The Indiegogo campaign for Life Itself has been going strong for a little over one week now, and the filmmakers have raised almost $60,000 from over 500 backers. The response from fans all over the world has been overwhelming, and it’s been heartwarming for director Steve James and team to see the outpouring of respect and care for Roger and his work. Roger’s life extended far beyond movies, and the numerous tweets and emails from fans relaying stories about his influence go a long way in showing just how great an impact he had on nearly everyone he met -- whether they knew him personally, read his writing, saw him on TV, or interacted with him on social media. Continued

Crain's Chicago has selected Kartemquin executive director Justine Nagan for their prestigious annual "40 under 40" list of Chicago's "next generation of leaders." Justine, who has led Kartemquin for five years as ED, originally joined the organization as a volunteer/intern in 2003, after being inspired by seeing our films Stevie and Refrigerator Mothers. Under her guidance we have greatly strengthened our programs for filmmakers, fundraising and marketing, without compromising our production of quality documentaries (in fact, we've greatly increased that, too). Yet, Justine states that "the one characteristic every leader should possess is a sense of humility." Continued

The International Documentary Association (IDA) has given the 2013 ABCNews VideoSource award to our film The Trials of Muhammad Ali. Trials director Bill Siegel (pictured) collected the award - given for the best use of archival footage in a documentary - last night at the IDA awards ceremony in Los Angeles, accompanied by the film's producer Rachel Pikelny, editor Aaron Wickenden, and executive producer Gordon Quinn. Continued

Our Roger Ebert documentary Life Itself will world premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, with simultaneous private streaming available exclusively for Indiegogo supporters. The film was announced as part of Sundance's Documentary Premieres selections today. It will screen five times at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, with the world premiere on Sunday January 19th at the MARC theatre. Continued

The deadline for our 2014 Diverse Voices in Docs fellowship is this Friday, December 13th. Our acclaimed professional skill development and mentorship program is accepting applications from documentary makers of color who have had a principal role in production of a film at kartemquin.com/diversevoices. Please share this opportunity with your network. Continued

Sundance Institute today announced that the newly restored Hoop Dreams (1994) will screen in the 'From the Collection' program at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, 20 years after the film made its world premiere at the 1994 Festival. The recently completed restoration represents the collaborative effort of Sundance Institute, UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Academy Film Archive and Kartemquin Films. Filmmakers Steve James, Peter Gilbert and Frederick Marx and subject Arthur Agee are expected to participate in an extended Q&A immediately following the January 20 screening. The 2014 Festival will be January 16-26 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. Continued

The Polk Bros. Foundation has awarded Kartemquin a general operating grant of $1,000, as part of a series of grants given to mark the Foundation's 25th anniversary. We are extremely grateful for their ongoing support. Continued

The filmmakers behind Life Itself our new Sundance-bound documentary about Roger Ebert's life and legacy, have organized a series of guest hosts of their Twitter account: @EbertMovie. The guest hosts will be sharing their own remembrances and anecdotes about Roger Ebert, discussing their favorite reviews, and taking your questions about the film world, your hopes for the documentary, and anything else you like. Continued

2013! Such an incredible year! Continued

Formed in 1966, Kartemquin has been producing social issue documentaries for almost 5 decades. In the process, we've amassed a huge archive of production elements, somewhere in the region of 18,000 reels, tapes, discs, cards, and hard drives. Find out more here. We think the Kartemquin Archives will be of great use to film scholars, filmmakers and historians for years to come, both as record of our work, of Chicago history, and of documentary media making in the midwest. If you would like to donate to support this effort to preserve it, please visit http://www.kartemquin.com/donate. Directed, produced and edited by Aniluz Mercedes (Kartemquin Intern - Fall 2012). Continued