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Kartemquin's Joanna Rudnick is filming in Qatar for her current production, On Beauty. We wanted to share her latest dispatch from the Middle East:

Friday, March 12, 2010

In the early morning sunshine, our cameraman Chris Booker jumped on a skateboard and chased the seven-year-old Ghanem, who is missing much of his back bone and has no use of his undeveloped legs , as he skated on his own board whizzing past onlookers in awe. This was followed up by a group of medical students at Weil Cornell Medical College in Doha all riding bikes, skateboards, and little makeshift "cars" in front of the medical school building as Ghanem (which translates to "the winner" in Arabic) and his twin brother Achmed raced each other in the middle. Ghanem's mother even got into a dune buggy and sped off in her abaya and hijab with Chris behind her in motion. A very different picture of the Middle East and of "disability."

Joanna Rudnick's previous film as director, In the Family, screens at Northwestern University-Qatar on March 16th. Get more information.

No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson begins a run of festival screenings this Sunday, March 14th with its official world premiere at SXSW, before making appearances at Cleveland, SilverDocs, Dallas, Sarasota, the Midwest Independent Film Festival, Full Frame and Nashville. And those are just the ones we can tell you about!

Director Steve James will be in attendance at the SXSW premiere, and will also take part in a panel discussion during the festival. The film also screens in Austin on March 19th.

Following SXSW, James will take the film to the Cleveland Film Festival for two screenings on March 20th and 21st, before presenting a special SilverDocs screening of the film in Maryland on March 29th. No Crossover is also confirmed to screen in Chicago for the Midwest Film Festival on April 6th, and at Full Frame on April 9th. Expect confirmed dates for Dallas, Sarasota and Nashville (where Steve James will also present his classic film Hoop Dreams) to be announced very soon.

Kartemquin is proud to announce that The Interrupters has been selected as one of 10 finalists for a 2010 San Francisco Film Society / Film Arts Foundation Documentary grant. The winner of the $25,000 grant will be announced on May 5 at the SFIFF53 Golden Gate Awards. Get more information.

The film, directed/produced by Steve James (Hoop Dreams, Stevie, No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson), and written/produced by Alex Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here) is currently in production and will be released in 2011.

Rick Guidotti, photographer and founder of Positive Exposure, has written a new blog about his experiences filming in Kenya with Kartemquin's Joanna Rudnick for her upcoming documentary On Beauty. Click here to read about their trip and see some of Rick's stunning photography.

Rick and Joanna are now in Qatar for the next leg of their trip, and a screening of In the Family at Nothwestern University's Qatar campus on March 16th. Read a Gulf Times article about a recent presentation Rick gave at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar as part of the trip.

The University of Wisconsin at Madison has awarded Kartemquin's Executive Director Justine Nagan the 2010 Ralph O. Nafziger award for "distinguished achievement by an alumnus within 10 years of graduation." Justine, a 2000 BA graduate from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, will collect the award at a dinner reception on Friday April 16th in Madison.

That same weekend, Justine will also present her debut film as director, Typeface, which screens as an official selection of the 2010 Wisconsin Film Festival. Get more information.

Basketball magazine SLAM interviewed Kartemquin director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) about his latest film delving into the sport, No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson. Read the interview here.

In advance of the film's world premiere at SXSW on March 14th, Steve James also answered 5 questions from Austin360.com, coming up with this insight: "I think Iverson is something of a Rashomon-like figure: how you view him says as much about you as it does about him." Read the rest of the article.

WYCC Chicago's "The Professors" will discuss Kartemquin's classic documentary Hoop Dreams with the film's Executive Producer Gordon Quinn, star Arthur Agee, and Chicago Bulls legend Bob "Butterbean" Love. The show also repeats at 6.30pm on Sunday March 7th. Get more information.

Check out this video of Kartemquin's Justine Nagan and Tim Horsburgh being interviewed by Tim Jahn for "Beyond the Pedway."

Filmmaker Joanna Rudnick and her film In the Family have the final word in a recent Washington Post article on the ACLU lawsuit against Myriad Genetics' patenting of the test to detect the BRCA gene mutation. The article by Kari Lydersen outlines the arguments on both sides of the case, featuring comments from representatives of the ACLU and Myriad, before ending with the following passage:

Chicago filmmaker Joanna Rudnick tested positive in 2001 for the gene mutation, and later got a second opinion in Canada while she was there producing a documentary about BRCA. While Canadian doctors often send samples to Myriad for testing, some Canadian universities and researchers do a different type of test that can confirm mutations of the BRCA gene.

