Film
PHOTOGRAPHS (TOP THREE): JACLYN RIVAS; BOTTOM: COURTESY KARTEMQUIN
Film Playing
Making magic Technical director Jim Morrissette has been with Kartemquin for more than 35 years.
filmmakers just being so hardcore,” he continues. “They worked on that for like 10 years, and for eight of them, they had no money...but they always had this great story.”
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Big things are also continuing to happen for Kartemquin, including the premieres of at least four new films in 2016. One is Raising Bertie, a six-year study of three young black men living in poverty as they finish high school, which is set for its world premiere in April. The film, whose producer is a graduate of Kartemquin’s intern program, was funded by MacArthur Foundation Documentary Grants and is a project dear to the organization’s heart. “It has a lot to say about young African-American men and education reform and the school-to- prison pipeline,” says Horsburgh. Two projects by Steve James— the organization’s best-known producer—are also in production, including To Bridge the Divide, a film about students at Oak Park and River Forest High School. As of January, the filmmakers had amassed hundreds of hours of footage and have a tentative release date in 2017. James and his children all attended the
this spring March
The collective Much of the original Kartemquin crew will be back for the 50th anniversary celebrations.
The edit room Veteran producer and editor David E. Simpson is working on a new Steve James project.
suburban school, and Horsburgh says that James “always wanted to do a film about that school, because he sees it as a microcosm of America and Chicago, where the white kids are looking at Ivy League colleges and have it pretty easy, and their same African-American classmates are really struggling to
just make it to 18.” In the early years, the group felt some pressure to move to New York or Boston— cities where more funding originated— but ultimately chose to stay put. “Chicago is a world-class city with this dynamic cultural mix, deep roots in the arts, and music and dance and experimental film showings,” say
Quinn. “There’s this broad artistic world we live in here.”
He adds that while the group is very conscious of racial and gender diversity in its filmmaking, diversity of place is also important. “What’s outside your door makes a difference. We bring a Midwestern sensibility to the world.”
Celebrate Kartemquin’s anniversary at these special events. 50 YEARS OF FILM SCREENINGS
Take in films from Kartemquin’s Collective Era: Winnie Wright, Age 11; Now We Live on Clifton; Viva La Causa. Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E Washington St (
chicagoculturalcenter.org). Mar 12 at 2pm; free.
GOLUB: LATE WORKS ARE THE CATASTROPHES Attend a double screening and discussion of Golub: Late Works are the Catastrophes and Woman as Protagonist: The Art of Nancy Spero. Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, 915 E 16th St (
arts.uchicago.edu). Apr 1 at 7pm; free.
The Roger Ebert biopic streams in September.
KARTEMQUIN ART AND EPHEMERA EXHIBITION See artifacts from the organization’s early days, including Kartemquin’s first 16-millimeter camera: a heavy beast of
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TIMEOUT.COM/CHICAGO March–May 2016
a recorder retrofitted in the ’60s with a World War II–era gun handle and NASA- grade batteries. Expo 72, 72 E Randolph St. May 20–Aug 20; free.
MILESTONES GALA
Filmmakers, subjects and partners from across five decades reunite at this special event, with honorary chair Chaz Ebert. Contact
Mo@kartemquin.com for tickets. Harris Theater, 205 E Randolph St (
harristheaterchicago.org). June 24 at 6pm; $30.
Catch a different film streaming for free each week in 2016 at
kartemquin.com. Life Itself begins streaming Sept 30.
Zootopia Dirs. Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush. 2016. PG. Voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman. The team behind Wreck-It Ralph and Tangled head up Disney’s latest computer-animated film—a buddy comedy featuring anthropomorphic animals. Prepare to fall in love with an adorable police-officer rabbit, a con-artist fox and
some...very...slow...sloths. Opens Mar 4
The Brothers Grimsby Dir. Louis Leterrier. 2016. Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong. Remember Sacha Baron Cohen? Even he seems to realize characters like Borat and Bruno require plenty of downtime so we can all recuperate. His new comedy has him playing the slacker brother of a hardheaded British superspy. Yes, he’ll probably have a new, inescapable catchphrase. Opens Mar 11
10 Cloverfield Lane Dir. Dan Trachtenberg. 2016. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman. Prepare to reenter the mystery box in this spiritual sequel to the 2008 found- footage monster flick, Cloverfield. J.J. Abrams returns as a producer of this secretive film, which follows a young woman trapped in an underground bunker who decides to make a daring escape. Open Mar 11
The Divergent Series: Allegiant Dir. Robert Schwentke. 2016. PG-13. Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jeff Daniels. These days, you can’t conclude the cinematic adaptation of a young adult novel series without a two-part finale. The penultimate Divergent film takes Tris and Four beyond the walls that surround futuristic Chicago, where the pair discover new information about the threats facing humanity and must make a critical decision to save the people they love. Opens Mar 18
Midnight Special Dir. Jeff Nichols. 2016. PG-13. Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst. The director of Mud tries his hand at a science-fiction thriller about a father trying to protect his son, who
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