Doc Films to Host a 10-week Retrospective of Kartemquin Films
During Fall Quarter 2011, Doc Films, the student-run film group on the University of
Chicago campus, will be screening 19 Kartemquin Films documentaries as part of a 10-week
retrospective. This retrospective is a crowning moment of the long-standing and very intimate
relationship between Kartemquin and UChicago. The story of Kartemquin Films, while littleknown, is possibly one of the biggest successes of the UChicago “Life of the Mind.”
The films will be screened every Sunday of Fall Quarter at 7:00 pm (with the sole
exception of The Interrupters) at Ida Noyes Hall (1212 East 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637).
Filmmakers and Kartemquin staff will be in attendance at most of the screenings. The films
include Hoop Dreams, which may be more widely-known than the University itself, Home For
Life, the first-ever Kartemquin documentary, Hum 255, which presents footage of two
UChicago students expelled after the 1968 occupation of an administration building as they
confront their former classmates, The Interrupters, a new documentary lauded as the most
important film you are likely to see this year, and 15 others. The Films will be screened in this
order:
Inquiring Nuns – 10/2, 7 pm
Parents, Hum 255, What the Fuck Are These Red Squares, Trick Bag - 10/9, 7 pm
Filmmaker Gordon Quinn attending!
Thumbs Down – 10/16, 7 pm Filmmaker Gordon Quinn attending!
Golub, Viva La Causa – 10/23, 7 pm Filmmaker Gordon Quinn attending!
Marco – 10/30, 7 pm Filmmaker Gordon Quinn attending!
Hoop Dreams – 11/6, 7 pm
The Interrupters – 11/12 and 11/13, times TBA
Home For Life – 11/13, 7 pm Filmmaker Gordon Quinn attending!
The Chicago Maternity Center Story, Women's Voices: The Gender Gap Movie – 11/20,
7 pm Filmmaker Jerry Blumenthal attending!
Taylor Chain I and Taylor Chain II, Now We Live On Clifton – 11/27, 7 pm Filmmaker Jerry
Blumenthal attending!
The Last Pullman Car, Winnie Wright, Age 11 – 12/4, 7 pm
KARTEMQUIN FILMS AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
The relationship between these two great Chicago institutions began when the three
founders of Kartemquin Films (Gordon Quinn, Stan Karter and Jerry Temaner) met on the
University campus as students. Forty-five years later, having released over forty films, and won
every major film award except the Oscar, Kartemquin Films retains its close connections to the
University. The current Artistic Director, the Executive Director, the Distribution Manager, and
many of the filmmakers and interns all went to UChicago. Furthermore, Judy Hoffman, who
played a major role in the formation of Kartemquin Films, is currently a Senior Lecturer in
Cinema and Media Studies, and will be teaching a production class a large component of which
is a collaboration between the students and Kartemquin.
For more information, images and screener DVDs for review, please email Tim Horsburgh
at tim@kartemquin.com or call 773-472-4366.
ABOUT KARTEMQUIN FILMS
Founded in 1966 to produce documentaries that examine and critique society through
the stories of real people, Kartemquin Films serves as a home for independent media makers
who seek to create social change through film. This Chicago-based documentary powerhouse
has won every major critical and journalistic prize, including an Emmy, a Peabody and an Oscar
nomination. 2010 was the most productive year in Kartemquin’s history, with the release of three
new features (Typeface, Prisoner of Her Past, and No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson),
and production on five works-in-progress.
In 2011, Kartemquin celebrates their 45th anniversary with the release of two new
documentaries: The Interrupters and A Good Man, a WTTW broadcast series of their films, and
a number of local and national events and retrospectives.
A revered resource within the film community on issues of fair use, ethics, story structure
and civic discourse, Kartemquin is internationally recognized for crafting quality documentaries
backed by effective audience engagement strategies, and for its innovative media arts
community programs. Kartemquin is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.
ABOUT DOC FILMS
Dating back to 1932, Doc Films is the oldest student film society in the free world. It is
dedicated to providing a low-cost, high-quality venue for artistic, relevant and socially important
domestic and international films, and to educating all those interested in the diversity of movies
and the mechanical nature of film. Doc Films is run exclusively by student volunteers, many of
whom have gone on to lead careers in film criticism and filmmaking, including two of the cofounders of Kartemquin Films.
