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Read these recent reviews of Kartemquin films: Milking the Rhino is covered in Variety and At the Death House Door is featured in the Chicago Reader’s Best of 2008.

Kartemquin’s Justine Nagan is featured in this month’s Chicago Magazine. Check it out. She talks about the leadership transition at Kartemquin and her upcoming film Typeface.

Mark your calendars now! Three Kartemquin films (Milking the Rhino, Stevie and In the Family) are being featured in an upcoming series of ten films honoring the centennial of the University of Chicago’s school of social service.

From their website: Born from the ideals for change of the Progressive Era, the School of Social Service Administration has been an advocate and resource for the disadvantaged in Chicago for 100 years. SSA has a history of impact on the issues that are central to the lives of the city’s citizens, families, and neighborhoods: Poverty. Education. Family support. Mental illness. Crime. Urban development. Health care. Housing. Substance abuse. Child welfare. Employment. That legacy continues today.

In light of this storied legacy, Doc and the SSA (with special thanks to Kartemquin Films, three of whose titles we’re showing in the series) present ten films that relate to a broad range of social service issues.

Read more about the series and get details on their website.

Kartemquin’s Milking the Rhino will be shown at this year’s Honolulu International Film Festival as the recipient of the Silver Lei Award. Congratulations to the crew!

Leading up to the 2009 Academy Awards announcement, read some recent blog coverage of At the Death House Door with this Steve James interview by “Movie Mom.” The film airs on IFC again on January 6th at 5:30pm (CST).

And This is Free is screening on February 1st at the Gene Siskel Film Center as the closing event of a Howard Alk retrospective hosted by the Chicago Film Archives. Kartemquin’s Gordon Quinn will participate in a panel after the film, moderated by WBEZ’s Alison Cuddy.

Check out this review of the soundtrack for Kartemquin’s award-winning film, Vietnam: Long Time Coming.

Kartemquin’s Joanna Rudnick discusses her experience with ITVS and In the Family in an article in this month’s The Independent. Check it out.

Following its success at IDFA, Milking the Rhino is continuing a busy festival schedule around the world in the coming months. The Santa Fe Film Festival, Barbados International, DC Environmental, Backlot in Sarinambe, Egypt International and Jerusalem International are just some of the places the film will be showing. Keep checking our website for more details!

A 3-pack of women-made Kartemquin Films is in this year’s Women’s Media Center Online Auction. Check it out. Bid high, bid often.

Congratulations to Leslie Simmer and the entire In the Family crew for their “Best Editing” win at last night’s “Best of the Midwest Awards” (BMAs). The awards, hosted by the Midwest Independent Film Festival, spotlight documentary and independent feature work from around the Midwest.

Kartemquin’s Steve James presented the award for Best Documentary, and Joanna Rudnick and Justine Nagan also attended the ceremony on behalf of the organization. A surprising and fun Kartemquin Films shout-out from Actor John C. Reilly during his acceptance speech, read by Director Steve Conrad, rounded out the night.

As At the Death House Door returns from IDFA, the buzz about the documentary short list intensifies. Watch Steve James’ masterclass from the festival. Read this discussion on the hot blog or this one from the fortnightly.

Kartemquin’s award-winning series The New Americans will be re-released on DVD on January 27th, 2009. Order your copy now!

Read this interesting piece by Thom Powers about the current world of documentary criticism, referencing Kartemquin’s Gordon Quinn. Then read this great blog post by our documentary colleague Katy Chevigny about the state of the longitudinal doc, referencing Kartemquin’s Steve James.

As an historic Portland Art House is closing, the owners reminisce about the past- including screening Kartemquin’s classic Hoop Dreams. Read the article.

Director Joanna Rudnick has been across the country this week promoting In the Family and speaking at community screenings. From Philadelphia to Palo Alto, the film has been reaching a broad range of audiences. Two screenings for Medical and Law students marked the past two weeks in November. Dr. Maren Grainger-Monsen and the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics presented a screening and Director Joanna Rudnick had a wonderful time speaking with the intelligent students from the Genetic Counseling and Bioethics and Film Programs at Stanford.

Joanna also spoke with students from The Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy at Loyola University Chicago School of Law after a screening of the film presented by Matthew Herder.

