Latest News

Howard Reich will discuss his mother's story and screen clips from Kartemquin's documentary in progress, Prisoner of Her Past at the Pritzker Military Library on March 31st. The interview and live webcast start at 6:00pm. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are strongly recommended by phone, 312-587-0234, or email, events@pritzkermilitarylibrary.net.

Kartemquin's Steve James will give the keynote address at the National Education Writers Association Annual Seminar in Chicago on April 24th. In addition to his remarks, he will also show clips from At the Death House Door.

Kartemquin's Stevie screened to an enthusiastic crowd of over 150 people yesterday at the Lake Theatre in Oak Park, IL as part of a two-year mental health initiative going on in the community. A lively discussion followed the screening.

Kartemquin's Gordon Quinn and Justine Nagan hosted a graduate class in Ethnographic documentary from Northwestern University earlier this afternoon. The class, led by professor Hamid Naficy, discussed Kartemquin's history and watched clips from a handful of films during the conversation.

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IFC's new "Lunchbox" feature where bloggers interview filmmakers about a variety of topics. To help kick-off the initiative, Kartemquin's Peter Gilbert and Steve James are featured (March 12th edition) talking at SXSW about At the Death House Door.

Kartemquin's Joanna Rudnick will be participating in a proposal workshop with ITVS's Richard Saiz as a part of IFP Chicago's Doc-u-mania producer's series. They'll be using In the Family as a case study for discussion.

At the Death House Door premiered to a sold-out house at the historic Paramount Theatre in Austin on Sunday at SXSW. The enthusiastic crowd of over 600 gave two standing ovations to the filmmakers and the film's star, Reverend Pickett, from the main floor and the balcony.

Read press coverage in the Chicago Sun Times, Salon, Reuters and The Hollywood Reporter.

Read audience responses and interviews on local blogs.

Kartemquin is excited about At the Death House Door's upcoming world premiere at SXSW in Austin on Sunday. The premiere and the several related community events and screenings in the days following are generating significant buzz in the lone-star state. Read coverage in the Austin Chronicle.

The Sun Times featured a full-page story today about Kartemquin's 1968 film, Inquiring Nuns, and the film's upcoming screening at the Chicago History Museum this Sunday. Reporter Andrew Herrmann tracked down the pair of nuns from the film and talked with them about their experience making the film. Read the article to see how their lives have unfolded since the film and how the filmmakers feel about the work 40 years later. Additionally, the sidebar explores the relationship between the political events of the times and today.

Inquiring Nuns will screen at the Chicago History Museum on North and Clark at 1:30pm this Sunday. Tickets to the film are free with museum admission.

Kartemquin is happy to announce that Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita has been selected for the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival. Get tickets here. This festival has special meaning as Madison, WI is where James Thomson and coworkers derived the first human embryonic stem cell line, and several of the film's crew are alumni of the University of Wisconsin. The Isthmus featured the film in a recent article about the festival.

Kartemquin's Joanna Rudnick and Gordon Quinn were recently interviewed about their experience on In the Family for a "Learning from the Pros" feature on Independent Lens' Filmocracy website. Visit the site to watch their interview, access other independent filmmakers’ tricks of the trade with short films, conversations and demonstrations that cover topics such as stop-motion animation, the use of archival footage, finding a point of view, getting behind the headlines and more.

A handful of Kartemquin staff and interns volunteered last night for the local PBS station's pledge drive. The group took calls for hours to help raise money for WTTW.

Kartemquin is thrilled to announce that its latest documentary feature, In the Family, has been accepted at the Milan International Film Festival in April.

Kartemquin's founding film, Home for Life, is now available on DVD. The DVD features a restored print of the film and several extras including an interview with the filmmakers and deleted scenes. The release has generated some great press- read reviews in The Philadelphia Weekly and Time Out Chicago.

To celebrate this DVD release, Home for Life is screening at ReelTime at the Evanston Public Library at 7:30pm on April 23rd. Filmmakers Jerry Temaner and Gordon Quinn will be present. Save the date!