Boasting a state-of-the-art cinema, Doc Films screens films every night of the academic
year, dedicating one night a week to a particular theme, and often featuring movies that could
not be seen elsewhere. Doc has been honored to host an astonishing number of Chicago
premieres and such filmmakers as Woody Allen, Daren Aronofsky, and Alfred Hitchcock.
Doc Films screens films at the University of Chicago's Max Palevsky Cinema, located at
1212 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637.
ABOUT THE FILMS
Inquiring Nuns, 1968, 66 mins (10/2)
Two young nuns explore Chicago, from a supermarket to the Art Institute and in front of
churches on Sunday, confronting people with the crucial question, "Are you happy?" They meet
a lonely girl, a happy mother, another nun, lovers, hippie musicians, a lady sociologist, a
professor, and even actor Stepin Fetchit. The answers they get range in sincerity and depth:
"Happiness is the absence of fear," "Avoiding people," "Raspberries," "Joy in knowing Christ."
The humor and sadness of these honest encounters lift the film beyond its interview format to a
serious and moving inquiry into the concerns of contemporary man, and also into the
circumstances in which men will actually express their concerns.
Parents, 1968, 22 mins (10/9)
A parish youth group in a lower middle-class, Chicago neighborhood discusses parental
authority, what growing up means, and the difficulties of communicating with their parents. This
cinéma-vérité documentary of an actual meeting allows the young people to speak for
themselves, giving us a viewpoint different from that of their more prosperous or more radical
counterparts.
Hum 255, 1970, 28 mins (10/9)
In 1968, striking students at the University of Chicago occupied an administration building. Many
were suspended and a few were expelled. A year later, two expelled young women were asked
by their former classmates to talk about the experience as a class project. In this film, the
women confront the students about their convictions and how far they are willing to go to defend
their values.
What the Fuck Are These Red Squares, 1970, 15 mins (10/9)
Striking students meet at a "Revolutionary Seminar" at the Art Institute of Chicago in response
to the invasion of Cambodia and the killing of protesting students at Kent and Jackson State
Universities. They explore their role as artists in a capitalist society and issue questions like:
What are the implications of the artist's elitist position in America? Is it possible not to be coopted, as "radical" as one's art may be? What are the connections between money and art in
America? between the "New York Scene" and the rest of the country?
Trick Bag, 1974, 21 mins (10/9)
Gang members, Vietnam vets, and young factory workers from Chicago's neighborhoods tell of
their personal experience with racism – who gets hurt and who profits.
Thumbs Down, 1968, 102 mins (10/16)
In this cinéma-vérité documentary, a teenage youth group called Thumbs Down decides "to
bring Christ to their neighborhood" by holding an anti-war Mass at their conservative Chicago
parish. Neither militants nor hippies, they simply believe that Christianity means social action
and concern with issues. They present this belief to the community, and the subsequent
confrontation reveals the deepening crisis of communication between the young Christians and
their parents, priest, and neighbors.
Golub, 1988, 56 mins (10/23)
Leon Golub's massive canvasses depict scenes most of us would prefer not to see – mercenary
killings, torture, and death squads. Golub offers not simply a profile of a painter with a political
conscience, but an investigation into the power of the artist to reflect our times and to change
the way we think about our world. This one-hour film juxtaposes scenes of violence and political
repression around the world, statements by American politicians and others, the responses of
viewers to Golub's exhibitions and an extended sequence capturing the artist at work.
Viva La Causa, 1974, 12 mins (10/23)
Not just a colorful record of the making of a mural in Chicago's Pilsen community by Ray Patlàn,
this film traces the mural movement of the mid-1970's back to murals in Mexico. Different
people view the mural and reflect on its meaning to them as Latinos.
Marco, 1970, 80 mins (10/30)
Disbelief, shock, hostility and superstition confronted the wife of one of the filmmakers when she
decided to give birth without pain medication using the Lamaze method of childbirth. Her tale is
about trusting oneself and accepting responsibility even when it means rejecting popular beliefs
and establishment authority.
