For over 44 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. In 2007, Kartemquin Films was one of eight organizations in the world to be awarded the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. At the Death House Door, premiered at the 2008 SXSW film festival, with an extensive festival run and national broadcast on the Independent Film Channel following. Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita put a human face on stem cell research and was broadcast internationally on PBS, the CBC, and SBS Australia in 2007-2008. Golub: Late Works are the Catastrophes, which revisits the American artist Leon Golub 13 years after Kartemquin?s initial film on his work (Golub, 1990), was broadcast in 2006 across the country on P.O.V.?s ?True Lives? series. 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. 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. Refrigerator Mothers, which explores the untold stories of an entire generation of women who raised autistic children under the dehumanizing shadow of professionally-promoted mother blame, made its television premiere on PBS?s P.O.V. series. In 2001, Kartemquin premiered 5 Girls, also 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. 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 (on PBS, NBC, Cinemax, The Sundance Channel, The Learning Channel and other outlets), 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. Kartemquin was recently awarded the Crossroads Fund's 2009 Ron Sable Award for Activism. As we approach our 45th year, we are poised to surpass even our own level of achievement. With a record number of groundbreaking films and outreach campaigns in development combined with a talented, experienced and committed staff, Kartemquin looks forward to reaching larger audiences and realizing greater social impact in a national and international arena.

Kartemquin Films is a home for independent filmmakers developing documentary as a vehicle to deepen our understanding of society. Focusing on people whose lives are most directly affected by social and political change and who are often overlooked or misrepresented by the media, we work to open a dialogue in communities. Our films are supported by civic engagement strategies that are developed with local and national partners to foster understanding, change thinking, and build support for social change.

We have targeted civic engagement strategies for each of our films. In addition to community screenings, we use a multi-tiered approach to reach a broad, diverse audience both nationally and internationally by producing targeted communication modules designed to meet the needs of our strategic outreach partners.. We partner with organizations in under served areas to ensure that our films are seen not only in high profile arts communities but also in areas that might not have access to these important films. With the implementation of our new website in June of 2010 our partners will now be able to pick the films and supplemental materials that best fit their outreach needs. We are also developing in depth study guides, lectures and shortened curriculum modules for all of our films, including our back catalogs. Our intended outcome is to realize the public service goals that our films address, while also strengthening communities through candid discussions surrounding the issues portrayed in our films. Recent samples of our work include the following films. On Beauty follows former fashion photographer Rick Guidotti as he redefines beauty by photographing children who are relegated to the shadows because of their atypical physical traits. The Interrupters take viewers to Chicago?s south side with the former gang members of CeaseFire as they go on their mission to prevent and stop brutal street violence. A Good Man follows Tony Award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones in his attempt to tell the story of Abraham Lincoln through dance commissioned by the Ravinia Festival. Prisoner of Her Past is the tale of Chicago Tribune jazz critic Howard Reich?s search for answers to why his mother, a Holocaust survivor, is still haunted today by her childhood trauma. In the Family witnesses filmmaker Joanna Rudnick?s personal struggles with a rare genetic mutation that leaves her with a choice between removing her breasts and ovaries or risking high odds of developing cancer. Milking The Rhino takes a vivid look at African community-based conservation, a radical rethinking of conservation that balances local peoples needs with those of wildlife. At the Death House Door uncovers audiotape accounts from Pastor Caroll Pickett who served as the death house chaplain for the infamous "Walls" prison unit in Huntsville, Texas presiding over 95 executions. Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita puts a human face on stem cell research while exploring the evolving interplay between the promise of new discoveries, the controversy of modern science and the resilience of people living with disease and injury. As part of our mission, we also offer the following programs: (1) a competitive Internship Program for 20 students per year from colleges across the country including Columbia College, Northwestern University and University of Chicago; (2) a Minority Production Fellowship for one minority filmmaker per year that provides initial seed money as well as institutional and creative support to produce a film; (3) our filmmakers provide community screenings and lead discussion groups in Chicago area high schools, community colleges and universities; and (4) Work-in-Progress screenings - Kartemquin invites local filmmakers to screen their works in progress to receive constructive feedback from Kartemquin filmmakers.