Madina in the Summertime

Madina in the Summertime is an anti-rom-com that follows a teacher in an unhappy marriage. Over the summer she meets Caleb, a painter who lives a full and vibrant life of creativity, dive bars and neighborhood spots. From their meet-cute, their relationship progresses as Madina's latent creative streak is awakened by not her husband. She has some difficult choices to make as the city in the summer, blooms.

18 Bridges Media

There is growing space for television in Chicago thanks to the procedural shows. Filmed here, for the most part, they employ some talented Chicago folks, but do not tell Chicago stories. There is a space for documentary films here because of Kartemquin and others who have pushed the genre. I have worked in this documentary film space with the award-winning Louder than A Bomb doc, the ABC Chicago Live Street Art episodic series, which was nominated for a regional Emmy, and currently creating mini-docs and an episodic doc travel show for Interfaith America.


But Chicago's heart, the will and genius of people, is too often unrealized on the big screen and in independent full-length features. This is a space 18 Bridges Media is working to inhabit. A desire and commitment to up lift the stories of the city and counter the public narrative that Chicago is a town unhinged by violence and segregation.

In The Works

About Writer/Director Kevin Coval

Kevin Coval is an Emmy-nominated, award-winning writer, filmmaker, and author of over a dozen collections & anthologies including The Breakbeat Poets: New American Poetry in the age of Hip-Hop and A People's History of Chicago. Coval is a creative consultant helping brands, such as Apple, Nike, Adidas, Beats, Gatorade and more, tell stories and create innovative programs. His writing has been featured on/in HBO, The Daily Show, National Public Radio, The New York Times, Source Magazine, CNN.com & more. He has been awarded grants, fellowships and residencies from the MacArthur Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, The Kennedy Center, Lannan Foundation and more, and has shared stages with The Migos & Nelson Mandela performing on four continents across hundreds of cities around the globe. Coval has served as an Executive Creative Director in both corporate and non-profit spaces and is currently a Senior Advisor at Interfaith America.