Murray Lerner, Academy Award-winning filmmaker, passed away on Sep. 2 at his home in Long Island City at the age of 90. Lerner was twice-nominated for an Academy Award: first for his 1967 film Festival!, which documented the Newport Folk Festivals 1963-66, including the iconic performance of Bob Dylan going electric at Newport in 1965. Kartemquin Artistic Director and co-founder Gordon Quinn met Lerner after moving to New York to work on Festival! "He was a passionate filmmaker who loved the unlikely juxtapositions you see in his films. At the time Festival! was the biggest film I had ever worked on and Murray had the vision and tenacity to see this multi-year project through. The summer spent on Martha's Vineyard editing with Murray and Howard Alk was one of the formative experiences of my career," said Quinn. Continued

Following its highly anticipated broadcast on PBS' prestigious documentary strand POV last night, August 28, award-winning Raising Bertie is now available to stream for free on PBS.org. There was an outpouring of reverence and appreciation for the film, the filmmakers, and its subjects following the nationwide broadcast. A robust and thoughtful audience on social media tuned in and chimed in about #RaisingBertiePBS. #RaisingBertiePBS is a must see #documentary Continued

Raising Bertie will have its world television broadcast premiere on PBS' POV tonight, August 28th, as part of the prestigious PBS documentary strand's 30th season. Check local listings here. An intimate, six-year portrait of three boys growing into adulthood in Bertie County, located in rural Eastern North Carolina, the film offers viewers a respectful and tender insight into the emotional lives of Reginald “Junior” Askew, David “Bud” Perry, and Davonte “Dada” Harrell. This raw and starkly poetic cinéma vérité film weaves their stories together as they navigate school, unemployment, violence, first love, fatherhood, and estrangement from family members and mentors, subtly exploring the complex relationships between generational poverty, economic isolation, and educational inequity. Continued

Kartemquin will be well-represented at this year's Camden International Film Festival, with Abacus: Small Enough to Jail earning a place in CIFF's 'Best of Fest' program; Abacus director Steve James participating in the Points North Forum's The Verité Director workshop with Jeff Unay (THE CAGE FIGHTER); KTQ Internship grad Sebastián Pinzón Silva's short Palenque will screen in the fest's shorts program, and two #KTQLabs grads Shot in the Dark and Quest will screen at the fest as well (Shot in the Dark will open the festival). Continued

Kartemquin films is pleased to announce the World Premiere of director Karen Lynn Weinberg’s debut documentary, Keep Talking, at the Vancouver International Film Festival, running September 28-October 13 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The prestigious festival (now in its 36th year) is dedicated to promoting understanding of the world’s cultures through the art of cinema. The film will be featured in the fest's Impact Stream, featuring uncompromising documentaries that seek to change the way viewers see the world. Continued

All The Queen's Horses, the debut feature from director Kelly Pope Richmond earned the HBO Documentaries Spotlight Award for Best Documentary at the Run& Shoot Filmworks Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival this past weekend! The highly anticipated film––earning buzz in the Martha's Vineyard Times with the likes of Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit and Spike Lee's Rodney King–world premiered at the fest Wednesday, August 9th at 1PM. Continued

Making its Southern New England premiere at the 35th Annual Rhode Island International Film Festival, Edith+Eddie took home the Flicker's Youth Film Jury Award for Best Documentary from the fest this week! Continued

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail will have its broadcast premiere on PBS' FRONTLINE on September 12 at 10PM ET / 9PM CT. Following the broadcast, the film will stream online for free at pbs.org/frontline. The newest film by director Steve James, Abacus tells the incredible saga of the Chinese immigrant Sung family, owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York. Accused of mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., Abacus becomes the only US bank to face criminal charges in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The indictment and subsequent trial forces the Sung family to defend themselves––and their bank's legacy in the Chinatown community–over the course of a five-year legal battle. Continued

Get an exclusive look at the new trailer for All The Queen's Horses! Directed by Kelly Pope Richmond, PhD, CPA, the film is an in-depth look at the largest municipal fraud perpetrated in US history. The film has its world premiere Wednesday, August 9th at the 15th Annual Run & Shoot Filmworks Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival. Continued

Applications are now open for the 2018 Diverse Voices in Docs program, a professional mentorship program for independent documentary filmmakers of color. Eight Midwest filmmakers will be selected from those who apply before the November 15th deadline. Apply/find more information HERE. 2018 will be the sixth year of the successful program, which has helped over 60 mid-career documentary filmmakers of color advance their projects through mentorship and skill-sharing since launching in 2013. Continued