A Roast & A Toast: Celebrating Gordon Quinn and the Future of Kartemquin Films Event Program

December 5th, 2022

presented by Susan E. Morrison

BoB heRcuLeS

Bob Hercules is a Peabody and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker whose work has been seen widely on PBS, BBC, IFC, Netflix, Amazon, and in film festivals around the world. His film, Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise (co-directed by Rita Coburn), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to win 19 awards on three continents and a Peabody Award. Additional films include Mikva! Democracy is a Verb, Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, Forgiving Dr. Mengele and A Good Man with Gordon Quinn. Bob has known Gordon since 1984, and is eager to share his friend’s secrets for scoring free food at film festivals.

Judy hoffman

Judy Hoffman joined the Kartemquin Films collective in 1974 and played a major role in our formation and 16mm documentaries. She has worked with Jean Rouch, Albert Maysles, and was a member of IATSE. A major focus of her work has been with the ‘Namgis First Nation of British Columbia, producing films about reclaiming Native culture and teaching them how to produce their own films. Hoffman is on the Board of Directors of the Media Burn Independent Video Archive. She recently retired from her position as Professor of Practice in the Arts at the University of Chicago in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies. She has sometimes been referred to as “Gordon’s translator” on film shoots, and counts him as a lifelong friend and mentor.

Jenny Rohrer first joined Kartemquin Films in 1971 where she worked with Gordon to create numerous films, including The Chicago Maternity Center Story and Women’s Voices: The Gender Gap. She founded her own film production company in Washington, D.C. in 1991 but continued to associate with Kartemquin on film projects. Jenny now lives in the Western Montana’s rural Swan Valley in a log home she built with her husband where she takes long walks with her dog. As a former cohead of KTQ, Jenny has plenty of stories to tell about the Mighty Quinn.

Steve JameS

Steve James’ previous work for Kartemquin Films includes Academy Award nominated films Hoop Dreams and Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. Other award-winning work includes Stevie, TheInterrupters, No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson for ESPN, and Life Itself. His most recent docuseries, Amer ica to Me and City So Real, both won Cinema Eye Awards and were two of the most acclaimed TV shows of the years in which they aired. Steve is ready to set the record straight about all the times he was right and Gordon was wrong, and give everyone’s favorite cheapskate the roast he’s got coming.

Bing Liu

Bing Liu is a China-born, Midwest-raised filmmaker best known for directing Minding the Gap, which was nominated for Best Feature Documentary at the 91st Academy Awards and won a Peabody. He was also a segment director on America to Me, which premiered on Starz and was hailed as one of the best TV shows of the year. He co-directed All These Sons with Josh Altman, which won Best Cinematography at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and the Maysles Award at the Denver International Film Festival. He is currently developing several scripted and non-fiction projects.

Jenny RohReR

DONATE

Join Kartemquin Films as we move forward into an exciting new chapter in documentary filmmaking!

During tonight’s event, text GQROAST to 44-321. When you donate at least $25 tonight, you’ll get a pair of exclusive Gordon Quinn white socks–just show your phone’s gift confirmation screen at the registration table!

Donations are also accepted online at kartemquin.com/donate. All gifts are taxdeductible and will benefit Kartemquin’s programs for documentary filmmakers and projects.

Please contact Director of Development Emily Long at emilylong@kartemquin.com to make a special bequest, transfer stock or with other questions.

DID you know?!

Gordon, infamously, only wears white socks. In fact, he has worn the same American-made brand of socks for the last 67 years. Wigwam 100% cotton socks, without the cushion sole.

Gordon keeps every badge from every festival he attends. Your name badges tonight were designed with this fact in mind. Another for the collection!

If you’ve been to lunch with Gordon then you’ve certainly experienced the Chicago gem Turquoise. Tonight’s Chilled Phyllo Cup hor d’oeuvres are a nod to a local favorite!

The centerpieces donning your tables tonight were made from the (now empty) beer bottles from the basement of Kartemquin’s offices at 1901.

Tonight’s dessert is provided by a local AAPI and women-owned company called Sugar Bliss!

The beloved storefront of Kartemquin’s offices used to be a dry cleaners - and the neon sign still resides in our basement today. (Hence, the neon sign decor in the space this evening!)

Amir’s energy shifting signature move in meetings is loudly exclaming, “ARE YOU HAVING FUN YET?!”

In 1971, Gordon’s parents sent plants for the office at 1901 and the robust remenants of one of those plants still thrives in our office today.

During the United Electrical strike, Kartemquin’s kitchen was the epicenter of striking workers chili lunches.

American Documentary salutes Gordon Quinn Bringing powerful independent films to public media

Wuhan

POV

We’re honored to celebrate the life and work of Gordon Quinn, the lifeblood of documentary filmmaking in Chicago and lifelong champion of public media.

“The truth of a work depends on the integrity of the maker.”

