September 5, 2019 11:59 am
Kartemquin is pleased to announce the appointment of Pamela Sherrod Anderson as Chair of its Board of Directors. Anderson will succeed Jason Stephens, who has served as Chair of Kartemquin’s Board of Directors since September 2015, a period in which the organization has received three Academy Award® nominations, and won four Emmys®.
Also joining the Kartemquin Board of Directors are: Carrie Lozano (Director, IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund at the International Documentary Association), Sylvia Ewing (Director of Strategic, Communications, Marketing and Outreach at Elevate Energy), Lainey Canevaro (Partner, Ketz Inc., formerly with Ketchum and Edelman) and Charlotte Cook (Co-Creator and Executive Producer at Field of Vision).
The new additions will attend the organization’s September board meeting, and come ahead of Kartemquin’s 2nd annual Empowering Truth Benefit Luncheon on October 29 at Chicago’s The Standard Club.
“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome these new additions to our Board of Directors, helmed by our new Board Chair, Pamela Sherrod Anderson. Each bring with them a unique set of talents and expertise that will help further Kartemquin’s mission of empowering independent documentary makers,” said Jolene Pinder, Executive Director of Kartemquin Films.
“The newest board additions are comprised of experts from across not only the documentary industry, but the non-profit world as well. We’re confident their experience will serve Kartemquin as we continue to evolve as an organization,” said Gordon Quinn, Artistic Director of Kartemquin Films.
Anderson, founder of Graceworks Theater and Film Productions LLC, is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, playwright, educator and journalist. Her films have received support from ITVS, the Illinois Humanities Council, and the Illinois Arts Council, and have screened at festivals, national teacher conferences, and in school districts across the country. Anderson developed her latest film, The G Force, as a 2013 Diverse Voices in Docs (DVID) fellow, a program organized by Kartemquin Films and the Community Film Workshop of Chicago.
She is an adjunct professor at DePaul University, where she has taught Documentary Producing, Film Distribution and Exhibition, Feature Writing, Introduction to Media and Journalism, and developed a Special Topics Course on Race and Community Conflict. She’s also served as an editor and staff writer at the Chicago Tribune, United Press International, and Lansing (MI) State Journal; as well as a contributing writer to Essence Magazine. She has written and directed stage plays and screenplays, including the feature script Natchez, which won an America’s Best Writers Foundation Award from filmmaker Oliver Stone.
"I've long admired, respected, and been moved by the work of Kartemquin Films. It's an honor to be appointed the new chair at this exciting time in documentary film and to bring what I know best in filmmaking and journalism to the table," said Anderson.
Kartemquin’s board now comprises of 15 members and 3 Emeritus Chairs. The organization’s most recent documentary releases include the Oscar® and Emmy®-nominated Minding the Gap, directed by Bing Liu; Steve James’ America to Me; Laura Checkoway’s Edith+Eddie; Karen Weinberg’s Keep Talking; Gordon Quinn’s ‘63 Boycott; Kelly Richmond Pope’s All the Queen’s Horses; as well as Judith Helfand’s Cooked: Survival by Zip Code and Sergio M. Rapu’s Eating up Easter, both due to be broadcast on PBS in 2020.