GERTRUDE

A hybrid documentary blending nonfiction and an imagined past, Gertrude explores the tumultuous life and meteoric posthumous rise of midcentury Chicago artist Gertrude Abercrombie.

Following a non-linear structure that spans over 120 years, the film interweaves present day vérité work, archival materials and dreamlike explorations into the paintings themselves to unfurl the complicated world of a tight-knit cluster of Chicago artists who convened at Gertrude’s infamous salons in Hyde Park.

This ensemble included Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Wendell Wilcox, Thornton Wilder, James Purdy, Karl Preibe, Charles Sebree and Gertrude’s second husband, Frank Sandiford (aka Paul Warren). But beneath the exuberance of these free-flowing gatherings, an abuse scandal was unfolding. One that would span generations and reach directly to the present day.

Gertrude

Production Company: Big C Creative

Director: Julia Hunter

Producer: Christina Shaver

Associate Producer: Max Rasmussen

Status: Production