April 20, 2020 5:05 pm
Unapologetic, a new in-progress Kartemquin film, has been selected to participate in the 2020 Working Films Impact Kickstart Program.
For a documentary film to make a difference, a solid strategy for audience engagement and strong partnerships are key. Filmmakers often lack time to do this work themselves or the expertise and the funds to pay for it. Emerging artists, creators of color, and other underrepresented artists can face the biggest hurdles, despite the potential of their projects. Working Films’ response to this challenge is the Impact Kickstart, a program offering in-kind partnership and strategy development to underrepresented documentary directors with feature films in progress that hold great promise to catalyze action to address critical issues of our time.
Now in its third year, the Impact Kickstart program has helped underrepresented filmmakers create strategic goals for impact and specific plans to engage future partners, funders, and audiences in meaningful ways.
About the Film
During the height of the Movement for Black Lives in Chicago, Unapologetic captures a community of millennial organizers confronting an administration complicit in state violence against its Black residents. Janaé and Bella, two Black queer women organizers, provide an intimate peek into the personal and political battles that transformed Chicago, from the police murder of Rekia Boyd to the election of mayor Lori Lightfoot.
2016 Diverse Voices in Docs (DVID) alum Ashley O'Shay serves as the film's director, cinematographer and producer. Unapologetic is produced by Morgan Johnson; edited by Rubin Daniels Jr.; and executive produced by Jolene Pinder, Gordon Quinn, and Yvonne Welbon.
Previous beneficiaries of the Impact Kickstart Program including Sergio Rapu's Eating Up Easter in 2019.
Learn more about Unapologetic by visiting the film's official website https://www.unapologeticfilm.com/