A second opinion is "an option most women don't have," Rudnick said, since insurance typically wouldn't cover a second test. Her documentary argues that Myriad's patents impede development of a more accurate and cheaper test.

"If they had a non-exclusive patent, they could still be testing and making money, they'd just have competition," Rudnick said. "That's American." 

Find out more about the ACLU lawsuit here. The DVD of In the Family is available to purchase in editions for both individuals and institutions here.

Kartemquin's 2004 film Golub: Late Works Are The Catastrophes will be available to view in New York City throughout this summer at the Drawing Center's exhibition "Leon Golub: Live and Die Like a Lion?", running from April 23 – July 23, 2010. Golub: Late Works Are the Catastrophes will show on a continuous loop during the exhibition's opening hours.

The exhibition is the first major museum exhibition to focus on the late drawings of the American artist Leon Golub (1922–2004), and will also tour to Evanston, IL and The Netherlands.

Golub: Late Works Are the Catastrophes will also be one of several Kartemquin documentaries to screen at the first ever Amnesty International Human Rights Arts Festival, beginning April 24th in Silver Spring, MD.

Arthur Agee and William Gates, subjects of the classic documentary Hoop Dreams, attended a special screening of the film last Friday in Tucson, Arizona organized by the Tucson Urban League and Kartemquin Films's Kelley Moseley. Arthur and William shared how their involvement in the film has led them to dedicate their lives to stressing the importance of education and encouraging young athletes to plan for a life beyond sports alone.

Slam Magazine visited the event and concluded: "The simple fact of the matter is Arthur Agee and William Gates are focused on improving lives. They were fortunate enough to be successful in life in ways other than basketball. And as Hoop Dreams so gracefully depicted, not everyone is that lucky." Read the rest of the article.

Click here to check out a new video on Kartemquin's YouTube channel from the Chicago "sneak preview" of Steve James' highly anticipated No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson at the Gene Siskel Film Center.

In the video, Steve James discusses why he decided to return to his hometown of Hampton, Virginia to pursue this story, and the strong emotions he encountered when trying to investigate the racial conflict that divided the town.

Also featured in the video are the film's Co-Producer Adam Singer, Assistant Editor Leslie Simmer, Post-Production Supervisor Liz Kaar, and Kartemquin's Executive Director Justine Nagan.

Kartemquin's Gordon Quinn will be a judge for the inaugural One Chicago, One Nation Film Contest.

One Chicago, One Nation is a multi-media initiative organized by One Nation, The Chicago Community Trust, Link TV, Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN). It is a first-of-its-kind regional initiative and national model that promotes pluralism and inclusion to engage a representation of the Chicago area’s 400,000 Muslims with other culturally diverse residents as a critical step toward overcoming ongoing tensions.

The Film Contest is hosted by Link TV and awards $50,000 in prizes for stories illustrating Chicagoland neighbors working together to achieve common goals. Individuals throughout the country can begin submissions of short films of up to five minutes in length online at www.linktv.org/onechicago. Submissions will be accepted until Friday, April 23, 2010.

No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson will have it's world premiere at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival on March 14th at 11am.

Director Steve James will attend, along with Executive Producer Gordon Quinn, Producers Emily Hart and Adam Singer, Cinematographer Keith Walker and Post-production Supervisor Liz Kaar. A second screening will also take place on March 19th at 2:45pm.

Click here to watch the trailer.

Some beautiful new posters and t-shirts are now available in the Typeface store! New items include exclusive prints by designer Jason Early, and prints and signed monoprints by Stacey Stern of Steracle Press that were designed especially for the film's sold out Chicago premiere. Grey and Black t-shirts are also available in all sizes. Buy yourself (or a super-cool friend) some sweet Typeface merchandise today! As this brilliant recent review of the film on the TCM Movie Morlocks blog states: "Typeface makes wood type and letterpress artistry look cool, even sexy."

Kartemquin Films is proud to announce the release of The Kartemquin Films Collection: The Early Years - Volume 1: 1967-1968.

The DVD features Parents and Thumbs Down, two classic cinéma vérité films from the formative period of Kartemquin's 44-year history, plus an exclusive interview with filmmakers and Kartemquin co-founders Gordon Quinn & Jerry Temaner.

