Kartemquin to receive Free Speech award from Newberry Library!

We are delighted to announce that the Newberry Library will honor Kartemquin Films with the 2010 Altgeld Award for Free Speech. Kartemquin will receive the award as part of the Newberry Library's annual celebration of the Bughouse Square Debates on July 31st, 1-4pm in Washington Square Park, Chicago.

The Newberry Library stated that they chose to honor Kartemquin because our "mission of 'cinematic social inquiry' embodies the historic values of Bughouse Square and of Governor Altgeld. Since Kartemquin original founders Gordon Quinn, Jerry Temaner, and Stan Karter produced their first film, Home for Life (1966), which chronicled two elderly people entering a home for the aged, Kartemquin has charted a pioneering course in documentary filmmaking. From Hoop Dreams (1994), which examined the complex role basketball played in the lives of two young men from inner-city Chicago, to No Crossover: The Trial of Allan Iverson (2010), which considered how the trial of a 17-year old basketball star defined and divided a town over race, Kartemquin has held a mirror up to American society for more than four decades by using video to uncover and disseminate reports of difficult, ignored, and unpopular subjects."

The event is free, so please come out and celebrate with us! Get more information about the event and Kartemquin's award from the Newberry Library.