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CHICAGO – The 2018-19 mayoral campaign in Chicago was a historic moment for the city, as the first woman of color (Lori Lightfoot) was elected. Director Steve James, of the legendary “Hoop Dreams,” takes on the events leading up to this history and beyond, in “City So Real.”

CHICAGO – One of the most influential documentary makers in film history is Chicagoan Steve James of Kartemquin Films. His lens has commented upon not only the seminal “Hoop Dreams” (1994), but “Stevie” (2002), “The Interrupters” (2011), the Roger Ebert bio doc “Life Itself” (2014) and the recent “America to Me.”

CHICAGO – What does the title of Alison Klayman’s new documentary, “The Brink,” mean? On the surface, it is a fly-on-the-wall profile of right wing operative Steve Bannon, who worked for Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016 and was on his executive staff at the White House, until he unceremoniously resigned.

CHICAGO – How can we understand the day-to-day factors of men and women who continued to be judged by their skin color, economic circumstances, difficult jobs or gender fluidity, if we are not any of those categories? Our art can help us, as given a great example in the new film “Blindspotting.”

CHICAGO – If there are themes emerging in the 2018 film year, a couple of them are incorporated in Oakland, California, and African American identity. Like the recent “Black Panther” and “Sorry to Bother You,” the new film “Blindspotting” – written by and featuring Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal – involve those themes.