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Kartemquin Films: Documentaries for Democracy

FIlm Discussion Opening Reception

What’s Happening?

Presented as the opening night screening for Kartemquin Films: Documentaries for Democracy

Let the Little Light Shine (2022) dir. Kevin Shaw

A high-achieving elementary school near downtown Chicago is a lifeline for low-income and Black students, until gentrification threatens its closure as a school for wealthy families tries to move into the area.

Kartemquin Films: Documentaries for Democracy is a two-day conference that celebrates the legendary Chicago film production house. Over more than 50 years, Kartemquin has incubated generations of talented storytellers whose award-winning work has focused on topics such as the legacy of the Vietnam war, health care policy, education reform, police and the community, the death penalty, and immigrant communities.

On Friday, October 4, Kartemquin co-founder Gordon Quinn introduces highlights from Kartemquin’s historic works, and Kevin Shaw introduces a screening of his film about education politics in Chicago, Let the Little Light Shine (2022). Saturday, October 5 features a day of discussions with filmmakers, activists, archivists, and scholars, as well as a screening of Kartemquin’s Oscar-shortlisted ’63 Boycott (2017). Renowned scholar of documentary film Patricia Aufderheide, whose new book is Kartemquin Films: Documentaries on the Frontlines of Democracy (2024), opens the conference.

The conference charts Kartemquin’s evolution from an academic project to an activist collective to its signature style of social-issue, humanist films and its support for emerging documentary filmmakers. Along with discussions of films, Documentaries for Democracy also showcases Kartemquin’s role in media activism, and relationships with leading Chicago institutions, including the University of Chicago, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, labor unions, and the Community Film Workshop.

Presented by Cinema & Media Studies, and Film Studies Center

Presented as the opening night screening for Kartemquin Films: Documentaries for Democracy

Let the Little Light Shine (2022) dir. Kevin Shaw

A high-achieving elementary school near downtown Chicago is a lifeline for low-income and Black students, until gentrification threatens its closure as a school for wealthy families tries to move into the area.

Kartemquin Films: Documentaries for Democracy is a two-day conference that celebrates the legendary Chicago film production house. Over more than 50 years, Kartemquin has incubated generations of talented storytellers whose award-winning work has focused on topics such as the legacy of the Vietnam war, health care policy, education reform, police and the community, the death penalty, and immigrant communities.

On Friday, October 4, Kartemquin co-founder Gordon Quinn introduces highlights from Kartemquin’s historic works, and Kevin Shaw introduces a screening of his film about education politics in Chicago, Let the Little Light Shine (2022). Saturday, October 5 features a day of discussions with filmmakers, activists, archivists, and scholars, as well as a screening of Kartemquin’s Oscar-shortlisted ’63 Boycott (2017). Renowned scholar of documentary film Patricia Aufderheide, whose new book is Kartemquin Films: Documentaries on the Frontlines of Democracy (2024), opens the conference.

The conference charts Kartemquin’s evolution from an academic project to an activist collective to its signature style of social-issue, humanist films and its support for emerging documentary filmmakers. Along with discussions of films, Documentaries for Democracy also showcases Kartemquin’s role in media activism, and relationships with leading Chicago institutions, including the University of Chicago, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, labor unions, and the Community Film Workshop.

Presented by Cinema & Media Studies, and Film Studies Center

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The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts serves as a hub for the vibrant arts scene at The University of Chicago and as a cultural destination for the South Side and greater Chicago.
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