In Parents, sit in with a Chicago parish youth group as they discuss issues of parental authority, growing up, and the struggle to communicate with their parents. In Thumbs Down, join the group in an anti-war Mass and witness the deepening crisis of communication between their generation and that of their parents, priests and neighbors. Thumbs Down has been digitally remastered from the original fine grains and 35mm soundtrack mix.

"Thumbs Down offers a great deal of understanding about the nature of a neighborhood that is often talked about in the most oversimplified way… Temaner and Quinn are filmmakers and 'inquiring reporters' with great insight, and they have a lot to tell us about ourselves."
—Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 1968.

Visit the Kartemquin Store today to purchase your copy!

Coming Soon: The Early Years, Volumes 2 & 3
The release marks the latest step in Kartemquin’s attempt to re-release all of the films in our entire back-catalog by 2011. The Early Years Volume 2: 1969-1970, featuring Hum 255 and What the F&*# are These Red Squares? and Volume 3: 1971-1974, featuring Now We Live on Clifton, Trick Bag, Winnie Wright, Age 11 and Viva La Causa, will be coming to DVD this Fall. Volume 3 will also feature a special reunion interview with members of the original Kartemquin Collective.

The Huffington Post's Andrew Wander today published a review of Kartemquin's new documentary Prisoner of Her Past. Lauding the film as a "a brave work of personal discovery that explores a scandalously under-reported phenomenon," Wander compliments the film's subject and Co-Producer, Howard Reich, for having the courage to undertake the journey to investigate his mother's late onset post-traumatic-stress-disorder (PTSD). Read the rest of the review.

Prisoner of Her Past had its North American premiere at the 2010 Big Sky Film Festival. On Sunday, February 28th at 1:30pm, audiences in Illinois will have a chance to watch a special "sneak preview" of the film at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. To find out about more screenings and the upcoming DVD release, join the film's mailing list.

Watch the trailer for Prisoner of Her Past.

The Sundance Institute will host a free public screening of Kartemquin's legendary documentary Hoop Dreams at 7pm on March 4th 2010. Director Steve James will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion of the film, which will screen at the Park City Public Library. For more information, click here.

The multi-award-winning film - often claimed to be the greatest documentary ever made - first captured public attention when it won the Audience Award at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival. This is the latest of a series of reprise screenings that have coincided with the 15th anniversary of the film, marking its continued relevance and ability to engage new audiences. Events in Chicago and New York last year were wildly popular, and other upcoming screenings include a February 26th event in Tucson, Arizona, at which the film's stars Arthur Agee and William Gates will be present.

Check out the Kartemquin YouTube channel to see brand new trailers for 2010 releases Prisoner of Her Past and No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson.

Click here to see Prisoner of Her Past. Click here to see No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson.

Both films will be touring festivals this Spring, with a number of dates already confirmed. Check our Events page for screenings near you, or join our mailing list to stay informed!

Northwestern University in Qatar will host the Middle East premiere of the Emmy-nominated documentary In the Family on March 16th at 9pm. Director/Producer Joanna Rudnick will attend the screening. NU-Q students will also screen their own mini-documentary, which has been submitted to the Al Jazeera Documentary Film Festival competition, as part of the event.

The breakthrough screening marks yet another remarkable achievement for the 2008 film, which also continues to screen across the US and is regularly being used as a focal point for opening up discussions about genetic patenting and cancer awareness. The New York Law School will host a screening of the film and a panel discussion on February 22nd, and Yale Law School recently hosted a similar event on February 11th.

Rudnick will be in Qatar as part of a month-long trip she is undertaking to film the work of photographer Rick Guidotti's Positive Exposure project in addressing the treatment of Albinism in Africa and the Middle East for her next film, On Beauty. The film's crew - Rudnick, Guidotti, Dana Kupper and John Mathie - leave for Kenya on Saturday to begin filming. To support the project, click here.

Director/producer Steve James and writer/producer Alex Kotlowitz, currently in production on the forthcoming Kartemquin documentary The Interrupters, will discuss the intersections of film and nonfiction in a free talk at Northwestern University next week. The talk takes place on February 23rd at 5:30pm at Northwestern's Evanston campus. Click here for more information.

Alex Kotlowitz is currently writer in residence at the Northwestern University Center for Writing Arts. Click here to read an article about a recent talk he gave at the Center where demo footage of The Interrupters was shown.

