What the Fuck Are These Red Squares?

Kartemquin Films is proud to announce the release of The Kartemquin Films Collection: The Early Years - Volume 1: 1967-1968.

The DVD features Parents and Thumbs Down, two classic cinéma vérité films from the formative period of Kartemquin's 44-year history, plus an exclusive interview with filmmakers and Kartemquin co-founders Gordon Quinn & Jerry Temaner.

In Parents, sit in with a Chicago parish youth group as they discuss issues of parental authority, growing up, and the struggle to communicate with their parents. In Thumbs Down, join the group in an anti-war Mass and witness the deepening crisis of communication between their generation and that of their parents, priests and neighbors. Thumbs Down has been digitally remastered from the original fine grains and 35mm soundtrack mix.

"Thumbs Down offers a great deal of understanding about the nature of a neighborhood that is often talked about in the most oversimplified way… Temaner and Quinn are filmmakers and 'inquiring reporters' with great insight, and they have a lot to tell us about ourselves."
—Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 1968.

Visit the Kartemquin Store today to purchase your copy!

Coming Soon: The Early Years, Volumes 2 & 3
The release marks the latest step in Kartemquin’s attempt to re-release all of the films in our entire back-catalog by 2011. The Early Years Volume 2: 1969-1970, featuring Hum 255 and What the F&*# are These Red Squares? and Volume 3: 1971-1974, featuring Now We Live on Clifton, Trick Bag, Winnie Wright, Age 11 and Viva La Causa, will be coming to DVD this Fall. Volume 3 will also feature a special reunion interview with members of the original Kartemquin Collective.

Kartemquin's What the Fuck Are These Red Squares? is included in an upcoming comprehensive exhibition at the Exit Art Gallery in New York. In Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, "hundreds of posters, photographs, moving images, audio clips, and ephemera bring to life over forty years of activism, political protest, and campaigns for social justice. Curated by Dara Greenwald and Josh MacPhee as part of Exit Art's Curatorial Incubator, this important and timely exhibition surveys the creative work of dozens of international social movements."

The exhibition opened last week and the film will screen several times during the week of November 11 - 15. Get screening times in the Kartemquin events section.