Midwest
Astral Pictures

Company Overview

Midwest Astral Pictures was a short-lived independent production company based in the American Midwest, active between 1977 and 1979. The company specialized in regional genre cinema, speculative fiction, educational film transfers and low-budget theatrical releases intended for drive-ins, late-night television blocks and small-market exhibitors.

Its final and most controversial production, First, They Took Chicago, was announced for a Fall 1979 theatrical release before being withdrawn from circulation under circumstances that remain unclear.

Corporate Materials

Fragment A
Production logo.

Fragment B
Life in the office 1

Fragment C
The team monitoring the situation in Metamora

Fragment D
Mr.Astral in his office.

Statement from Eleanor Vale

Working on First, They Took Chicago has been one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life as an actress. From the first day of production, Midwest Astral Pictures created an atmosphere of complete trust, curiosity and artistic freedom. This was not simply a film set. It felt like a place where everyone had been invited to look a little further than they normally would, to listen more carefully, to follow ideas into darker and more beautiful rooms.

I am especially grateful to Mr. Astral, whose guidance throughout the production was unlike anything I have encountered before. He has a rare ability to make you feel that the film already exists somewhere, fully formed, and that your only responsibility is to find your way toward it. He never forced an emotion or explained too much. He simply watched, listened, and somehow made the silence around each scene feel alive.
Playing Dr. June Marlowe required me to surrender to uncertainty. She is a woman trying to map the impossible, trying to give shape to a loss that refuses to stay still. Mr. Astral understood that completely. There were days when I felt as if he knew where the character was going before I did, as if he could see the outline of her grief from the other side of the room.
I leave this production changed, and deeply proud of what we have made. First, They Took Chicago is strange, yes, and unsettling, but it is also full of wonder. It asks us what remains when a place disappears, and what we become when the world stops answering in familiar ways. I cannot wait for audiences to see it.

I believe they are ready.

Eleanor Vale - August 1979

Internal Memorandum

No employee, contractor, projectionist, exhibitor, regional distributor or local press contact is authorized to discuss unfinished sequences, missing reels, audio irregularities, preview audience reactions, or materials not included in the approved theatrical campaign.

Any inquiry concerning Metamora, damaged radio recordings or unidentified crowd photographs should be redirected to the production office. Do not provide written confirmation. Do not provide negatives. Do not return calls after 7:00 PM.

DISTRIBUTION STATUS: HOLD
PROMOTIONAL STATUS: RECALL
PRESS STRATEGY: DENIAL / FICTIONAL FRAMING
FINAL REEL STATUS: DO NOT SCREEN