Segments of Kartemquin's 2004 mini-series, The New Americans, will screen Wednesday night, February 27th at the University of Chicago, as a part of "Displacement Week." The screening, presented by Students for Human Rights, is free and open to the public. It begins at 8pm, with refreshments and discussion to follow the film. Get the details.

Cynthia Wade, who filmed many scenes for In the Family, is now an Oscar winner! The entire In the Family team congratulates Cynthia and Freeheld, winner of the 2008 Oscar for best Documentary Short.

Kartemquin's Hoop Dreams was recently listed on The Center for American Progress' list of the "Top 25 Progressive Films" of all time on their website as a part of their Reel Progress initiative. They are currently polling for the most progressive film on the list. Vote now!

Kartemquin's Steve James will be at Washington State University's College of Education next week for their 4th Annual Globalization, Diversity and Education Conference. He will be screening and discussing Kartemquin's 2004 film, The New Americans.

The camerawork of long time Kartemquin Associate, Judy Hoffman, will be featured on Tuesday February 26th, when The Gates airs on HBO at 9pm. Judy was the additional cinematographer on this feature doc, directed by Antonio Ferrera and Albert Maysles, exploring Christo and Jean-Claude's 2005 Gates display in New York.

Last night, the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago was packed with an enthusiastic audience for a sneak preview of Kartemquin's most recent release, In the Family. Opening remarks were delivered by Christie Hefner from the Playboy Foundation and Jean St. Aubin from the Siskel. A lively panel discussion with filmmaker Joanna Rudnick, Lori Andrews and Cathy Wicklund, moderated by Simon Kilmurry, followed the film. Special thanks to P.O.V. and the Playboy Foundation for hosting this wonderful kick-off.

Kartemquin's stem cell doc, Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita, was recently reviewed by Educational Media Reviews Online- an organization that provides film reviews to school libraries and media centers. Read the review.

Pat Aufderheide, Director of the Center for Social Media at American University, and one of Kartemquin's Board members recently published a new book, "Documentary Film: A very short introduction," with Oxford University Press. Read some of the press about the new release.

Clips from Kartemquin's At the Death House Door will be featured at a special hearing on Capital Punishment at the Texas State Capitol on March 5th. Join us for this discussion with lawmakers, scholars, activists and the filmmakers themselves.

The film is also screening at the Austin Community Center on Wednesday March 12th at 1pm. More details to come!

Catch Vietnam Long Time Coming again as it airs throughout the day on March 3rd on Free Speech TV. Get showtimes.

Kartemquin is thrilled to announce that At the Death House Door, by Steve James and Peter Gilbert, is going to premiere at this year's South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival. It's going to be a great fest! The film will have its world premiere at the Paramount theatre in Austin, March 9th at 4pm.

Also, in exciting news, the film will also screen at Full Frame in Durham, North Carolina in early April. We are excited to be a part of this prestigious documentary festival. Details to come!

You're invited to a sneak preview of Kartemquin's latest documentary, In the Family, next Tuesday night at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Read the invitation.

Catch the webcast of Kartemquin's Maria Finitzo as she discusses Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita with bioethicist Cynthia B. Cohen at the National Cathedral this past weekend.

The screening was also featured on the dcist blog.

Kartemquin's Zak Piper and Justine Nagan were in Washington DC last week representing the organization at the Center for Social Media's annual "Make Your Media Matter" conference. Media makers, funders, students and documentary enthusiasts gathered for two days at American University to discuss the latest trends and issues in socially minded independent media.

Kartemquin's upcoming release, At the Death House Door, is filling up its spring festival calendar. The film has been officially accepted into competition at the 2008 Independent Film Festival of Boston which will be held April 23-29. It will also screen as a part of the 39th Nashville Film Festival, presented by Regal Cinemas, April 17-24, 2008.

Kartemquin's 2003 documentary, Stevie, will be the focus of a free public screening at Oak Park’s Lake Theater on Saturday, March 15, at 9:00am. Director and Oak Park resident, Steve James, will be in attendance to answer questions following the film.

This screening is being coordinated and sponsored by Family Service & Mental Health Center of Oak Park & River Forest, NAMI Metro Suburban (National Alliance on Mental Illness), The Community Mental Health Board, Town of Oak Park, and The River Forest Mental Health Committee.