Kartemquin Films Film and Video Project elements
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Kartemquin Films Film and Video Project elements
- Identifier
- BMRC.KART.KART_ELMNTS
- Repository
- Kartemquin Films
- Language
- English
- Size
- 300.0 Linear feet
- Dates
- 1968-2001
- Creator
- Kartemquin Films
Acknowledgements and Access
This collection was part of the BMRC Survey Initiative, 2009-2011. For current information about the collection and its status, please contact Kartemquin Films at info@kartemquin.com
Historical note
Kartemquin Films is a not-for-profit documentary and educational film production company founded in 1966 in Chicago by Gordon Quinn, Jerry Temaner and Stan Karter, three University of Chicago graduates who wanted to make documentary films guided by their principle of ""Cinematic Social Inquiry."" They were later joined by Jerry Blumenthal, who along with Gordon Quinn remains with the organization today. Kartemquin evolved into a film collective, producing social-interest documentaries such as The Chicago Maternity Center Story, the Taylor Chain films, The Last Pullman Car and Golub, largely for public television and the educational market. Kartemquin's best known film, Hoop Dreams, won several major critics prizes and journalism awards in 1995 and was named on over 150 “ten best” lists. Kartemquin Films productions have been distributed nationally and internationally, often accompanied by outreach and education campaigns. By engaging the larger public and policy-makers in the process of learning and understanding, Kartemquin hopes to make films that can lead to real social change.
Scope and Contents note
The Kartemquin Films Film and Video Project Elements include 16mm and 35 mm film prints and negatives, videotape masters, film and video elements, audio interviews and other soundtrack elements, and computer disks related to film and video projects produced by Kartemquin Films on a work-for-hire basis. There are also materials from non-Kartemquin projects and projects of Kartemquin associates. Highlights include various elements from Kartemquin’s 1972 Sports Action Pro-Files series for NBC, which profiled athletes, coaches, and managers, including heavyweight boxer Ron Lyle and basketball player Oscar Robertson; elements from a 1986-7 Oprah Winfrey special for teenagers on pregnancy prevention; footage by Kartemquin founder Gordon Quinn of the Student Woodlawn Area Project, a University of Chicago sponsored tutoring program for at-risk high school students; and footage from Kartemquin associate Mike Shea from the May 1, 1970 Black Panthers rally in New Haven, Connecticut, held in support of Bobby Seale and coinciding with American college student strikes held nationwide.
Processing Information note
This collection was surveyed as part of the Black Metropolis Research Consortium's Survey Initiative on 2011 March 23 by Andrew Steadham.