Film Screening, Free Event, Partner Event
Partner Event | Dave Truitt Film Series – “Holding Pattern”
Date
Saturday, June 13, 2026
12:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Location
Chicago History Museum
1601 N. Clark St.
Chicago,
IL
60614
United States
The Chicago History Museum is proud to host the FREE premiere screening of the documentary film Holding Pattern, an unprecedented chronicle and intimate portrait of the conflict surrounding the proposed third Chicago airport.
For over 20 years, filmmakers Tom Desch (Walkable USA, An American Home) and Brian Kallies (Lincoln Is Crying, Gaming Wall Street) have documented the ongoing saga of a proposed third Chicago airport its impact on communities in Chicago’s Southland and exurbs near Peotone, Illinois. Immediately following the screening, former Fox News Chicago reporter Mike Flannery will moderated a panel discussion with:
- Tom Desch, director/writer/producer
- Brian Kallies, producer/writer/editor
- John Davies, executive producer
- Delmarie Cobb, airport proponent and long-time political strategist and analyst
- Judy Ogalla, anti-airport activist and Will County Board Official
Since 1985, plans for a third major airport in Chicago’s far south suburbs (full footprint would be larger in land area than New York’s Manhattan Island) have increasingly gained momentum. Proponents of the airport claim it would alleviate air congestion, meet growing passenger demand, and create thousands of much needed jobs in the economically struggling Southland. Anti-airport activists decry the plan as a potential environmental disaster, the destruction of irreplaceable farmland, and a waste of millions of taxpayer’s dollars. Still in play, this political football has spanned the administrations of seven Illinois governors and as many Chicago mayors.
Free; RSVP required.
The screening of the documentary Holding Pattern is underwritten by the DAVE TRUITT Historical Documentary Series.
Questions? Contact Eric Miller, development coordinator, at miller@chicagohistory.org or (312) 799-2110.
About the Film
The 56-minute Holding Pattern documentary frames this ongoing battle through the lens of two anti-airport activists, George Ochsenfeld and Judy Ogalla; and two airport proponents, political pundit Delmarie Cobb and former Park Forest, IL mayor John Ostenburg. Over the course of 20+ years, the filmmakers take an up-close and personal look at how the airport project has impacted the lives of Ochsenfeld and Ogalla, their personal relationships, and their evolution from citizens to activists to politicians. Cobb and Ostenburg, who have championed the airport for decades, address the political complexities of the project, and explain why they believe eminent domain (the government’s power to seize private land for public use) is justified and could change thousands of lives for the better.
Holding Pattern is executive produced by veteran television showrunner and documentary filmmaker John Davies whose many national credits include the WTTW Chicago productions Sneak Previews, Wild Chicago, Heroes on Deck, and The First Jetliner. The documentary is also executive produced by Robert Bied, President of Captain Dave’s Foundation and The Chicago Marine Heritage Society.
Speakers
TOM DESCH was raised among the cornfields of Herscher, Illinois, (population 1,600) and credits his upbringing as the inspiration for his films that explore our relationship with our environment- both the natural and the built. His most recent documentary, Walkable USA (director, producer), was a collaboration with producer Patricia Wisniewski, writer/editor Mike Meyer, and many other talented production personnel. The film was awarded “best feature” at the 2024 Better Cities Film Festival in Detroit and was the feature showcase of the 2026 Chicago Southland International Film Festival.
Desch was part of the teams that created the Emmy nominated films An American Home (director), Shifting Sands (producer), and Everglades of the North (producer). He also contributed as an editor to The Light of Truth: Richard Hunt’s Monument to Ida B. Wells and Dick Biondi: The Voice the Rocked America. He currently serves as the series producer for the Pioneer PBS program Prairie Sportsman, which airs throughout the upper Midwest.
BRIAN KALLIES began at WTTW/PBS, where he worked on the Emmy award winning documentary anthology series Chicago Stories, lighting for fuse for his documentary career. He co-produced, shot, and edited the Showtime comedy documentary, Phunny Business (narrated by Oscar© winner John Ridley), receiving critical acclaim from The New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, and The Guardian (UK). Legendary movie critic Roger Ebert called it, “one of the best documentaries of the year.” Kallies directed and produced the Emmy nominated environmental documentary Everglades of the North, which inspired a national wildlife refuge and water trail.
Kallies has produced and edited dozens of feature documentaries and docu-series episodes for Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Nat Geo, PBS, BBC, Discovery+, History, and Disney+, among others. His nationally recognized credits include The Money Electric, Gaming Wall Street, Charles: In His Own Words, Shock Docs, and The UnXplained. Brian’s Chicago credits include producing and editing the Emmy award-winning documentaries Heroes on Deck, A City at War, and Lincoln is Crying.
Brian lives in Los Angeles with his wife and small menagerie and continues to pursue telling stories from the Windy City.
JOHN DAVIES has worked in television for over 50 years spending 32 of them in Los Angeles and 13 in Chicago as a writer, producer, showrunner, and director. Davies’ has created national specials, series, pilots, and documentaries for almost every network and more recently streamers, winning many awards including Emmys. Chicagoans may remember Sneak Previews with Siskel & Ebert, Wild Chicago (series creator), and documentaries like Heroes On Deck, Phunny Business, and The First Jetliner.