Documentary looks at life of Mayor Harold Washington
Raymond Lambert speaking at The Kulture Museum during The Art & Legacy of Mayor Harold Washington Panel. PHOTO BY TITO GARCIA
Joe Winston is the director-producer and Raymond Lambert also is a producer. Lambert has been a documentary filmmaker for 10 years. He was the owner of All Jokes Aside and his primary focus was stand-up comedians, live performance and TV. He was asked to do a documentary about his journey in the stand-up comedy world. He got bit by the documentary filmmaking bug and went on to work on “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise,” as well as Kartemquin Films’ “All the Queen’s Horses.”
Winston went to look for a documentary about Harold Washington and couldn’t find one. He couldn’t believe it. Winston decided to create a documentary about Washington and asked Lambert to be part of the process.
“He didn’t have to twist my arm. Once I got a sense of the story, I go, “Oh my God, I’m going to spend the next five years trying to tell this story.’ I do think it’s necessary,” Lambert said.
It didn’t take five years. The team is currently in year seven of the documentary process. The film has been shown at some film festivals. Now, they have submitted to a few Midwest film festivals. The hope is that a distributor will pick it up and it will be broadcast. The filmmakers are creating a curriculum for schools around the documentary.
Lambert likes telling stories that haven’t been told. Stories that are worthy of being told and should be told. He had a personal desire to tell the story of Washington and his journey to become Chicago’s First Black Mayor.
Lambert wants to use his documentary filmmaking to tell stories of Black people’s contributions, situations where Black people might not get the credit they deserve, or stories where the person’s life can serve as an inspiration. Lambert believes that Washington’s story checks all the boxes of being one that had the ability to move the community forward and left a lasting impact.
Lambert has another level of respect for who Washington was after making the documentary. He was surprised at how underrated Washington’s impact was. While he impacted the lives of activist and aspiring elected officials, Washington’s work also impacted entertainers.
“He was ready for it … You’ve got to be prepared for the job. It’s all good to want a job, but it’s necessary to be prepared when that job becomes available. Because you’re going to have to be ‘twice as good for twice as long for half as much.’ That’s the reality of it,” Lambert said. Lambert is impressed by the way Washington took on one of the most powerful political machines in the country and won.
“I think the film is a parable for where we find ourselves in this country and it’s sort of sad to say, since all of this took place 35 years ago. American politics, race, power and what it takes for us as citizens to demand the sort of Democracy we want, or that we demand from our officials, and the work it takes to do that,” he said. “ I think this film is the perfect example of what effort it took to put a man like Harold Washington in office and then, what that man is up against to do the things that we think they should be doing for us.”
For more information about “Punch 9 for Harold Washington,” visit https://punch9movie.com.
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