May 2009

This week Kartemquin's Artistic Director Gordon Quinn traveled to Montreal to participate in several days of informational presentations with the National Film Board of Canada. Gordon was invited to talk about Kartemquin’s innovative nonprofit model, filmmaking practice, and outreach programs. He also was interviewed for an upcoming article in POV Magazine, a Canadian publication on the art and business of documentary. Kartemquin is looking forward to continuing our on-going relationship with our filmmaking neighbors to the north.

Next week Gordon Quinn and Jim Morrissette will continue Kartemquin’s long-fought battle for Fair Use, testifying in the Library of Congress Copyright Office. The hearings are part of the triennial rule-making process in which exemptions from the Digital Millenium Copyright Act are granted.
 
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 prohibits the circumvention of technological protection measures, including the encryption technology on DVDs.  Because of this prohibition, many documentary filmmakers who want to make fair use of material, or use public domain material, cannot do so because they can only obtain that material from DVDs–but they are concerned about whether circumventing this technology is illegal.  
 
Collaborating with lawyers Jack Lerner, (USC), and Michael Donaldson  (International Documentary Association), Gordon and Jim have been laboring for months submitting comments, gathering testimony, and advising council on technical matters.
 
If the Copyright Office finds that legal uses of a particular class of works are being thwarted by the DMCA, it grants a three-year exemption from DMCA liability for that class of works.  The exemption that this coalition of filmmakers and filmmaker groups seeks will restore their ability to make fair use and to use public domain works in the digital age. As Gordon puts it, “this is a great step in preserving the right of fair use in the digital age, which is a crucial right for a functioning media and democracy.”

Interested in learning more? Contact UNSPUNPR@yahoo.com for our official press release.

On Friday, Editorial Director Leslie Simmer spoke at Friedrich Jahn World Language School's career day. Jahn is a magnet school for grades K-8. Leslie had a great time engaging with 2nd-7th graders and telling them about what it's like to make documentaries about regular people. Although some of the students were disappointed that we don't work with Johnny Depp, they asked great questions and some of them already knew what a boom mic was. Impressive!

Then on Saturday, Executive Director Justine Nagan was featured panelist at University of Chicago’s Arts&Culture Day. She spoke to students about pursuing careers in Arts Administration, Education & Production.

Kartemquin is excited to announce that the Illinois Humanities Council has awarded Kartemquin Films and Maria Finitzo a $10,000 grant to begin pre-production on (In)visible Seasons, a film on Title IV.  Congratulations Maria!

Screen Magazine recently recognized Kartemquin's Peabody Award win for Maria Finitzo's Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita. Read the article.

Today Gordon Quinn and Jim Morrissette appear at the U.S. Copyright office to argue for a critical exemption for documentary filmmakers to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Their efforts are covered in this excellent Gaper's Block article. You can also read Kartemquin's press release on NAMAC.

Check out this great write up on The Film Nest site and this nice shout out in MovieMom's blog.

Curious to hear how Gordon's and Jim's testimony went at the Copyright Office’s hearings about exemptions to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act? Read Pat Aufderheide's blog for the Center for Social Media or check out one of the numerous other postings around the web: Documentary.org, USC News,  and Rebecca Tushnet's 43(B)log.

Plus, catch Gordon's interview this weekend about the hearings on National Public Radio's On the Media (check local listings for airtime).

Kartemquin is thrilled to announce that At the Death House Door has won the International Competition at this year's Doc-Aviv film festival in Israel.  The award includes a $5,000 cash prize.  Congratulations to Director/Producers Steve James and Peter Gilbert, as well as the entire At the Death House Door crew.

Joanna Rudnick recently blogged for the Huffington Post about the recent case filing by the ACLU to challenge patents on breast cancer genes. Joanna shares her story of testing positive for the BRCA1 mutation in Kartemquin's documentary In the Family. The blog includes a clip of her interview with the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Myriad, owner of the BRCA1&2 patents.

Northwestern University’s 2nd annual Symposium on Social Issue Media is this weekend including panels, film screenings, and master classes. Come on out and stop by Kartemquin's info table to say hi.  Producer Maria Finitzo will also be participating in the afternoon "Cause Vs. Consumerism" panel.

Kartemquin's Maria Finitzo discusses her latest and upcoming projects in this Screen Magazine online feature.

Check out this recent interview with Milking the Rhino Director/Producer David E. Simpson in Independent Magazine. David discusses the pleasures and potential pitfalls of filming in remote destinations in Africa.

Kartemquin's Maria Finitzo and Justine Nagan returned Tuesday from New York where they accepted a George Foster Peabody Award for Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita.  The awards were presented at a luncheon hosted by Brian Williams at the Waldorf-Astoria Monday afternoon.  Kartemquin shared the Peabody with Independent Lens, who broadcast the film on PBS in January of 2008.  Independent Lens also won a Peabody for King Corn.  Pictured with Maria and Justine are the filmmakers from King Corn and Lois Vossen from Independent Lens.

Freshly back from Planete Doc in Poland, Director/Producer David Simpson reports that the fest was a great success with a huge, smart and diverse audience. Milking the Rhino sold out both of its screenings and was selected for an "on demand" screening of audience favorites that comprised the final day of the fest.

A week ago the 2nd Annual Chicago Youth Community Film Festival, "A Reel Look at their Neighborhoods", was held at the Chicago Cultural Center. The event showcased 22 short films produced by Chicago area students who had dropped out of high school and re-enrolled into small, community-based high schools. The films were developed in classes taught by Community TV Network instructors, and sponsored by the Alternative Schools Network. Kartemquin's Jerry Blumenthal served as a judge in the competition.

As the Typeface crew prepares for this weekend's Two Rivers' sneak preview, we are thrilled to announce that Typeface has been selected to open this year's TYPECON conference in Atlanta.  In partnership with AIGA Atlanta, the film will screen July 15th as the opening event for the annual gathering. 

Starting in five nations, covering four years, with one destination: the modern US immigrant experience is captured in Kartemquin's seminal series, The New Americans. Soon to be rebroadcast on PBS's Global Voices series-Sundays, starting July 5th-don't miss it!

Check out this article by Home Media Magazine in anticipation of the June release of At the Death House Door on DVD.

In honor of Memorial Day, SnagFilms included Vietnam, Long Time Coming in its special line-up of films "that enable us all to honor the fallen, and to reflect on our own duties of remembrance and action." SnagFilms hosts a website where you can watch full-length documentary films for free, and is also a platform that lets you “snag” a film and put it anywhere on the web. Vietnam was recently snagged and reviewed by Cinematical.

The eFilmCritic's latest DVD reviews include a nod towards Kartemquin's Inquiring Nuns, which they find "a fascinating snapshot of a bygoneera while still feeling as fresh and vital as it presumably did when it was made." On sale now in the Kartemquin store.