Chicago – In the final chapter of a three-part interview, Gordon Quinn of Kartemquin Films desires to evolve forward, soon after the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the iconic Chicago documentary house have past.
The “studio” Quinn co-founded has kept their integrity intact, and strives to keep cinematically exploring human drama that promotes understanding between all levels of contemporary society.
There have been several high profile documentaries that have expressed that understanding, and have forged a pathway that “Hoop Dreams” opened up for them. “Vietnam, Long Time Coming” (1998), “The New Americans” (2004) series on PBS, “No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson” for Espn, “The Interrupters” (2011), “The Trials of Muhammad Ali” (2013) and “Life Itself” (2014) stand proudly alongside the best of the last 50 years, with three more films in post production awaiting release.
Director Steve James Composes ‘The Interrupters’ (2011)
Photo credit: Kartemquin Films
In Part Three, Kartemquin filmmaker Gordon Quinn reflects on the post “Hoops” year,...
The “studio” Quinn co-founded has kept their integrity intact, and strives to keep cinematically exploring human drama that promotes understanding between all levels of contemporary society.
There have been several high profile documentaries that have expressed that understanding, and have forged a pathway that “Hoop Dreams” opened up for them. “Vietnam, Long Time Coming” (1998), “The New Americans” (2004) series on PBS, “No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson” for Espn, “The Interrupters” (2011), “The Trials of Muhammad Ali” (2013) and “Life Itself” (2014) stand proudly alongside the best of the last 50 years, with three more films in post production awaiting release.
Director Steve James Composes ‘The Interrupters’ (2011)
Photo credit: Kartemquin Films
In Part Three, Kartemquin filmmaker Gordon Quinn reflects on the post “Hoops” year,...
- 6/23/2016
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Two months ago, producer/director/cinematographer/editor Gordon Quinn received the Baadasssss Award from the 2016 Cimm Fest, for his longtime contributions to the cinema scene in Chicago through Kartemquin Films. The famous production house, known for their documentaries, is celebrating their 50th anniversary.
Kartemquin began in 1966 when three newly minted University of Chicago grads partnered to create socially conscious films, and took part of their names – Stan KARter, Jerry TEManer and Gordon QUINn – to form Kartemquin Films. Towards the end of the 1960s, Karter and Temaner had moved on, and the late Jerry Blumenthal stepped in to become the de facto fourth founder. It is Gordon Quinn that remains after 50 years, and he is the standard bearer for a film company that seeks to be a home for independent filmmakers who develop documentaries that deepen our understanding of society through everyday human drama – focusing on people whose lives are...
Kartemquin began in 1966 when three newly minted University of Chicago grads partnered to create socially conscious films, and took part of their names – Stan KARter, Jerry TEManer and Gordon QUINn – to form Kartemquin Films. Towards the end of the 1960s, Karter and Temaner had moved on, and the late Jerry Blumenthal stepped in to become the de facto fourth founder. It is Gordon Quinn that remains after 50 years, and he is the standard bearer for a film company that seeks to be a home for independent filmmakers who develop documentaries that deepen our understanding of society through everyday human drama – focusing on people whose lives are...
- 6/21/2016
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
"Ken Takakura, who first rose to stardom in the 1960s playing yakuza outlaws, but later became Hollywood’s go-to actor for made-in-Japan films, died on Nov. 10 at age 83," reports Mark Schilling for Variety. We're also collecting remembrances of former Los Angeles Times arts editor, film critic and columnist Charles Champlin, actress-turned-screenwriter Leigh Chapman, Battlestar Galactica creator Glen A. Larson, Jerry Blumenthal, founding partner of the Chicago documentary production house Kartemquin Films, actors Warren Clarke and David Watson and stuntman Jerry Alan. » - David Hudson...
- 11/18/2014
- Keyframe
"Ken Takakura, who first rose to stardom in the 1960s playing yakuza outlaws, but later became Hollywood’s go-to actor for made-in-Japan films, died on Nov. 10 at age 83," reports Mark Schilling for Variety. We're also collecting remembrances of former Los Angeles Times arts editor, film critic and columnist Charles Champlin, actress-turned-screenwriter Leigh Chapman, Battlestar Galactica creator Glen A. Larson, Jerry Blumenthal, founding partner of the Chicago documentary production house Kartemquin Films, actors Warren Clarke and David Watson and stuntman Jerry Alan. » - David Hudson...