London College of Communication designers Alexander Cooper and Rose Gridneff stopped by Kartemquin yesterday on their way to delivering a paper at the 'Case for Letterpress' session at the College Art Association Annual Conference in Chicago. They met with Justine Nagan to find out more about how her award-winning film Typeface documents the recent resurgence of interest in the near dormant letterpress artform. Check out their photos of the visit here.

No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson was one of ten films revealed to be playing at the 2010 Dallas International Film Festival (April 8-18) this week. Check the website for more details. The date for the screening is still to be announced.

The film's World Premiere is at SXSW in March, and it will also play twice at the Cleveland International Film Festival on March 20th and March 21st. Steve James will attend each screening. More festival dates for the spring will be announced soon. Watch this space!

Click here to check out a new video on Kartemquin's YouTube channel from the Chicago premiere of the award-winning Typeface on January 29th 2010 at the Gene Siskel Film Center.

Director Justine Nagan, Cinematographer Tom Bailey and Jim Moran of the Hamilton Woodtype Museum are among those featured in this video of the SOLD OUT event.

Typeface's Associate Producer Starr Marcello spoke this morning to over 100 attendees at the national College Art Association conference in Chicago before a panel entitled, "A Case for Letterpress."  Professor Dennis Ichiyama, featured in Typeface, and Artist Ashley Pigford (who designed a poster in support of the film) presented on the panel.

This week Kartemquin Films took delivery of the newest Sony tapeless HD video camera, the PMW350. The camera is one of the first in the country (serial #33) to be in service. Featuring a shoulder mount design with 2/3 inch chips, the camera replaces a tape based Panasonic HD camera. The 350 uses the same memory card based workflow as our smaller EX3 camera, thus allowing producers to shoot many hours of high quality HD footage with no tape or digitizing costs.

Due to the larger chips, the new camera features a very high light sensitivity of ASA 850 at "0" gain to allow available light High Definition shooting in almost any setting. With a low power draw of only 16 watts, fewer batteries are needed for a full day of shooting.

The camera is full 1080x1920 resolution, and shoots 24P, 30P, and 1080i.

For smaller projects and web videos, the Sony 350 also shoots 16x9 standard definition DVCam to memory cards.

This morning, Kartemquin's technical director Jim Morrissette gave a quick workshop on the new camera to various Kartemquin staff members including artistic director Gordon Quinn, post-production director Liz Kaar, post-production associate Nora Gully, administrative and media assistant Dinesh Sabu, and Usama Alshaibi, director of the forthcoming American Arab and DP Chris Rejano. Usama will be putting the camera in service tomorrow as he shoots for American Arab, and we will be putting video excerpts of Jim's workshop on the Kartemquin YouTube channel soon. Stay tuned!

Kartemquin would like to congratulate director/producer Joanna Rudnick for receiving a FORCE (Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered) 'Spirit of Empowerment Award.' Joanna will be honored in the Arts and Media category for giving "a powerful and moving voice to the hereditary cancer community" through her award-winning film In the Family. 

The inaugural Spirit of Empowerment awards will be presented on June 26, 2010 at the 5th Annual Joining FORCEs Conference in Orlando, FL. Get more information.

The trailer for Kartemquin's new 2010 release Prisoner of Her Past will be made exclusively available this week to subscribers to the Kartemquin newsletter. If you'd like to be the among the first to see the trailer, please sign up here. All new sign-ups this week will be sent the newsletter containing a link to the video and a password to enter. There's also an exclusive interview with Steve James on his new film No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson and a review of new DVD Taylor Chain Parts I & II. Don't miss out!

In a "Grade A" review True/Slant's Piet Levy stated that Steve James' No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson "is a complex, thought-provoking film with no easy answers, but plenty of challenging questions. Kudos to James for asking them." Read the review here.

Director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) attended Sunday's sold-out screening at the Gene Siskel Film Center, and will again present a 'sneak peek' of the film on Thursday February 4th at 8:15pm. Get tickets here.

Kartemquin Films will share a collection of activist documentaries, including Labor Stories, Taylor Chain I & II, Golub: Late Works are the Catastrophes, and new 2010 feature Prisoner of her Past, at the first ever Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival in Silver Spring, Maryland during April 23-25th 2010. Kartemquin's Jerry Blumenthal and Judy Hoffman will attend. Screening times are as follows:

Prisoner of Her Past (4/24, 12pm)

Taylor Chain I & II (4/24, 4:30pm)

Golub: Late Works Are the Catastrophes (4/24, 8:30pm)

Labor Stories (4/25, 4pm).

Get more information.