Watch the Video
Listen to the PodcastUPDATE: This forum has reached capacity for online registration! Walk-ins are welcome, but based on availability. If you previously reserved a spot, but are no longer able to attend, please email Stacy Holmes at sholmes@cityclub.org so others may have the opportunity to join us!
Doors open at 6:45pm. The event begins at 7:00pm. Film screening starts at 7:15pm.
This is a FREE public event, but registration is required. Ticket includes one popcorn and one fountain drink. Walk-ins are welcome, and based on availability!
Eric D. Seals grew up eating just about every southern delicacy you could name: pulled pork, liverwurst sandwiches, fried fish, alongside his father, Donnie Seals Sr. Living in Wheaton, a west suburb of Chicago. He also watched his dad drink and smoke for almost 10 years, until 1995 when he almost died. Over the next fifteen years, Donnie would have a total of three quadruple bypass surgeries and be forced into early retirement.
However, the story doesn’t end there. Donnie is now 70 years old and bicycles more than 30 miles a day; his heart problems have all but disappeared. Having once been on more than 20 daily medications, he is now down to one and his doctors call his recovery miraculous. Directed by son Eric Seals, Bike Vessel follows father and son as they cycle from St. Louis to Chicago. The film takes a hard look at the health disparities plaguing Black men, and the systemic racism that has elevated them to one of the lowest life expectancies and highest death rates in the nation.
Part of the Health Equity Series sponsored by the Saint Luke's Foundation, join the City Club, Bike Your Neighborhood, and the Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival for a special film screening of Bike Vessel. Following the film, Donnie Seals will join a panel conversation about the documentary, health equity, and the transformative power of cycling.
On Saturday, July 13th you're also invited to join the filmmakers and Bike Your Neighborhood for a community bike ride. Details on how to join the ride can be found here.