The chilling story of how hundreds of immigrant factory workers and their families, setting out for leisurely summer cruise, died aboard a heavily loaded steamship that tipped over while still tied to the dock in downtown Chicago. . .and how the rich and powerful who were responsible got away with it.
First-generation relatives of victims recount how the tragedy affected their families for decades while original court documents dug out of the National Archives reveal that the Eastland’s owners knew of the ship’s stability problems months before the disaster - yet rolled the dice as innocent immigrant passengers boarded on July 24, 1915, for a Western Electric company picnic.
WINNER of two 2020 MIDWEST EMMY® AWARDS:
Best Historical Documentary and Best Music & Sound Design
INTERNATIONAL MARITIME FILM FESTIVAL
INDIE FEST
TELLY AWARDS
NEW YORK FESTIVALS
"BEST DOCUMENTARIES OF 2020" - Video Librarian
WINNER of two 2020 MIDWEST EMMY® AWARDS:
Best Historical Documentary and Best Music & Sound Design
INTERNATIONAL MARITIME FILM FESTIVAL
INDIE FEST
TELLY AWARDS
NEW YORK FESTIVALS
"BEST DOCUMENTARIES OF 2020" - Video Librarian
AVAILABLE NOW ON DVD and DOWNLOAD!
The original 83 minute title is EASTLAND: Chicago's Deadliest Day. The folks at PBS wanted a shorter, 56 minute version, so the title had to be changed as well to EASTLAND: The Shipwreck That Shook America. The DVD and downloads are being sold under the original title and length with the addition of bonus material!
DVD for $15 (free shipping) on eBay.com/itm/198504721979
Digital Download for $9.95
Request link at [email protected] payable by Zelle or PayPal
The original 83 minute title is EASTLAND: Chicago's Deadliest Day. The folks at PBS wanted a shorter, 56 minute version, so the title had to be changed as well to EASTLAND: The Shipwreck That Shook America. The DVD and downloads are being sold under the original title and length with the addition of bonus material!
DVD for $15 (free shipping) on eBay.com/itm/198504721979
Digital Download for $9.95
Request link at [email protected] payable by Zelle or PayPal
‘Eastland’ documentary profiles heroes and villains of the 1915 Chicago River disaster
"Most of us don’t know about the heroes and the villains that were created by the deadliest maritime accident in the history of the Great Lakes. Most of us don’t know about the events leading up to this entirely preventable tragedy, and the scandalous aftermath.
That changes with the new and fascinating documentary Eastland: Chicago’s Deadliest Day.”
— RICHARD ROEPER, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
New film remembers the SS Eastland and the day 844 died in the Chicago River
"An extraordinary new documentary, Eastland: Chicago’s Deadliest Day, that definitively details the tragedy, sets the record straight by laying blame where it deserves to lay and doing honor to the victims."
— RICK KOGAN, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
A New Documentary Revisits the Eastland Disaster
"According to Eastland: Chicago’s Deadliest Day, the Eastland disaster can teach us a lot about ethnicity and class in Gilded Age America. Both help explain why it happened, why the boat’s owners were never held accountable, and why it’s been forgotten."
— EDWARD MCCLELLAND, CHICAGO MAGAZINE
New Eastland documentary recalls 'Chicago's Deadliest Day'
"One of the worst days in Chicago history is the subject of a great new documentary...
The 83-minute film features rare, previously censored newsreel footage from the scene, state-of-the-art computer graphics demonstrating how the ship rolled over, and interviews with more than 30 subjects, including three authors of books on the disaster."
— ROBERT FEDER, DAILY HERALD
The Day Chicago Wept
"Within those 1,200 seconds, it would become the day Chicago wept.
Eastland: Chicago’s Deadliest Day might make you angry, too. At the very least, the 83-minute documentary forged with a team of North Shore filmmakers and funded by the Chicago Marine Heritage Society will reveal how Chicago’s heart was broken that day."
— DAVID RUTTER, DAILY NORTH SHORE
"Most of us don’t know about the heroes and the villains that were created by the deadliest maritime accident in the history of the Great Lakes. Most of us don’t know about the events leading up to this entirely preventable tragedy, and the scandalous aftermath.
That changes with the new and fascinating documentary Eastland: Chicago’s Deadliest Day.”
— RICHARD ROEPER, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
New film remembers the SS Eastland and the day 844 died in the Chicago River
"An extraordinary new documentary, Eastland: Chicago’s Deadliest Day, that definitively details the tragedy, sets the record straight by laying blame where it deserves to lay and doing honor to the victims."
— RICK KOGAN, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
A New Documentary Revisits the Eastland Disaster
"According to Eastland: Chicago’s Deadliest Day, the Eastland disaster can teach us a lot about ethnicity and class in Gilded Age America. Both help explain why it happened, why the boat’s owners were never held accountable, and why it’s been forgotten."
— EDWARD MCCLELLAND, CHICAGO MAGAZINE
New Eastland documentary recalls 'Chicago's Deadliest Day'
"One of the worst days in Chicago history is the subject of a great new documentary...
The 83-minute film features rare, previously censored newsreel footage from the scene, state-of-the-art computer graphics demonstrating how the ship rolled over, and interviews with more than 30 subjects, including three authors of books on the disaster."
— ROBERT FEDER, DAILY HERALD
The Day Chicago Wept
"Within those 1,200 seconds, it would become the day Chicago wept.
Eastland: Chicago’s Deadliest Day might make you angry, too. At the very least, the 83-minute documentary forged with a team of North Shore filmmakers and funded by the Chicago Marine Heritage Society will reveal how Chicago’s heart was broken that day."
— DAVID RUTTER, DAILY NORTH SHORE
The CHICAGO MARINE HERITAGE SOCIETY
EASTLAND is underwritten exclusively by the Chicago Marine Heritage Society, and its former chairman, Captain Dave Truitt. Learn more about CMHS by visiting their website here.
EASTLAND is underwritten exclusively by the Chicago Marine Heritage Society, and its former chairman, Captain Dave Truitt. Learn more about CMHS by visiting their website here.
