June 2008

Come to the Printer’s Row Book Fair on Sunday the 8th for a discussion with Howard Reich and Gordon Quinn about Kartemquin’s doc-in-progress, Prisoner of Her Past. New clips from the film will also be showcased. Get more information.

In anticipation of tomorrow night’s Chicago screening of In the Family sponsored by the Midwest Independent Film Festival, read this article about the film in Screen Magazine.

In case you missed it, you can download the podcast of yesterday’s Hello Beautiful interview with Kartemquin’s Gordon Quinn on the WBEZ website. Quinn was discussing his involvement on the 1964 Mike Shea documentary, And This is Free in anticipation of the film’s release on DVD.

New York Magazine ranked Kartemquin’s At the Death House Door high on its early June Approval Matrix. Check it out!

A group of Chicago high school students participating in the “A Better World” Media arts program visited Kartemquin this afternoon to learn more about careers in documentary film production. The young men visited with Gordon Quinn, Justine Nagan and Jennie Gambach, after watching and discussing a number of clips from Kartemquin’s catalog.

Kartemquin’s In the Family is featured in an article in today’s Wilmette Life. Additionally, At the Death House Door was recently highlighted in the International Documentary Association newslestter. Check it out. In the blogosphere, Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita was recommended to faith-minded filmgoers on the Explore the Sprit blog.

Tomorrow morning Gordon Quinn and Jerry Temaner will return to their alma mater to show their pre-Kartemquin film, The College to a group of University of Chicago alums as part of the school’s annual Alumni Weekend celebration. The filmmakers will participate in a panel following the screening.

Kartemquin’s Justine Nagan attended the National Conference on Media Reform in Minneapolis this weekend on behalf of the organization. Justine joined 3,500 other media activists to discuss the direction of our national mainstream and independent media as we head into the presidential election.

Kartemquin’s Peter Gilbert will be participating on a panel entitled, “Rights, Camera, Action” with an impressive array of other media makers at this year’s national ACLU conference. Reverend Pickett will also attend the conference and participate in a discussion and screening of Kartemquin’s recent doc, At the Death House Door. Get the schedule

Kartemquin’s At the Death House Door will be re-broadcast five times this month on the Independent Film Channel. Tune in to IFC (all CST, check local listings for details): Monday, June 16th at 8pm and midnight Tuesday, June 17th at 8:10am Wednesday, June 18th at 7am and 12:15pm

In the Family will have it’s world premiere at the Silverdocs festival next week! Filmmakers Joanna Rudnick, Gordon Quinn, Beth Iams and Leslie Simmer will be in attendance. Check out the film on Wednesday, June 18th at 2:15pm and then again on Saturday, June 21st at 2:15pm. Get all the details.

Kartemquin’s Gordon Quinn will be on The Cliff Kelley Show on WVON Chicago in a few weeks to talk about his involvement with the beloved 1960’s documentary, And This is Free. Additionally, he was a guest on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight on Thursday night to talk about the film’s recent DVD re-release.

Kartemquin’s film In the Family was highlighted in a piece by Pat Aufderheide, discussing the impact and importance of PBS’ P.O.V. in today’s In these Times. Read the article

Additionally, the film was covered in the Washington City Paper and the Washington Post Express.

Kartemquin’s doc in progress, Typeface recently received a generous donation of $5,000 from Mohawk Paper for continued post-production on the film. These funds come at a critical time for the project and will allow editing to continue . The crew is poised to kick-off a fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $50,000 by September. To help support this effort, visit www.typefacethefilm.com

Additionally, Mule Magazine recently interviewed Director Justine Nagan for their latest edition. Read the story on page 53 about the film and the Hamilton Museum. Copies of the magazine will also be available around the Chicago area.

Kartemquin’s recent doc At the Death House Door is screening on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, tomorrow evening, June 19 at 6pm before a House Judiciary Subcommittee. Director/Producer Steve James will will be there to answer questions.

Entertainment Weekly recently named Kartemquin’s Hoop Dreams as one of the top 100 “New Classic Movies.” The film was one of only two docs included on the list. The film was ranked #26– see what else is on the list.

Kartemquin’s In the Family celebrated its world premiere at Silverdocs yesterday afternoon. Footage from the premiere is featured in the video gallery, day three on the Silverdocs site. Following the screening, the audience enjoyed a stimulating panel discussion featuring filmmaker Joanna Rudnick and moderated by P.O.V.’s Simon Kilmurry. Another Silverdocs screening is planned for Saturday afternoon.

Kartemquin’s Typeface, is featured on Veer’s “The Skinny” blog today. Read the post. Additionally, Director/Producer Justine Nagan has been invited to present scenes from the film at this year’s Typecon conference in July. Meanwhile, the busy crew continues to edit and fundraise simultaneously.

Kartemquin’s Maria Finitzo received her MFA in “Writing for the Stage and Screen” from Northwestern University in Evanston today. Congratulations Maria!

Kartemquin’s Director of Production, Zak Piper, presented the “Best Chicago Film” award at the CineYouth Festival last night. The festival is organized by Cinema/Chicago and features the work of up-and-coming filmmakers under 20 years old from across the country.

Kartemquin’s Joanna Rudnick, Leslie Simmer, Beth Iams and Gordon Quinn just returned from the world premiere of In the Family at Silverdocs. Following the successful Silverdocs screenings, the film has been garnering even more press attention. Read the latest news and blog posts.

Save the evening of August 23rd for a late summer Typeface benefit. We’re partnering with local gallery Medicine Park and several graphic artists to provide a fun and aesthetically interesting event to reward your generous donations.

Members of the Chicago Tribune’s Subscriber Advantage program will have another chance to view Kartemquin’s recent award-winning doc, At the Death House Door on Saturday morning at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. A panel discussion with the filmmakers and Steve Mills, from the Tribune, will follow the screening.

Kartemquin is excited to partner with the Illinois Humanities Council and several other local organizations for the “Looking for Democracy Short Film Contest.” The winner will receive, in addition to a flip camera and a host of other prizes, a private project consultation with Kartemquin Founder Gordon Quinn. The deadline is September 2, 2008. Get the details.