- 11/18/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
Above: Juan Gatti’s original Spanish poster for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain).
After covering the posters for the very first and the current New York Film Festivals, I thought it might be fitting, in this last year of Richard Peña’s tenure as Program Director and Selection Committee Chairman of the festival, to gather all the posters from Peña’s very first Nyff, 24 years ago.
In the current edition of Film Comment—an essential souvenir of the history of the festival to date, complete with a list of every feature film to have played the festival in its 50 years—Gavin Smith writes that “The 25-film lineup of the 1988 Nyff was partly a reflection of the decade’s drift and uncertainty—two came from Nyff veterans (Sergei Paradjanov, Marcel Ophuls), two were post-Glasnost rediscoveries (Andrei Konchalovsky, Larissa Shepitko), and nine were bets that didn...
After covering the posters for the very first and the current New York Film Festivals, I thought it might be fitting, in this last year of Richard Peña’s tenure as Program Director and Selection Committee Chairman of the festival, to gather all the posters from Peña’s very first Nyff, 24 years ago.
In the current edition of Film Comment—an essential souvenir of the history of the festival to date, complete with a list of every feature film to have played the festival in its 50 years—Gavin Smith writes that “The 25-film lineup of the 1988 Nyff was partly a reflection of the decade’s drift and uncertainty—two came from Nyff veterans (Sergei Paradjanov, Marcel Ophuls), two were post-Glasnost rediscoveries (Andrei Konchalovsky, Larissa Shepitko), and nine were bets that didn...
- 10/6/2012
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
On Thursday, Aug. 5 in Chicago at the Stan Mansion, Kartemquin Films is hosting a special benefit event for the new documentary by Usama Alshaibi, American Arab, a personal documentary analyzing what it’s like to be an Arab American living in a post-9/11 world. The event will feature live music, Middle Eastern food, a raffle, belly dancing, henna tattoos as well as the World Premiere of clips from the upcoming film. Information on tickets can be found here.
Alshaibi is an American citizen of Iraqi descent who previously directed the award-winning documentary Nice Bombs — available on DVD for sale or rent — that chronicled his return to the country of his birth after over 20 years following the expulsion of Saddam Hussein by U.S. forces.
While American Arab will also feature Alshaibi’s personal experiences as an Iraqi-American, including his mother’s suggestion he change his name following the 9/11 terrorist attacks,...
Alshaibi is an American citizen of Iraqi descent who previously directed the award-winning documentary Nice Bombs — available on DVD for sale or rent — that chronicled his return to the country of his birth after over 20 years following the expulsion of Saddam Hussein by U.S. forces.
While American Arab will also feature Alshaibi’s personal experiences as an Iraqi-American, including his mother’s suggestion he change his name following the 9/11 terrorist attacks,...
- 8/2/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
In honor of Memorial Day, our friends at SnagFilms are hosting a special section of films with the intention "to honor the fallen, and to reflect on our own duties of remembrance and action." The eleven documentaries cover a good range of subjects; the one that first caught my eye is Vietnam, Long Time Coming.
Directed by Jerry Blumenthal, Peter Gilbert, and Gordon Quinn, and narrated by Joe Mantegna, the film chronicles "a gathering of American and Vietnamese veterans, many of them disabled, who collectively travel on bicycles and hand cycles [on a] 1,200 mile, 16-day journey" through Vietnam, wrote Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader when naming the movie among his 10 best of 1998. Rosenbaum felt that "all sorts of issues -- from the corporate sponsorship to the music on the sound track to the status of the undertaking as a sporting event -- get in the way, despite the intelligent and purposeful narration delivered by Joe Mantegna.
Directed by Jerry Blumenthal, Peter Gilbert, and Gordon Quinn, and narrated by Joe Mantegna, the film chronicles "a gathering of American and Vietnamese veterans, many of them disabled, who collectively travel on bicycles and hand cycles [on a] 1,200 mile, 16-day journey" through Vietnam, wrote Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader when naming the movie among his 10 best of 1998. Rosenbaum felt that "all sorts of issues -- from the corporate sponsorship to the music on the sound track to the status of the undertaking as a sporting event -- get in the way, despite the intelligent and purposeful narration delivered by Joe Mantegna.
- 5/27/2009
- by Peter Martin
- Cinematical
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