"Chiraq" is a slang term that characterizes Chicago's South Side and the extreme, almost war-zone-like violence that occurs there nightly. In Chiraq, Hudson plays a mother whose daughter is killed by a stray bullet.

During one moment of filming, Hudson found that art connected with real life in a powerful way for her. "There's a scene where we're all holding up boards with [photos of] our slain children on them," she said. "I turned around, and it's a sea of real women [as extras] holding pictures of children they actually lost. I'm a character holding a picture of a little girl, but in real life I have the same story."