Steve James picks this year's IDFA "Top 10"
September 20, 2011 10:10 am
Europe's most prestigious documentary film festival, IDFA, will honor veteran Kartemquin producer/director Steve James with a full retrospective this year, including the Dutch premiere of his award-winning new film The Interrupters.
Continued
Chicago's Mayor wishes Kartemquin a Happy 45th Birthday
September 15, 2011 10:37 am
Here at Kartemquin we are all very excited about tonight's #KTQ45 celebration at the Metro (with literally a handful of last, last minute tickets still available on the door)! But we're not the only ones: we were delighted to receive a letter of congratulations from Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel this morning!
Here's the full text of the letter:
"September 15, 2011
Dear Friends,
As Mayor and on behalf of the City of Chicago, I write to welcome attending the 45th Anniversary celebration of Kartemquin Films.
Continued
Celebrating 45 years of Chicago storytelling
September 10, 2011 7:52 pm
Kartemquin Films marks its 45th year with a celebration of the power of storytelling this Thursday, September 15th at The Metro.
The event is the first of many this fall in recognition of this unique and often unheralded indie film success story – best known for producing Hoop Dreams – including retrospectives by the Milwaukee Film Festival; the University of Chicago’s Doc Films; Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox cinema; and the Virginia Film Festival, in addition to an ongoing monthly showcase on Chicago’s WTTW11 PBS station.
Continued
United Nations to screen The Interrupters for International Day of Peace celebration
September 8, 2011 4:09 pm
Kartemquin is honored that The Interrupters will screen for delegates at the United Nations in New York on September 14th.
Producers Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz will attend along with Co-Producer Zak Piper, and interrupters Ameena Matthews, Eduardo Bocanegra, and Ricardo 'Cobe' Williams. The following day, they will all be present as the UN rings the Peace Bell to commemorate the 'International Day of Peace.'
The screening will be introduced by Undersecretary General and High Representative to UN Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury and Ms. Hannelore Hoppe, Director and Deputy to the High Representative of the Office of Disarmament Affairs. A Q&A will follow the screening. A press release is attached below this article.
Continued
The Interrupters Announces More Post-Screening Q&A’s
Movie audiences are talking about The Interrupters and with the film opening in eight additional cities on August 26th, now’s your chance to ask violence prevention workers in your hometown how you can get involved.
Violence prevention groups in Los Angeles, Portland, Denver, Miami and Coral Gables will be on hand following select screenings of The Interrupters to host Q&A’s with audiences eager to make a difference at the local level.
The previous post-screening Q&A’s in New York City were such a hit that even the New York Times followed up with one of the participants, the Crown Heights Save Our Streets, by doing a special piece on them following a screening of The Interrupters.
New York Times – Interrupting Violence, on Screen and on the Streets
Continued
The Interrupters breaks Siskel Center box office record!
The Interrupters has added a new award to its roster: it is now the all-time box-office champion at Chicago's Gene Siskel Film Center! The film has been the hottest ticket in town since opening there on August 12th, and other than one early afternoon screening on the first Saturday (before the incredible word of mouth kicked in) has sold out every single screening - including 3 additional screenings that the Siskel added to cope with the demand!
If you were one of the unlucky people turned away from a sold out screening (and there were many), don't despair: the Siskel Center is already confirmed to bring the film back for two weeks from October 7-20.
Continued
Milwaukee Film Festival to honor Kartemquin
August 23, 2011 1:47 pm
Kartemquin is delighted to announce that the 2011 Milwaukee Film Festival is hosting a tribute to us in honor of our 45th anniversary celebrations. The festival will screen the state premieres of our two new films A Good Man and The Interrupters, as well as a presentation of Hoop Dreams, and a preview of our new in-progress film American Arab.
Continued
Rolling out The Interrupters
August 19, 2011 1:04 pm
On Wednesday night, the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC), CeaseFire Illinois, The Chicago Community Trust, the McCormick Foundation and Kartemquin Films hosted a private reception for key members of the Chicago community before a screening of The Interrupters.
Some great speeches came from speakers such as UIC Chancellor Paula Allen-Mears; David Hiller, President of the McCormick Foundation; Terry Mazany, President of the Chicago Community Trust; Gary Slutkin, CeaseFire Executive Director, and The Interrupters producer Alex Kotlowitz.
Finally, the film's Co-producer Zak Piper recapped the film's progress to date, and a request came from the crowd to share that information, which we are doing below:
Continued
Chicago and London love The Interrupters
August 10, 2011 9:58 pm
More praise has been flooding in for The Interrupters ahead of this Friday's openings in London and our hometown of Chicago (we're also excited to confirm that the film has been extended for a 3rd week in New York!) Here's a brief recap of some of the week's excitement and stunning reviews.
Continued
Giving thanks for The Interrupters Youth Media Summit
August 5, 2011 5:40 pm
With only a week to go until the Chicago theatrical run of The Interrupters, Kartemquin would like to thank The Chicago Community Trust, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, and the Polk Bros. Foundation for providing generous support to The Interrupters local outreach efforts, including a Youth Media Summit, and both Chicago private film premiere events. Their support allowed us a local launch of the film's outreach and engagement campaign and made possible a "friends and family" theatrical premiere in Chicago -- even before NYC! We are so grateful!
Continued
