Sometimes the loudest statement a filmmaker can make is saying nothing at all. That's the energy behind THIS IS WHERE I WANT TO BE, a two-minute silent short shot on 16mm Kodak T200 film - yes, actual film, the stuff that comes in a can and smells like vinegar when it's old - made possible by the Chicago Film Society's Intro to 16mm class. If that sentence just made your heart flutter a little, congratulations, you're the target audience, and honestly, same.
Let's break down everything we know about this tiny, gorgeous little love letter to a city.
Release Date & Where to Watch
Here's the thing: there's no announced release date yet, and no confirmed streaming home. That's not a red flag, by the way - it's just the reality for a two-minute, 16mm silent short made through a film society's educational program. This is the kind of project that lives in festivals, microcinemas, repertory screenings, and neighborhood art spaces before it ever shows up on your TV.
If you're in Chicago, keep your eyes peeled on the Chicago Film Society's calendar and local indie venues - that's almost certainly where this thing will unspool first. If you're not in Chicago, your best bet is to follow film society and experimental-cinema circles, because shorts like this travel through word of mouth the old-fashioned way. And honestly? Scarcity suits it. This is a film built for a room full of people watching a beam of light hit a screen, not for your phone on the bus.
Cast & Crew
No cast or director has been publicly credited yet, which is genuinely part of the charm here. THIS IS WHERE I WANT TO BE appears to be a pure student-made passion project - the kind where the crew is small, the budget is smaller, and the ambition is enormous. The credits that are confirmed are the ones that matter most: it was shot on 16mm Kodak T200, and it came out of the Chicago Film Society's Intro to 16mm class, meaning this was somebody's hands-on education in how actual film stock behaves, loads, scratches, and breathes.
And then there's the city itself. Over 30 locations across Chicago appear in a two-minute film. Let that math sink in for a second. Community has a bigger role here than any on-screen performer could, and that's clearly the point.
Story & What to Expect
No plot synopsis exists, and honestly, a two-minute silent short filmed across more than 30 Chicago locations doesn't need one. Think of it less as a narrative and more as a mood board that moves - a rapid-fire visual poem about belonging, made by someone who clearly fell hard for their city while they were learning to shoot real film.
Expect a silent-film experience in the most literal sense: no dialogue, no voiceover, no soundtrack doing the emotional heavy lifting. What you get instead is Kodak T200's rich, grainy black-and-white hitting you frame by frame - L stops and el platforms and corner store neon and lakefront skies, stitched together like postcards from a place that's become home. There's something wonderfully defiant about that title in this context. "This is where I want to be" isn't a plot twist. It's a thesis statement.
One production detail deserves a spotlight: the film is described as an unedited scan of the only, original print. That means nothing has been cleaned up, color-timed to death, or polished in post. What you're watching is film, scanned once, warts and all. For anyone who has spent years watching movies sanded down to digital perfection, that rawness is going to feel like a cold splash of water - in the best way.
Why It's Worth Watching
Short version: because it's real. This isn't a studio product, it's a handmade object, and the phrase "created with a lot of love" in the official description isn't marketing fluff - it's the entire production philosophy. In an era of endless algorithmic content, a silent, two-minute, hand-developed 16mm short about Chicago is basically a punk rock act.
There's also something quietly moving about the Intro to 16mm pipeline. These classes, run by institutions like the Chicago Film Society, exist to keep a dying craft alive - teaching people how to load a camera, expose a frame, and literally hold a movie in their hands. Films like this are the proof that those classes work. Every one of those 30-plus locations was a decision someone made, a trip someone took, a roll of film someone carried around on the L like a nervous parent. That's commitment you can't fake with a smartphone gimbal.
And let's be honest about the runtime: two minutes. You've spent longer choosing a thumbnail on a streaming app. This is a zero-risk watch with an outsized payoff, assuming you can catch it.
There's no rating yet - 0/10 on TMDb simply means nobody's rated it, not that it's bad - no trailer, no distributor hype machine. Just a scan of one original print, a bunch of Chicago locations, and a title that reads less like a declaration and more like a confession. Keep an eye out. Two minutes is a small ask for something this sincere.
