Biography
Steve Ordower Producer / Director
Steve Ordower is a producer/director and award-winning editor of dramatic films, documentaries, broadcast programs, corporate videos, and live concerts. He is dedicated to educating people through film, television and music production, and is the founder of the Chicago-based film and video production company, Rhythm & Light.
Ordower's work has been seen on The Discovery Channel, IFC (Independent Film Channel), and the Gospel Music Channel, as well as through international distribution outlets. He also manages the historic archive of Gospel Music television footage from the Emmy-Award-winning show, Jubilee Showcase, which ran on the Chicago ABC affiliate (WLS- TV) for 21 years. As a result, he has licensed footage for the documentary about Mavis Staples entitled, Mavis!, as well as Nightline, 60 Minutes, Blackside (PBS) as well as The Blues (PBS) documentary series spearheaded by Martin Scorsese, and The Chicago History Museum. Ordower is also developing a documentary film about Jubilee Showcase, and has conducted numerous on-camera interviews including those with Grammy-award winners Mavis Staples, Albertina Walker and Andrae Crouch, as well as with Rev. Jesse Jackson, U.S. Congressman Danny K. Davis (D-IL), and former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun.
Excerpts of these interviews have been utilized for the Classic Moments in Jubilee Showcase DVD, which Ordower produced. He was adamant about including a "Learn About the Artists" section on this project, since he feels it is vital to create awareness for the Gospel legends that performed on the show since their influence has permeated the musical landscape of today. This DVD was used as a premium for a PBS special celebrating the 50th anniversary of the show entitled, "Gospel's Jubilee Showcase." Ordower produced and directed this hour-long program that aired nationally in 2013 and 2014, hosted by Clifton Davis.
Previous to this, Ordower produced four public service announcements that aired on the Gospel Music Channel for Black History Month, profiling various legends of Gospel music, including his father Sid. He also had the opportunity to work closely with one of the talented artists from Jubilee Showcase. Jessy Dixon was a Grammy-nominated artist who toured with Paul Simon for eight years, and asked Ordower to produce and direct the historic live concert video project at the Liberty Baptist Church on Chicago's south side.
Ordower enjoys working in dramatic film as well having produced and edited "The Man In The Silo," a dramatic neo-noir film starring Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters / Oz) and directed by Phil Donlon, which was shot in the Los Angeles area, Chicago, and Wisconsin. The movie tells the story of racial family conflict resulting in a horrific car accident that leaves Hudson's character, Marcus Wells, a successful African American executive, proud husband and father-alone, in a secret world of guilt and despair, while he cares for his wife's incapacitated grandmother. Displaced from city to farm life, Marcus faces his darkest fears, his wife's vengeful grandmother, and the truth about himself. The film premiered at the Fine Arts Theater in Hollywood, California as part of the SSG Screening Series, and was showcased at The Gene Siskel Film Center in August 2013, as part of The Black Harvest Film Festival. It also won the award for "Best Feature Film" at the Texas Black Film Festival. This film is distributed internationally via Amazon Prime Video and Google Play.
Ordower's first project with director Phil Donlon, "Wrestled," was chosen by the IFC (Independent Film Channel) for the 2006 season. This film, which he edited and sound-designed, won the "Best Dramatic Short Film" award from the Orion Film Festival in Texas, and received a "Critic's Choice" acknowledgement from the Chicago Reader. He also edited the 60-minute and 15-minute version of the documentary, "Too Flawed To Fix": The Illinois Death Penalty Experience, co-funded by Amnesty International and distributed around the world. Even though Ordower is focused on producing, directing and now writing, his dedication to education continues as he teaches the next generation at both the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago (advanced editing and documentary) as well as Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism (storytelling in the visual medium).
In addition to producing a documentary film about the Gospel TV show, "Jubilee Showcase," Ordower is working on a documentary about interfaith marriage called, "Leaps Of Faiths," to air on WTTW, the Chicago Public Television affiliate. He's also working on a scripted satirical audio podcast, "Sounds Of The Game," as a Producer, Actor as well as Music composer and arranger. This project is a mocumentary radio podcast of Midwest high school football games that takes a hilarious look at how football in the U.S. has become the new "opiate of the people," where everyone's hopes and dreams seem to hinge on their team winning, and an exploration of the real reasons conservative America struggles with the social issues of the day.
