Stream The Hills via Chicago PBS station WTTW.
THE HILLS
USA, 2023, 43 min.
Director, producer, cinematographer, editor: Ines Sommer
When the steel mills on Chicago’s Southeast Side closed decades ago, they left behind toxic sites that look harmless to the naked eye. Deriving its title from a deserted 67-acre hill made up of slag that Republic Steel/LTV dumped there during the 1950s–80s, The Hills is a place-based documentary where contaminated land, water, and wildlife play a leading role alongside the voices of community members.
USA, 2023, 43 min.
Director, producer, cinematographer, editor: Ines Sommer
When the steel mills on Chicago’s Southeast Side closed decades ago, they left behind toxic sites that look harmless to the naked eye. Deriving its title from a deserted 67-acre hill made up of slag that Republic Steel/LTV dumped there during the 1950s–80s, The Hills is a place-based documentary where contaminated land, water, and wildlife play a leading role alongside the voices of community members.
Easily mistaken for gravel, slag is a byproduct of steelmaking and contains arsenic, chromium, lead, and other toxins. Recently declared a superfund site by the EPA, the abandoned Schroud property has long attracted heavy recreational use and toxins from the slag continue to leach into the adjacent Indian Creek. Providing a rich habitat for fish, beavers, and birds, Indian Creek links Wolf Lake, a major recreational fishing area, to the Calumet River which in turn connects to Lake Michigan, Chicago’s source of drinking water.
The Hills uses this singular site as starting point to consider the area’s industrial history, labor, and current environmental justice struggles, including the fight against General Iron and the proposed expansion of the Army Corps of Engineer’s Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) right at the shore of Lake Michigan, the source of Chicago's drinking water.
The Hills uses this singular site as starting point to consider the area’s industrial history, labor, and current environmental justice struggles, including the fight against General Iron and the proposed expansion of the Army Corps of Engineer’s Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) right at the shore of Lake Michigan, the source of Chicago's drinking water.
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SCREENINGS
The Hills premiered in 2023 as part of E(art)h Chicago, an innovative public art initiative that funded and presented art projects that addressed environmental issues across Chicago neighborhoods. Many screenings in community venues, parks, universities, and the Chicago Humanities Festival have followed. Next up is an in-person screening at the 2025 One Earth Film Festival on April 23, 2025! More info and tickets here: www.oneearthfilmfest.org/the-hills 
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IN THE PRESS
Chicago Tribune: Nearly $700K in public art installations on climate change and environmental justice to be revealed across Chicago
Axios Chicago: New environmental artworks pop up across Chicago
Chicago Reader: Rethinking our relationship to water
The Green Sense Show: Ines Sommer – The Hills
Chicago Tribune: Nearly $700K in public art installations on climate change and environmental justice to be revealed across Chicago
Axios Chicago: New environmental artworks pop up across Chicago
Chicago Reader: Rethinking our relationship to water
The Green Sense Show: Ines Sommer – The Hills
