Phil Ranstrom
Documentary Film Director, Producer, and Writer in Chicago, Illinois
Phil Ranstrom is an Emmy Award-winning writer, producer, and director with over 25 years of experience working for a variety of clients in the fields of entertainment, news, public relations and marketing.
He is currently completing his documentary film, PIEROGI BLUES, the story of how blues migrated from Chicago to Warsaw, Poland, and the radical social, cultural and political changes it inspired. The changes continue to thrive today.
Phil written, directed and produced many other titles including CHEAT YOU FAIR: THE STORY OF MAXWELL STREET, a feature-length documentary about the rise & fall of Chicago's Maxwell Street, the birthplace of the electric, urban blues, which became rock & roll. Narrated by actor, Joe Mantegna, this Emmy Award-winning saga details the history of this ethnic melting pot where "the only color that mattered was green," and cooperation was essential for the survival of the diverse immigrants and poor people who landed there.
Considered both the "Ellis Island of the midwest" and "the New Orleans of the north," this was the birthplace of the electric, urban blues, which became rock & roll.
Cheat You Fair features the last recorded interview of Bo Diddley, one of the creators of rock & roll, who developed his skills in Chicago. Despite Maxwell Street's great impact on Chicago and the world of music, no formal history had ever been assembled until Ranstrom made this film, which spent over 10 years in the making. Pictured above is Phil Ranstrom interviewing "Uncle" Johnnie Williams.
Chicago Tribune writer, Rick Kogan, who was voted Chicago's Best Reporter in 1999 and inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 2003, called the film "one of the most remarkable pieces of work I've ever seen."
Phil Ranstrom is also responsible for ELECTRIFIED: THE STORY OF THE MAXWELL STREET URBAN BLUES, screened at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and UPTOWN CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS, a film about the lives of Jesus People USA living in Uptown, Chicago.
Stay in touch for Phil's latest updates.