“Fire Department, Inc.” is a new documentary that highlights the five-year legal battle that followed former North Riverside Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr.’s attempt to privatize the village’s union fire department. The film premieres this weekend as part of the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival at the Chicago Filmmakers Theatre in Edgewater.
The screening will take place on Saturday, May 4, at 7 p.m., and will be followed by a Q&A session with director Colin Hughes, producer Caley Fox Shannon, and subjects interviewed in the film. The Chicago Filmmakers Theatre was originally built as a firehouse in 1928 and became a Chicago landmark in 2003. Now owned by the nonprofit Chicago Filmmakers, the theater will host the screening of “Fire Department, Inc.”
Colin Hughes and Caley Fox Shannon, who grew up in Riverside, began working on the documentary during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film captures the gripping tale of North Riverside’s fire department, bringing to light important local politics and labor issues that are particularly relevant for residents of close-knit communities like theirs.
Funded mostly by Hughes and Shannon with additional support from donations, “Fire Department