Be sure to check out our next screening presented by the Chicago Center for Jewish Genetic Disorders: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 North Shore Center for the Performing Arts • 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie, IL 60077 6:30 pm reception • 7:15 pm film • 8:45 pm Q&A with panel. For more information. Read some recent press on the film.

Kartemquin is one of the sponsors of this year’s “Make Your Media Matter” conference at American University this February 12 - 13. Gordon Quinn is giving the key-note address at the event on Thursday the 12th. Read more about the conference and the hosting organization, The Center for Social Media.

A recent screening of Terra Incognita kicked off the two-day, tenth anniversary celebration of the discovery of stem cells at UW Madison. An enthusiastic crowd watched the film and participated in a discussion following in the beautiful overture center theatre. Thanks to the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters for hosting. Maria Finitzo and Justine Nagan attended on behalf of the film.

Kartemquin is excited to announce that Sony recording artist Josh Ritter has signed on to provide the soundtrack for Typeface. Songs from several of Josh’s recent albums are wound thoughout the documentary. Read more about it on the film’s site or read some recent buzz on perlabra and i love typography.

A large Kartemquin contingent heads to the International Documentary Festival, Amsterdam (IDFA) today representing Milking the Rhino and At the Death House Door. Additionally, Kartemquin Board Member Pat Aufderheide is participating on a panel during the festival.

David Simpson’s Milking the Rhino is in competition for the Joris Ivens Prize and the center of a large special screening at the end of the festival sponsored by OXFAM. At the Death House Door is up for a Human Rights Award and following its screening, Steve James will speak about his experiences to be joined by Peter Gilbert and Gordon Quinn for the second half. Buzz about At the Death House Door is building following yesterday’s announcement about the Academy Award shortlist. Read continued coverage in The Chicago Sun Times.

Kartemquin is honored and excited to announce that their recent documentary, At the Death House Door has been included on this year’s shortlist for the Academy Awards. Get the full list from Variety and from The Hollywood Reporter.. Also, read analysis of the list from film writer AJ Schnack.

Congrats to Steve James, Peter Gilbert and the whole At the Death House Door crew.

Check out this article from Mediarights.org talking with Gordon about some of his favorite docs.

In the Family has been nominated for Best Documentary, Best Director (Joanna Rudnick), and Best Editor (Leslie Simmer), in the 2008 Best of the Midwest Awards of the Midwest Independent Film Festival.

Show your support for In The Family and vote here. To purchase your tickets for the award gala on December 2nd, visit the festival’s site.

Recently a reporter from The Chicago Tribune caught up with the stars of Kartemquin’s classic Hoop Dreams. Read the story.

Kartemquin’s Creative Director Gordon Quinn lectured to a Yale class yesterday about the documentary film industry from the the comfort of the Kartemquin offices. The discussion, conducted via skype, covered a variety of topics and films from Gordon’s career.

We’re excited to announce that Kartemquin’s recent film, Milking the Rhino is off to the Barbados International Film Festival after it competes at IDFA. A busy fall for the film!

Kartemquin’s Joanna Rudnick will travel to Philadelphia on Wednesday to present at the American Society of Human Genetics Annual Conference. Joanna will be speaking on the process of making a documentary film from concept to public education campaign and showing clips from In the Family.

Also, the film is up for several awards in the Midwest Independent Film Festival’s “Best of Fest” awards. VOTE NOW!

Kartemquin’s Typeface packed the Walker Art Center’s 300-seat auditorium for two sneak-preview screenings on Thursday night. Director Justine Nagan joined film subjects Bill Moran and Greg Corrigan for discussions with the sold-out crowd following each screening. Editor Liz Kaar also attended on behalf of the film. Read some reviews in the blogosphere of the film at rozwoundup, alice patullo, daughternumberthree and Jerods Drawing Blog.

This weekend Kartemquin’s Gordon Quinn will speak on a panel entitled “Fair Use Solutions: Documentaries and Beyond” at the 33rd annual Intellectual Property Institute sponsored by the Intellectual Property Law section of the California State Bar. Gordon regularly speaks on the issue of fair use, you can read more about his involvement in a past Kartemquin newsletter article on the subject.

Kartemquin’s recent doc At the Death House Door has its Winnipeg premiere at the “Gimme Some Truth” festival. Director Steve James will be in attendance. A post screening reception is planned. Get the details.