HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — Filing into the Wayfarer Theater Tuesday, Highland Park neighbors gathered to see a screening of a film featuring their stories and the impact of that tragic Fourth of July day, nearly two years ago.
“We don’t show any of the archive,” said filmmaker Jon Siskel. “You don’t hear any gunshots. it’s kind of a very meditative, poetic film.”
Siskel, nephew of the late film critic Gene Siskel, created the 20-minute film ‘Memorial’ after he visited Highland Park, calling the village an unforgettable place after seeing it covered in orange yarn and hand-written notes the community helped weave in the weeks and months after the shooting.
The people Siskel interviewed are survivors and family members of those who lost their lives. He chose not to show their faces.
“I wanted people to focus on not what people look like or what their house looked like,” Siskel said. “I wanted people to focus on the words — To really hear what this did to these individuals and this community.”
Kathy “Sam” LaMorte is one of the voices featured in the film. A volunteer with the Community Emergency Response Team, she was working the parade when the shooting happened.
“All that training for 20 years prepares you for it,” LaMorte said. “But you never expect it to happen.”
Siskel said he wants this film to start a conversation.
The screening ended with one moderated by the nonprofit Project Unloaded, which works with young people to change gun culture.
“My generation has never known a world that has not been shattered by gun violence,” said Rachel Jacoby, a gun violence prevention specialist from Lake County. “I’ve never been able to go to school and not engage in active shooter drills. But my generation is doing everything we can to create that world for our kids one day.”