Terra Incognita is a feature length documentary film and companion civic engagement campaign featuring the story of Dr. Jack Kessler, the current chair of Northwestern University's Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurological Sciences, and his daughter, Allison, an undergraduate student at Harvard University. When Kessler was invited to head up the Neurology Department at Northwestern, his focus was on using stem cells to help cure diabetes. However, soon after his move to Chicago, Allison – then age 15, was injured in a skiing accident and paralyzed from the waist down. In the moments following the accident, Dr. Kessler made the decision to change the focus of his research to begin looking for a cure for spinal cord injuries using embryonic stem cells. Through Kessler's story, we bring the stem cell debate to the public for discussion. The film follows the constantly evolving interplay between the promise of new discoveries, the controversy of modern science and the resilience and courage of people living every day with devastating disease and injury.
Please contact us if you'd like to host a community screening of the film.
83 minutes
Kartemquin documentaries among best films of 2000's
December 26, 2009
As the 'noughties' draw to a close, many critics have been publishing their lists of the decade's best films. Kartemquin is honored that our 2003 film Stevie is represented in a few of these lists, capping an incredible decade of growth and achievement for our organization.
Stevie is increasingly being recognized as a modern documentary masterpiece, gaining acclaim as one of the top 25 essential documentaries of the decade in a list by popular online critic Marilyn Ferdinand. NewCity Film critic Ray Pride went even further, listing Stevie at #19 in his ranking of the decade's best films in any genre. Only one other documentary placed higher. Stevie also gained a #5 place on Filmsweep's list of the decade's best documentaries, was #1 on Collin Souter's list on eFilmCritic, and was the highest-placed documentary on this top 50. The Onion AV Club's Keith Phipps also placed the film at #57 on his top 100, and Sunday Morning Reviews ranked it at #19, calling Steve James "the best documentarian working today… to make Stevie and Hoop Dreams in one lifetime is an amazing feat."
Our 2004 series The New Americans was also heralded as "the greatest accomplishment of any documentary this decade" while placing at #2 on a list of the top 10 Chicago movies of the past decade by Chicago Beat.
During the past decade, Kartemquin Films has released ten documentaries and received numerous awards and accolades, including a MacArthur 'Genius' Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, a Peabody Award (for Terra Incognita: Mapping Stem Cell Research), an Emmy-nomination (for In the Family), a Gold Hugo (for The New Americans), and several other awards from film festivals across the world including Sundance, IDFA, Atlanta, Chicago, Full Frame, Florida and many more. Two Kartemquin films have also been short-listed for the Academy award for Best Documentary (Stevie and At the Death House Door).
As we enter into our 44th year, with three new films - Typeface, No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson, and Prisoner of her Past - screening across the world in 2010, and a number of our classic films due to be released on DVD, we look forward another decade of successful cinematic social enquiry. Happy new year!
- Director/Producer
- Maria Finitzo
- Executive Producer
- Gordon Quinn
- Associate Producer
- Justine Nagan
"This excellent Kartemquin Films documentary is a multifaceted unpacking and demythification of a loaded subject."
—Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Chicago Reader
Peabody – Award, 2008
2007 Chicago International Documentary Film Festival – Gold Hugo
Gracie Award, AWRT – Outstanding Documentary, 2010
2007 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) – In competition