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Vincent documentary makes midwest premier
March 8, 2009 – About 120 people filled a room at the Lake County Film Festival in Grayslake over the weekend to see the 95-minute documentary on Vincent Falk. The Marina City resident is known throughout downtown Chicago as the man who dresses in brightly colored suits and dances on bridges for the amusement of tour boats.
Vincent: A Life In Color was produced and directed by first-time film-maker Jennifer Burns. Using as a framework a tour boat season on the Chicago River, she tells Vincent’s story through the words of people who know him best, including some Marina City residents. Burns spoke with retired teacher Nancy Kolos, Patricia Burnett (1930-2008), Gladys Campione, and Harold G. Bellamy, an Air Force and National Guard veteran and current MTCA director. Marina City shows up numerous times in the film. In one scene, Falk shows off his extensive wardrobe, purchased mostly from Roberto’s on South State Street, that fits into Falk’s one-bedroom condo unit in the west residential tower. Abandoned as an infant at St. Vincent de Paul in Lincoln Park, Vincent lived at two orphanages before being adopted and raised by Clarence and Mary Falk of Chicago. The Falks adopted another son, Harry, who grew up with Vincent and is a part of the documentary. Falk was born with glaucoma in one eye and is blind in the other – a condition that is simulated briefly in the film, as the field of vision is cut in half, then reduced to a tunnel vision – and then blurred. In September 2008, Falk had a cornea transplant and said at the time he could see a little better. Despite the condition, Falk was on his high school’s diving team. He was a disco DJ in the 1970s, then studied computer science at the University of Illinois. He is currently a computer programmer for Cook County. Falk has been the subject of newspaper articles by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, and an NBC5 television news story. Morning anchor Dick Johnson, who appears in the film, says he’s “thrilled” about the documentary, “especially for Vince and Jennifer who spent two years making it.” He says has not seen the film yet, but will soon. Burns says they are planning their next steps. “We are reaching out to distributors while we continue our festival run and are considering self-distributing to a local theater this summer.”
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