Community advocate Neil Karski debuted his locally produced Faces Uncovered: Shattered Lives—about Chicagoans experiencing homelessness—at an event held May 16 at Center on Halsted’s Hoover-Leppen Theater.
Karski, who is founder of the local organization Street Samaritans, spent months on the film, completing it for under $1,500.
“I ended up buying a lot of Chipotle for people,” he said during a question-and-answer session after the screening.
Karski was joined in the forum by television personality Whitney Reynolds and Hope Pavich, executive director of the community organization Care for Friends.
During the discussion, Karski and Pavich discussed the need to acknowledge the humanity of persons experiencing homelessness, who all too often feel erased by society. Karski said that he emphasized that point by repeating footage of his subject’s faces.
“What I wanted to showcase was the raw story,” Karski said. “Everybody has a story.”
—Matt Simonette