Whether driving or walking through downtown Highwood, residents and visitors cannot miss 14 murals painted in a dozen places — 1,560 square feet of varied images, ranging from typography to abstract and narrative to fine art, and more. Painted during the Highwood International Mural Fest by a dozen artists, from across the country and one from Denmark, over a weekend in June, the public art is part of an effort to draw people to the community. Organized by art curator Laura “Lulu” Reich, a Highland Park native now living in New York, and her fiancé CJ Kozloff, a New Yorker, to bring joy to the community, the three-day festival is now the subject of a documentary made and directed by Kozloff. He is also a filmmaker. The documentary, “More than Paint,” held its world premiere Thursday at the Wayfarer Theaters in Highland Park, telling the story of the murals and how they were publicly painted to more than 180 in attendance. Raised in Highland Park and moving to New York in her 20s, Reich established herself as an art curator and consultant. When she heard on the news on July 4, 2022, that seven people were killed and dozens more injured by a shooter atop a downtown Highland Park building, she was devastated. “I felt we had to do something that would be fun and bring joy to the community,” Reich said, referring to herself and Kozloff who, along with being an art curator and consultant like her, is also a filmmaker. With her connections in the art world, Reich conceived the idea of putting murals on walls around Highland Park. She knew she and Kozloff had the ability to assemble the artists to paint, but she was not generating the interest she needed in Highland Park until she met James Lynch. Part of The Art Center of Highland Park, Reich said Lynch liked the idea of the live painting of murals in the community. He also thought Highwood, with its tradition, might be a good location. Reich liked the idea of going to the bordering city. “It’s the same school district (as Highland Park),” Reich said. “My best friend in high school was from Highwood.” A new Highwood park has multiple murals. (Steve Sadin/For the Lake County News-Sun) While Reich and Kozloff were busy reaching out to artists to interest them in the festival, Highwood Ald. Andy Peterson said Mayor Charlie Pecaro created a beautification committee. Peterson was part of it, and the murals were a match. “Public art was one of our ideas,” Peterson said. “It meshes with our goals for economic development. There was great interaction between the artists and the festival-goers. It will help make us an art town.” While Reich was tending to the artists and an assortment of other details, Kozloff was at work with his camera asking questions of artists and festival-goers while recording the conversations into what would become “More Than Paint.” A group of robots adorn the wall of the Waukegan Public Library and Community Center. (Steve Sadin/For the Lake County News-Sun) “The people were great,” Kozloff said of the public. “They brought us food, drinks and dinner. People came from Highland Park and all over to see it. There were people in their 80s who had never seen a mural. There was a buzz in the city, an electric feeling.” Looping around downtown Highwood on Sheridan Road, Waukegan Avenue, Bank Lane and Green Bay Road, the 14 murals remain as a lasting memory of the festival. Pulling into the City Hall parking lot, a pair come into view on the back of two businesses. One contains caricatures of a number of people, and the other a face of a woman surrounded by flowers, all in blue. On the side of the Waukegan Public Library and Community Center is an assortment of what appear to be robots. Along Bank Lane on the back of a building is a mural with multicolored faces of animals and devil-looking creatures. Reich said she hopes the festival can be an annual event. She has thoughts of holding them in other cities. This mural has more of an abstract design. (Steve Sadin/For the Lake County News-Sun)