1st 'Science On Screen' Event At Gorton Features Jens Jensen Film

LAKE FOREST, IL — The Gorton Center is holding two screenings of a documentary about the pioneering landscape architect and conservationist Jens Jensen on Friday, with panel discussions featuring the film's director and experts in the field following both shows.

Jensen (1860-1951) came to Chicago without means as a Danish immigrant in the 1880s, and left the city with some of its most iconic natural spaces, including the Indiana Dunes and the West Park System of Humboldt, Douglas and Garfield parks, as well as Columbus Park and many other natural areas across Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.

“Jensen’s message could not be more relevant,” said director and co-producer Carey Lundin before the film's premiere. “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.”

With screenings at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday, April 20, "Jens Jensen: The Living Green" will be the first film shown John and Nancy Hughes Theater at the Gorton Community Center as part of the Science on Screen series.

The national initiative from the Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation offers grants to pair film screenings of feature and documentary films with panel discussions showcasing scientific experts. The experts discuss the specific scientific or technological issues raised by the films.

Joining director Lundin on Friday's panel after the 7 p.m. show will be Stephen Christy, a landscape architect and longtime executive director of the Lake Forest Open Lands Association, along with local historian Art Miller and local landscape architect Cliff Miller.

“This speaks to the kind of quality film programming we’re striving to bring," Gorton Executive Director Amy Wagliardo said after the grants were announced earlier this year. “It’s incredibly important to Gorton to be acknowledged by a well-respected national foundation and highly regarded program like Science on the Screen.”

Read the description of Jens Jensen: The Living Green:

‘Jens Jensen: The Living Green‘ follows the career of Danish-born Jens Jensen (1860-1951) from street sweeper, to ‘dean of landscape architecture’, to pioneering conservationist. Jensen battles corruption and unbridled industrial expansion to make the modern city livable by bringing ‘the living green’ into the wretched lives of Chicago’s workers. Striking cinematography and an evocative soundtrack illuminate colorful witness from Prairie School architect Alfred Caldwell and an intensely reflective interview with Jensen.

Today, residents of underserved communities still suffer the effects of ‘park deserts’ and ‘food deserts’ – but the healing power of nature is recognized. Jensen leveraged his relationships with Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry Ford and Julius Rosenwald to stop the steel mills from industrializing the entire shoreline and preserve native Midwestern landscapes.

Watch the trailer:

More information and tickets available from the Gorton Community Center.