—

GORDON QUINN

About Kartemquin

Sparking democracy through documentary since 1966, Kartemquin is a collaborative community that empowers documentary makers who create stories that foster a more engaged and just society. Kartemquin’s films have received four Academy Award® nominations, and won six Emmys® and three Peabody Awards, among several more major prizes. In 2019, Kartemquin was honored with an Institutional Peabody Award for “its commitment to unflinching documentary filmmaking and telling an American history rooted in social justice and the stories of the marginalized.” Recognized as a leading advocate for independent public media, Kartemquin has helped hundreds of artists via its filmmaker development programs and championing of documentary.

For over 50 years, Kartemquin’s mission has been to empower the creation of stories that foster a more engaged and just society — turning toward and grappling with the most critical issues of our time.

We produce documentaries on a wide range of issues, champion filmmakers in developing their craft, and align with partners who understand that documentaries are powerful vehicles for truth that can transform the world around us. With four Academy Award nominations, six Emmy awards, and four

Our future is inspired by our roots as a collective, our commitment to equity, and a framework for repair for those historically excluded in the documentary film industry:

• We select production partners based on our values and a reparations framework.

• We have a participatory selection process that includes all staff.

• Our film funds include external review panels from diverse backgrounds, compensated for their time and expertise.

Peabody awards, Kartemquin has been described as a “documentary powerhouse,” but it is the recognition for outstanding service to the film community and awards like the Altgeld Freedom of Speech Award for “unflinchingly holding up a mirror to American society” that reflect our deepest purpose.

• Our revenue sharing models are recalibrated to compensate emerging filmmakers who have historically been underrepresented in documentary filmmaking.

These are first steps. We’re excited for you all to follow along as we continue on this evolutionary journey.

“There are few film production companies in the United States as admirable as Kartemquin Films.” - The New York Times

Reflections on Year One

Betsy Leonard, executive director

Reflection. In the context of looking back, we understand the word to mean “serious thought or consideration.”

But its other definition, “the throwing back by a body or surface of light, heat, or sound without absorbing it,” gave me pause as I look back on my first year at Kartemquin. Light, heat, and sound, not always in equal measure but deeply present in this first year at the helm of this storied organization.

First, the light. I was drawn to Kartemquin as a moth to a flame. The mission, body of work, and the deep roots as a collective called to me at a time when my spirit was flagging and the world, and I in it, was struggling through a pandemic and racial reckoning. The heat of that reckoning, though painful, simultaneously gave me hope. What I encountered with each meeting of board, staff, and filmmaker was a grappling with what equity and access would mean for us and for independent documentary. The sound was quiet at first, but grew bolder as each of us expressed past hurts, questions about the present, hope and skepticism about the future. What stayed with me through all of that was how many people experienced Kartemquin as a place of possibility and belonging, and how many had yet to.

Tonight, we celebrate the bounty which is our future: we have values that guide our partnerships and our work. There are more ways for people who have historically been excluded from documentary to find a path of access and belonging. Our founder, Gordon Quinn, who we celebrate tonight and whose vision over 50 years ago to tell stories that matter continues to charge us with a commitment to ethics, advocacy and care. These commitments are infused in all we do. Amir George brings his vision as Artistic Director and his energy, creativity, and deep care for the makers and the craft. Our staff is committed and courageous, embracing all that has made Kartemquin great and honestly grappling with all that has the possibility to be transformed. And you, our community, are on the journey with us, from that very first verité film through the decades of storytelling, struggle, and success. I reflect all of this back to you, and hope that together we’ll defy the definition of reflection by absorbing the light, the heat, and the sound. I hope you feel the light, welcome the heat, and embrace the sound. We have so many stories to tell and much good work to do.

Onward.

Gordon,

Netflix salutes your extraordinary, groundbreaking career and wishes Kartemquin long, continued success.

Thank you for the doors you’ve opened and for the indelible imprint you’ve made on the field of documentary film, which you’ve helped move immeasurably forward.

- The Netflix Documentary Team

“We were out there showing the films, you know. We were taking them into places and showing them...and being in that dialogue with the people where we were trying to make the change. That dialectical relationship, it’s what I value personally and I think it’s what the organization wants to have at its core.”

- Gordon Quinn

Kartemquin Forward

Gordon Quinn, cofounder + senior advisor

Dear friends and Kartemquin community,

When I think back on my decades in documentary, I’m struck by how often I’m drawn to the details and the big picture at the same time. It is the contradictions in our field and the larger society that have always interested me.

I remember in my sophmore year of college, I walked down an alley off 54th Place thinking, “If I could be a camera person on travel films and industrials, that would be a great career.”