Hoop Dreams, 1994, 176 mins (11/6)
First exhibited at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the audience award for best
documentary, Hoop Dreams has been named to the Library of Congress's National Film
Registry. It is the remarkable true story of two American dreamers and an intimate reflection of
contemporary American inner-city culture. Plucked from the streets and given the opportunity to
attend a suburban prep school and play for a legendary high school coach, William Gates and
Arthur Agee both soon discover that their dreams of NBA glory become obscured amid the
intense pressures of academics, family life, economics and athletic competitiveness. While
remaining epic in scope, Hoop Dreams manages to be intimate in detail, chronicling the
universal processes of growing up and coming of age, and the love and conflict between fathers
and sons, brothers, best friends and spouses. It's about success and failure not just on the
court, but in school, at home, and ultimately, in society.
The Interrupters, 2011, 125 minutes (11/12 and 11/13)
The Interrupters tells the moving and surprising stories of three Violence Interrupters as they try
to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they themselves once employed. From
acclaimed director Steve James and bestselling author Alex Kotlowitz, this film is an unusually
intimate journey into the stubborn persistence of violence in our cities. Shot over the course of a
year, The Interrupters captures a period in Chicago when the city became a national symbol for
urban violence. During that period, the city was besieged by high-profile incidents, most notably
the brutal beating of Derrion Albert, a Chicago High School student, whose death was caught on
video.
Home For Life, 1966, 80 mins (11/13)
Home for Life depicts the experiences of two elderly people in their first month at a home for the
aged. One is a woman whose struggle to remain useful in her son and daughter-in-law's home
is no longer appreciated. The other is a widower, without a family, who suddenly realizes he can
no longer take care of himself. The film offers an unblinking look at the feelings of the two new
residents in their encounters with other residents, medical staff, social workers, psychiatrists and
family. A touching and sometimes painfully-honest dramatic experience, it is valuable for
audiences both professional and non-professional.
The Chicago Maternity Center Story, 1976, 60 mins (11/20)
For more than 75 years, the Chicago Maternity Center provided safe home deliveries for
Chicago mothers. But when modern medicine's attitude toward home birth changed and funding
from Northwestern University declined in 1974, the center was forced to close. This film
interweaves the history of the center with the stories of a young woman about to have her first
baby and the center's fight to stay open in the face of the corporate takeover of medicine.
Women's Voices: The Gender Gap Movie, 1984, 16 mins (11/20)
This documentary explores the growing difference in the voting patterns of men and women (the
gender gap) which could no longer be denied by the mid-1980s. Issues like compensation
equality, environmental preservation, subsidized childcare and healthcare became wedge
issues in Ronald Reagan's America as more and more women joined the workforce.
Taylor Chain I: A Story in a Union Local, 1980, 33 mins (11/27)
Taylor Chain I depicts the gritty realities of a seven-week strike at a small Indiana chain factory
during 1973-74. Volatile union meetings and tension-filled interactions on the picket line provide
an inside view of the tensions and conflicts inherent to labor negotiations.
Taylor Chain II: A Story of Collective Bargaining, 1983, 30 mins (11/27)
In 1981-2, Kartemquin filmmakers returned to the Taylor Chain plant to show labor and
management working together against the odds, trying to save the plant from becoming the
latest victim of anti-union legislation and the globalization of cheap, exploitable labor.
Now We Live On Clifton, 1974, 26 mins (11/27)
Now We Live on Clifton follows 10-year old Pam Taylor and her 12-year old brother Scott
around their multiracial West Lincoln Park neighborhood. The kids worry that they'll be forced
out of the neighborhood by the gentrification following the expansion of DePaul University.
The Last Pullman Car, 1983, 56 mins (12/4)
In 1864, George Pullman began selling his famous railroad sleeping cars, which helped him
build a vast industrial empire that was supposed to last forever. In 1981, however, Pullman
workers found themselves in the midst of a fight not only for their jobs but the future of the
American railcar industry. One hundred years of government, union and corporate policies are
traced in this engaging story.
Winnie Wright, Age 11, 1974, 26 mins (12/4)
Winnie, the daughter of a steel worker and a teacher lives in Gage Park, a Chicago
neighborhood that is changing from white to black. Her family struggles with racism, inflation
and a threatened strike, as Winnie learns what it means to grow up white, working class and
female.