On March 17th, 2013, the filmmakers of '63 Boycott attended the workshop performance of an opera organized by the Civil Rights Opera titled "Shades of Mississippi", written and directed by Alan Marshall depicting the 1963 Chicago Public School boycott. The show at Christ the Mediator Church located in Chicago's South Side drew an audience of those who participated in the boycott of 1963, Chicago's largest civil rights demonstration.  The filmmakers connected with many of these participants, along with the brothers, sisters, friends and family of participants. One woman in particular stood out, though. Taking an interest in the '63 Boycott booth, this woman recognized herself in an image taken from the footage filmed at the 1963 boycott.  Continued

We mourn the loss of a good friend and colleague, Mike Gray. He was an important filmmaker, author and leader in the documentary world. "I met Mike at the beginning of my career and we remained close for the next 50 years. His seminal film, The Murder of Fred Hampton, produced by The Film Group, remains as important today as it ever was," Kartemquin Founder and Artistic Director Gordon Quinn remarked, "Mike never lost his passion for the truth, politics, and making change. He will be missed." Mike Gray passed away yesterday in Los Angeles. Visit his website to learn more about his legacy, and Media Burn to watch full online versions of his films. Continued

Our own Justine Nagan is among the three Chicago-area nonprofit executive directors to be awarded the 2013 Harvard Business School Club of Chicago Fellowship. Continued

We are proud to announce that The Langum Charitable Trust has awarded The Interrupters with Malott Prize for Recording Community Activism for 2011-2012. The bi-annual Malott Prize is awarded to the best book, article, or film that depicts an individual or small group of people striving to make a significant improvement or prevent a significant harm in their local community. The Langum Charitable Trust determined to award this year's prize to both The Interrupters and author Jay Erskine Leutze for his book Stand Up that Mountain: The Battle to Save One Small Community in the Wilderness Along the Appalachian Trail. Continued

The Creative Proposition, a new Kartemquin film about the importance of art in the university, is going to be broadcast by WCVE PBS Richmond and WHTJ Charlottesville PBS on June 16th at 6:30pm and again on June 30th at 5:30pm. The film tells the story of how in 2008, Bill T. Jones and company came to the University of Virginia to create a major collaborative dance work, titled 100 Migrations, that involved the school and surrounding community creating a site-specific work based upon the question: "Had Abraham Lincoln lived, what would we be like today?" The initial project then evolved into a multi-year, university-wide residency dedicated to the proposition that the Arts play a crucial role in the life of the mind. Continued

We are delighted to announce that the Independent Television Service (ITVS) has granted significant project funding to Almost There. The funds will allow director/producers Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden to complete the film, on which they have been working for six years, by the end of 2013. Continued

Ahead of the 2013 Kartemquin Spring Showcase, the directors and producers involved have all recorded videos that offer a little preview discussion of the exclusive, world premiere sneak peeks they will be showing this Sunday, May 19, 5pm at Gene Siskel Film Center (get tickets). The event will offer the audience a forum for intimate discussion of the following works-in-progress: Cooked, The Homestretch, Mormon Movie, and American Arab. Continued

After its successful Tribeca Film Festival premiere, The Trials of Muhammad Ali has signed an international sales deal with Autlook Filmsales. The news was revealed in Screen International. For domestic distribution sales, the film is being represented by Cinetic Media. We are excited to be working with both companies and hope to be able to announce major distribution plans for the film very soon! Continued

As Goes Janesville is inspiring a nation-wide movement to create more awareness of the political influence of major businesses. On May 19, Rootstrikers invites citizens to take action via using the BizVizz corporate accountability app in local shopping centers to raise awareness about the money that flows into politics from major brands. More information on participating can be found here. Continued

This Sunday, May 19, a lucky few Kartemquin fans will be in the audience giving their feedback on 4 of our new documentaries at the 2013 Kartemquin Spring Showcase. We are delighted to announce that this event is already sold out! The Chicago Sun-Times spoke to the filmmakers ahead of the event, noting that gathering "audience input" has always been a tenet of our production model. This year's showcase will feature premieres of footage from Cooked, Continued