September 8, 2014
Screening of the Award-Winning Conservation Documentary,
“Jens Jensen The Living Green”
DEKALB, IL –The Egyptian Theatre in Downtown DeKalb is excited to partner with the Illinois Lincoln Highway Association for a screening of the award-winning documentary about a pioneering landscape architect described as “Poet of the Prairie, Maker of Public Parks and Prophet of Conservation.”
The award-winning film “Jens Jensen The Living Green” will be shown this Saturday, September 13 at 7 p.m at the Egyptian Theatre, 135 N. 2nd Street, DeKalb, IL. Tickets are available in advance through the Egyptian Theatre box office or at the door starting at 6:30 p.m. General admission tickets are only $7 for adults and $5 for seniors, students, and kids.
This showing is special because of his involvement with the design of Huntley Park in DeKalb but also because September 13 is his birthday. Attendees are invited to stay after the film for a discussion with the film director and co-producer Carey Lundin who will be making a special appearance at this showing.
The film traces the inspirational story of a penniless Danish immigrant who came to Chicago in the 1880s and became a champion of the environment. As timeless and relevant a story today as it was then, Jensen (1860-1951) fell in love with the peaceful, wild prairies located just west of the bustling metropolis. The prairie became his inspiration, as this conservation hero fought to infuse the calming beauty of nature into the industrial urban squalor.
Jensen’s vision of a sustainable city was in his time revolutionary, as he transformed the lives of Midwesterners with prairie-style parks and community gardens – urban oases that fed the soul and body. In a legendary career that combined art, architecture and activism, Jensen helped save the Indiana Dunes and created unforgettable, natural public spaces for Chicago’s west side, including Humboldt, Douglas and Columbus parks, as well as the Garfield Park Conservatory.
“Jensen’s message could not be more relevant,” said Carey Lundin, the film’s director and co-producer, and president of Viva Lundin, which produced the project. “As humanity has moved off the farms and into cities, as countries like China move into their own industrial age, and as our world experiences the ravages of climate change, we need conservation heroes now more than ever.”
Lundin plans to use the film’s premiere that was in Millennium Park June 2014 to kick off an 18-month campaign she calls “The Jens Jensen The Living Green Movement.” The project is meant to inspire audiences to take action in their neighborhood and advocate for more community gardens and parks, and to protect their health.
The project will target teens, millennials, gardeners, seniors, universities and civically-minded families across the country about the importance of urban parks and gardens. Partnering with Lundin in this effort will be the Chicago Park District, City Parks Alliance, Earth Day Network, Forest Preserve of Cook County (IL), Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Openlands, PBS and The Student Conservation Association.
Supporters of the “Jens Jensen The Living Green” documentary include The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation,Chicago, Park District, Clarion New Media, Roger and Sandra Deromedi, The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, GreenMark Public Relations, Illinois Arts Council, Illinois Humanities Council, Indiana Dunes Tourism , landscape architects, The Morton Arboretum, Parkways Foundation, Christy Webber Landscapes, Wisconsin Public Television and WTTW.
