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Kartemquin Films
Chicago
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Title/Occupation:  Producer 
Services Provided:  Media Arts Organization 

Biography: 

For over 45 years, Kartemquin Films has been making documentaries that examine and critique society through the stories of real people. Kartemquin's first film in 1966, Home For Life - a powerful chronicle of two elderly people entering a home for the aged - established the direction the organization would take over the next four decades. With a record number of films currently in development and production, Kartemquin is poised to continue this legacy for years to come. A proud recipient of one of eight international 2007 MacArthur Awards for Creative and Effective Institutions, Kartemquin has been described by the Chicago Reader as a “documentary powerhouse.”

Recent Kartemquin releases include No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson, part of ESPN Films’ acclaimed ‘30 for 30’ documentary series and an official selection of the 2010 SXSW Film Festival; Prisoner of Her Past – the first film to investigate delayed Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorders – which premiered at the 2010 Big Sky Film Festival; and Typeface, winner of the Best Documentary Award at the 2009 Flyway Film Festival. In 2008 Milking the Rhino premiered at IDFA and was broadcast nationally on PBS’ Independent Lens, and In the Family premiered at SILVERDOCS, was broadcast nationally on PBS’ P.O.V. and was also nominated for a 2009 Emmy award. Other recent films include At the Death House Door which premiered at the 2008 SXSW film festival, had a national broadcast on the Independent Film Channel and was Oscar short-listed, and Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita which won a 2008 Peabody Award and was broadcast internationally on PBS, the CBC, and SBS Australia.

In 2004, PBS aired the groundbreaking seven-hour miniseries The New Americans, which captures the complexities of contemporary immigration by taking viewers intimately inside the lives of immigrant families from five different countries. The New Americans follows this diverse group of immigrants and refugees for four years, from before they leave their homelands through their first tumultuous years in America. Also in 2004, Kartemquin revisited American artist Leon Golub 13 years after their initial film on his work (Golub, 1988) for Golub: Late Works are the Catastrophes, which was broadcast nationally on P.O.V.’s True Lives.

2002 marked the release of two important Kartemquin films. The feature documentary Stevie, which won the Cinematography Award at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and played at theaters nationwide, considers the story of a troubled young man and the director’s multifaceted relationship with him. The untold stories of an entire generation of women who raised autistic children under the dehumanizing shadow of mother blame were explored in Refrigerator Mothers, which made its television premiere on PBS’s P.O.V. series. In 2001, Kartemquin also premiered 5 Girls on P.O.V. The film follows two years in the lives of five resilient teenage girls who, in spite of the many challenges and stresses in their lives, figure out how to thrive and triumph over adversity.

In 1998 Kartemquin released Vietnam, Long Time Coming. The film follows a bicycle trip organized by World Team Sports to bring disabled and able-bodied Vietnamese and American veterans together on a journey of reconciliation, athletic achievement and emotional discovery. Broadcast on NBC, the film won a National Emmy and the Best Documentary award from the Director's Guild of America.

Kartemquin's best known film, Hoop Dreams, won every major critics prize and journalism award in 1995 and was named on over 150 “ten best” lists. The film examines the complex role basketball plays in the lives of two inner-city high school players. After garnering the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, Hoop Dreams was released theatrically by Fine Line Features and became the highest grossing documentary at that time and one of highest-rated documentaries broadcast on PBS.

Our films have been broadcast nationally, continue to be distributed both nationally and internationally, and include ambitious outreach and education campaigns. By engaging the larger public and policy-makers in the process of genuine learning and understanding, Kartemquin continues to make films that can lead to real social change. In addition to its extensive film production work, Kartemquin runs a comprehensive internship program, a Diversity Fellowship program and continues to act as a resource for the local and national media communities.

Current projects due to be released in 2011 include A Good Man for American Masters and The Interrupters for Frontline. Please view our In-Progress section for more information on these projects and other films currently in production that can use your support.