From March 6-10, the world's largest gathering of cinema experts will be in Chicago. The Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) 2013 Chicago Conference brings together global film academics and critics to discuss the past, present and future of cinematic arts. So, of course, Kartemquin is involved!

The showpiece opening night event of the conference is also open to the public: Urban Documentaries and Social Change: Where Are We? Asking the question of "how do we socially understand urban media and how has the contemporary political landscape impacted documentary filmmaking?", the event, hosted by the MCA Chicago, features a very strong and rare meeting of acclaimed panelists.

Kartemquin's 1974 film Now We Live on Clifton will be part of Never a City so Reel, a special free showcase of classic Chicago documentaries shown on February 21st at Northwestern University's Block Cinema.

The controversial, shifting landscape of fair use in documentary film is mapped out in a new article by RealScreen's Adam Benzine: Paying for archive footage: Fair’s fare?

Kartemquin's Gordon Quinn is quoted in the article, as is Michael C. Donaldson, of law firm Donaldson & Callif, a key ally in our fight to protect documentary makers' fair use rights.

On October 22nd, 2013, Chicago will host Good Pitch for the very first time, it was announced last night at Chicago's Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy.

In the style of other successful Good Pitch² events, Good Pitch Chicago will bring together "Midwestern filmmakers with nonprofits, foundations, philanthropists, brands and media around leading social issues – to forge coalitions and campaigns that are good for all these partners, good for the films and good for society."

Over the next week, The Interrupters, working in collaboration with React To Film, will screen at 25 universities from coast to coast – from Princeton to Berkeley. React To Film, an educational program in high schools and universities that features social issue documentaries, is featuring The Interrupters as part of their College Action Network series.

React To Film’s co-founder, Dennis Paul commented, “No better film has ever been made on the subject of violence in America than The Interrupters. There are so many opportunities that we have collectively -- as parents, brothers, sisters, friends, politicians, educators, and citizens -- to interrupt this chain for our children's sake.”

Tonight at 10pm, PBS Independent Lens re-broadcasts As Goes Janesville, the award-winning "political thriller" (New York Times) documentary by Brad Lichtenstein that examines one Wisconsin town divided by class and ideological differences on how to recover from the closure of its primary employer, a General Motors plant.

To coincide with the re-broadcast and the film's release on DVD and VOD, the filmmakers have also released BizVizz, the first mobile iPhone app to make corporate behavior transparent. Get BizVizz today FREE from the iTunes App store.

In a great interview with Jeff Kelly Lowenstein of Hoy, Gordon Quinn and Peter Kuttner discuss the history and philosophy of Kartemquin Films.

Get an insight into the production of films from The Chicago Maternity Center Story (1976) to the forthcoming '63 Boycott (in-progress0, with some anecdotes that we have never heard Gordon and Peter put on record before.

Stefan Kudelski, the inventor of the Nagra portable tape recorder, has died. His revolutionary creation changed filmmaking for ever, and came just as Kartemquin was born. In tribute, here are some thoughts by Gordon Quinn, Kartemquin Co-founder & Artistic Director:

The Center for Asian-American Media (CAAM) has awarded a grant of $20,000 to American Arab, directed by Kartemquin's Diversity Fellow Usama Alshaibi. The film, a frank conversation about the identity of, and perceptions about, Arab-Americans in the years after 9/11, is going to be a 2013 release.

Kartemquin's newest DVD release is As Goes Janesville, our acclaimed co-production with Milwaukee's 371 Productions. The film aired on PBS Independent Lens in October 2012 to great reviews and an emotional audience response.

Grab the film today on DVD from our store. For educational institutions, please purchase the film from Cinema Guild. The film will also be available soon on the following Video-On-Demand platforms, thanks to distribution via FilmBuff: iTunes, Amazon, Youtube, Vudu, Roxionow, Xbox and Playstation.