Uptown: Portrait of a Palace

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Uptown: Portrait of a Palace is an award-winning documentary about the Uptown Theatre, a movie palace located in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago in the United States of America. The Uptown was built by Balaban & Katz and designed by the famous architectural firm Rapp and Rapp. In terms of land area and cubic volume, due, in part, to its three massive lobbies, the Uptown is noted as being the largest movie palace ever built in the United States. Barney Balaban, one of the principle owners, later became president of Paramount Pictures. Sam Katz, one of the other principles, ran the Paramount-Publix theater chain.

The documentary, produced by John Pappas and Michael Bisberg, explores the history of the Uptown Theatre and why the largest and one of the most elaborate theatres in the nation has been left vacant since 1981. Historic photos are juxtaposed with recent film footage to show how the building has survived the last eighty years. The documentary uses interviews with eight sources close to the theatre, including Alderman Mary Ann Smith; local business owner Ric Addy; Rene Rabiella, whose father once owned the theatre; Andy Pierce, founding member of Friends of the Uptown; Bob Boin, a volunteer engineer; Dave Syfczak, caretaker; Joanne Asala and Robert Calhoun, theatre activists and co-founders of a history Web site; and Joseph Ducibella, founding member of the Theatre Historical Society and author of Theatres of Chicago, to highlight the plight of historic architecture across the country.¹ In recent years, local and national campaigns have been launched to raise public awareness of the Uptown Theatre's plight, and petitions have gained worldwide attention.

The film premiered at the Portage Theatre in Chicago in June of 2006 and has been featured on WTTW, Chicago's public television station. Uptown: Portrait of a Palace won in the "Best Documentary" category at the 11th Annual Flicker Fest. It also won for "Best Short Documentary" at the Northwestern Film Festival, introduced by former ghostbuster Harold Ramis.