Skip to main content

Jens Jensen The Living Green

WTTW to partner with Millennium Park on Historic Screening of the Award-Winning Conservation Documentary; WTTW11 broadcast will coincide with a screening
at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park on Thursday, June 19, 2014 at 8:00 pm

For immediate release
Chicago, IL - June 4, 2014

For the first time ever, WTTW11, Chicago’s premier public television station, will partner with Millennium Park for a public screening of Jens Jensen The Living Green, the award-winning documentary about a pioneering landscape architect described as “Poet of the Prairie, Maker of Public Parks and Prophet of Conservation.”

The 60-minute film, produced by Viva Lundin, will air on The Screen at Pritzker Pavilion and simultaneously on WTTW11 on Thursday, June 19 at 8:00 pm.  Preceding the film at 6:30 pm will be a concert by eighth blackbird, Chicago’s popular contemporary chamber music sextet.  The film’s director, Carey Lundin, WTTW’s Geoffrey Baer, and Piet Oudolf, designer of Chicago’s Lurie Garden, will introduce the film at Pritzker Pavilion.

Millennium Park provides the perfect outdoor setting for a film that 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 the 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. “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.”

Supporters of the Jens Jensen The Living Green, in addition to WTTW11, include the Chicago Park District, Clarion New Media, Roger and Sandra Deromedi, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Graham Foundation, GreenMark Public Relations, the Illinois Arts Council, Illinois Humanities Council, Indiana Dunes Tourism Association, landscape architects, The Morton Arboretum, Parkways Foundation, Christy Webber Landscapes, and Wisconsin Public Television.

The film includes music composed by Sam Hulick, editing work by Ilko Davidov of Bulletproof Film and mastering/color correction work by Joe Winston at Media Process Group.

For more information on the film and to watch the teaser, please visit jensjensenthelivinggreen.org.

ABOUT VIVA LUNDIN
Viva Lundin is a 20-year-old Emmy-nominated company that creates documentaries, commercials, web, and television series to ignite change with highly influential campaigns promoting conservation, organ donation, smart air bags and youth voter turnout. www.vivalundinproductions.com

ABOUT WTTW
WTTW is a premier public media organization committed to creating and presenting unique television and digital media content across four distinct television channels – WTTW11, WTTW Prime, the Spanish-language channel WTTW Vme, and WTTW Create/WTTW WORLD, and on wttw.com. Recognized for award-winning local and national productions such as Chicago Tonight, Check, Please!, and MEXICO – One Plate at a Time, WTTW presents the very best in cultural, nature, science, public affairs, and children’s programming to almost 2 million weekly viewers across a four state area. WTTW is unique in its commitment to serving the children in our community, with half of its weekday broadcast schedule devoted to educational and non-commercial content. Visitors to wttw.com can connect with others in the community and access a full library of local and national video content for kids and adults, interactive features, event and membership opportunities, and robust microsites dedicated to WTTW and PBS series and specials.