June 2009

Co-convened by the Illinois Arts Alliance and Illinois Arts Council, "One State: Together in the Arts" - the 6th biennial conference for Illinois arts leaders and practitioners starts today. On Tuesday, join Kartemquin's Justine Nagan and Gordon Quinn as they present on leadership succession at the "Changing of the Guard" workshop.

Congrats to the Milking the Rhino team for another festival win!  The film was awarded the Best Documentary Film prize at the Cottonwood Creek Environmental Film Festival this past weekend.  Associate Producer Xan Aranda attended the festival, in her hometown, on behalf of the film.  Get the list of winners.  Read the press.

Continuing his fair use advocacy and Kartemquin's mission of education, Artistic Director Gordon Quinn taught two master classes in Chicagoland last week. At filmmaker Joanna Rudnick’s class at Northwestern University, Gordon viewed and critiqued rough cuts of student documentaries, as well as discussed Fair Use and documentary ethics.

On Friday Gordon returned to his alma mater University of Chicago to give a master class. Joined by former Kartemquin producer Beth Iams Wellman and Kartemquin staff member Dinesh Sabu, the three talked about documentary ethics, fair use, editing, producing on a low budget, and the rich history of filmmaking at the University of Chicago.

Typeface helped The Hamilton Wood Type museum celebrate its 10th anniversary with a well attended sneak-preview of the film in Two Rivers, WI last week. Almost all members of the Typeface crew made it out to mark the occasion including Director Justine Nagan, Editor Liz Kaar, and Executive Producer Gordon Quinn. Thanks to the Herald Times and Fine Press Book Association Blog for writing up the event.  In addition to those posts, check out Nick Sherman's excellent coverage of the anniversary on his blog, woodtyper.com

As the Ravinia Festival opens its summer season, buzz continues to build around the Kartemquin/MPG collaboration, "A Good Man," documenting Bill T. Jones' commission for the fest. Read more about it, along with other highlights from this summer's Ravinia program, at the Sun Times, Daily Herald, and About.com.

The writer of the Tworque blog discusses the importance of lifelong learning and how At the Death House Door impacted his perceptions of the death penalty in this insightful post.

At the Death House Door receives 3 1/2 stars and the title of "Pick of the Week" in new DVD releases from Wilmington on Movies. Reviewer Mike Wilmington calls the film a "moving, provocative and deeply convincing portrait." DVDs will go on sale by the end of the week in the Kartemquin store.

Check out this great review of Inquiring Nuns on the entertaining FourFour Blog; "Inquiring Nuns is fun and full of amicable quirk, but what really blew me away is the 25-minute update interview…" Explore the DVD yourself.

Listen to Typeface Director Justine Nagan and Executive Producer Gordon Quinn tomorrow morning at 10am on Milwaukee Public Radio's Lake Effect.  If you're in the area, tune in locally to WUWM 89.7 FM or listen online. Also, read this great blog post about the film.

In addition to the TYPECON screening in Atlanta next month, screenings are in the works across the country. Check out the events page for details as they're available.

Haven't quite made up your mind about that At the Death House Door DVD purchase? You can check out more reviews at The Daily Page and Austin 360. Or read this blog post from Lispeery about Stevie, another Kartemquin release from Director Steve James.

Today we mourn the loss of John Callaway, a brilliant journalist and dear friend to Kartemquin Films.  John was a vocal champion of Kartemquin's mission, and over the last few years was an irreplaceable, force-of-nature advocate for our work in progress, Prisoner of Her Past. John died yesterday of a heart attack.  He was 72. 

You can read more about his legacy in The Chicago Tribune.  Or, listen to an interview with John and a remembrance of his life on WBEZ.