CHICAGO -- As he lay in bed one night last week and contemplated what the audience would take away from his upcoming film about Steve Bartman, Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney fell asleep and began to dream.

He said he pictured a parade filing through the streets of downtown Chicago in which everyone was dressed the same: Cubs hat, green turtleneck, navy sweatshirt and a pair of headphones. In other words, exactly what Bartman was wearing that fateful night. The parade wouldn't be held to mock Bartman, Gibney said, but rather to provide the city a chance to forgive, forget and harmoniously come together as one.

"I hope Chicago gives Steve Bartman a parade," Gibney said. "And I hope he doesn't come."

The infamous play: Chicago Cubs left fielder Moises Alou falls back after unsuccessfully reaching into the stands for a foul ball against the Florida Marlins in the eighth inning in Game 6 of the NLCS on Oct. 14, 2003, at Wrigley Field. AP Photo/Amy Sancetta

It's been 7½ years since Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series, when a foul ball left the bat of Luis Castillo and tracked its way into the outstretched arms of Bartman, transforming an anonymous, meek 26-year-old Little League coach into the human target for a century of Cubs frustration.

Gibney's new film, "Catching Hell," which is scheduled to premiere Saturday at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, probes the question of why. Not why did Bartman reach for the ball or why did Moises Alou act like a bratty 9-year-old when he failed to catch it, but why did Cubs fans choose Bartman as the target of their rage that night?

"Should Cubs fans forgive Bartman?" Gibney asks at one point in the film. "No. Because, really, it's up to Bartman to forgive Chicago."

In "Catching Hell," which is scheduled to air on ESPN this fall, Gibney explores all the ingredients that created a cauldron of hatred that night, from the wind speed to Alou's reaction to the not-so-carefully chosen words of Fox broadcaster Steve Lyons. Gibney interviews fans who were seated around Bartman as well as security guards who helped escort the fan out of Wrigley Field as he was being showered with beer, pizza, pretzels and death threats.

"Here's a story that seemingly had been done to death," Gibney said. "But there are so many things that were unreported or just unknown. I couldn't believe how extreme things were. The first time seeing that footage of him getting pelted with stuff and the entire stadium chanting 'a--hole, a--hole' it's just really intense."