakers when their films are shown. Other speakers have included film critics, scholars or representatives of organizations dealing with the issues raised in the film.The library buys the VHS tapes and DVDs, and gives Reeltime officespace, equipment and supplies. Reeltime uses grants and individual donations to pay for its web page (http://www.reeltimeevanston.org), publicity, speakers’ expenses, and a small administrative fee. Major funding from the Reeltime program is provided by the Library’s Howard and Ruth Burkhead Endowment Fund and Northwestern University’s Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art. Additional funding is provided by the Illinois Arts Council, Illinois Humanities Council, and numerous individual donors.

The Reeltime program was started by New Day Films filmmakers Andrea Leland and Kathy Berger, makers of The Garifuna Journey. Leland also directed The Long Road Home and Berger co-directed Through a Glass, Lightly. Leland and Berger wanted to bring innovative films, filmmakers, and the issues they address to the greater Chicago area. They also aimed to encourage an appreciation of film as an art form, and bring
community members together to discuss the important issues raised in documentaries.

Leland, Berger and Ines Sommer, another Chicago filmmaker, run the program, and collaborate with local organizations to develop Reeltime's programming. Reeltime recommends films for the library to screen and purchase. All the films screened are labeled “Reeltime Selections” in the library’s catalog and printed materials. Films selected by Reeltime for library purchase, but not screened, are listed as “Reeltime Recommendations.”

More than 30 New Day films have been selected for the Reeltime Independent Film and Video collection. Click on their links below to find out about these public library-pleasing films:

Becoming American
Brother Born Again
Carved From the Heart
El Corrido de Cecilia Rios
Father Roy: Inside the School of Assassins
The Garifuna Journey
Gaza Ghetto
The Global Assembly Line
Home to Tibet
Hope is the Thing With Feathers
If the Mango Tree Could Speak
In the Shadow of Memory
In Whose Honor?
It's Elementary: Talking about Gay Issues in School
Leona's Sister Gerri
Letters Not About Love
The Long Road Home
M & M Smith: For Posterity's Sake
Made in Brooklyn
Means of Grace
No Loitering
The Optimists
Rabbit in the Moon
Scout’s Honor
Skokie Rights or Wrong
Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists
Style Wars
Taken for a Ride
Tango 73: A Bus Rider’s Diary
Twitch and Shout
Uncommon Ground
Women of Mystery
Women of the Wall
Words from the Heart