Pat Aufderheide, who is doing a book on Kartemquin, has pointed out to me that in my B.A. paper, “Cinema Verité in a

Democracy,” the seeds of Kartemquin were there. Jerry Temaner and I started with ideas and at the same time we were fundamentally modifying our first camera that shot Home For Life. Decades later, that camera was named by interns Camera One. In the beginning we saw the funding for documentaries was on the coasts, and for a moment we thought of moving, but then made the firm decision to stay in Chicago, and to try and try to build support for regional filmmaking. When people ask me how we survived all these years, I say it is because we changed. If we wanted our documentaries to play a role in our democracy, we had to look at history and the world around us to shape our storytelling. We had to learn new techniques, like portable video, that Judy Hoffman and Jim Morrissette introduced to us. Kartemquin films by different directors can look very different, but I hope people find they share some core values, like respect for our subjects, transparency, and attention to craft. Kartemquin as an organization has also transformed over the years. We’ve grown from a small production company, making verité films to change society, to a collective working with other social justice organizations to build a movement,

supporting me and my producing partner Jerry Blumenthal to make films about labor and art, to supporting filmmakers seeking a national and international audience with emotionally powerful stories like Hoop Dreams, to a full blown media arts organization supporting a new generation of diverse documentary filmmakers.

Kartemquin has had many leaders over the years. I’ll mention one, Justine Nagan, because she began the media arts period we are still in today. I hope you’ll continue along with Kartemquin on its journey as we start our next chapter under the shared leadership of Executive Director Betsy Leonard and Artistic Director Amir George. As Senior Advisor, I won’t be far from the work of Kartemquin, and have every confidence in Betsy, Amir and the rest of the team to pursue the now-expanded dreams in an ever changing world. We will need everyone’s help to move forward, and we’re counting on everyone here.

With humility, gratitude and excitement for what’s next, I invite you to join us.

Sincerely,

FILMS IN PROGRESS

17 Days (In Development)

Christine Varisse

A personal documentary retracing Christine’s journey toward U.S Citizenship, 17 Days is a story of selfdiscovery. While living in the United States undocumented, Christine recalls the emotional and legal obstacles in the way of her reversing a deportation order. At 18, Christine, unfortunately, must decide if she will live in hiding or attempt to legally prove that American residency is her birth right. Born in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and a child of two Haitian refugees, Christine is left stateless after being paroled into the United States in 1992. With the help of her mother and a newly emerging relationship with her father, 17Days becomes a revelatory journey of historical information that breaks the mold of who undocumented immigrants truly are.

A Rebel Without A Pause (In Development)

Maya Cueva; Daniel Tantalean

A Rebel Without A Pause tells the inspiring and untold true story of how Doctor Quentin Young – Personal Physician to Barack Obama, Fred Hampton, and Martin Luther King – risked his life fighting to bring free healthcare to the people.

Papi’s Pregnant (In Development) Oli Rodriguez

Papi’s Pregnant chronicles filmmaker Oli Rodriguez’ conception and navigation of getting pregnant as a transmasculine identified/ non-binary person. The story begins in Chicago, IL with Oli as the primary subject and expands to Los Angeles, California, while living and working in both places in finding supportive medical care and focusing on the experience of going off hormone replacement therapy (HRT), figuring out ovulation with options to conceive, and the pursuit of a donor while visualizing a burgeoning medical field of trans pregnancy along with hilarious, frank conversations with queer, chosen family and his biological Puerto Rican/ Sicilian family.

Paradise Valley (In Development)

Kimberly

Reed

Paradise Valley is a three-part series of fortyminute episodes that are interconnected. Sustainable food systems must be economically viable for their producers, something we see in Montana, Michigan, and Arizona. Each of these stories show how we can transform our food system at scale to mitigate the effects of climate change. There’s something really beautiful about agriculture and the class structure that comes with it unifying the people in these three locales despite the color of their skin, or — more surprisingly — their politics. This series will find as many of those striking connections as possible. Unification in opposition is also a mighty thing, and the folks in these three locations are aligned in their antipathy of Big Ag and corporate monopolies in our food system. Everyone would love to live in paradise, wouldn’t they? This series of films, quite simply, will show us all it is possible.

Sitting In Limbo (In Development)

Kevin Shaw; Josh Flanders

Sitting in Limbo tells the story of a young, Black, Midwestern college student who was arrested and jailed for murder in a historic felony case. The film explores the incident, his unique family upbringing, and his failure to receive a fair trial in a biased justice system, community, and media landscape while he continues to fight for freedom decades later.

Spirited (Co-Production) Joua Lee Grande

Spirited is a personal documentary that follows the arc of Joua’s search to answer: What is Hmong spirituality and how does it look in this generation in America? What strengths has it brought to community and what harm has it caused? How do we differentiate between spirituality and culture? Lastly, will she agree to follow this path to become a shaman after all they have learned? The filmmaker’s story is the connecting thread with others’ stories, context about this changing practice, and current events interwoven throughout the film.

Untitled: Art + Disability Culture (In Development) Reveca Torres Still Searching (In Development) LaToya Flowers

In 2020 Damon Lamar Reed, a Chicago hip-hop artist and muralist, started painting an eye-catching vivid series of portraits titled “The Still Searching Project” of missing Black women and girls in the Chicagoland area for the past two decades. Due to their lack of local, national, and global media coverage, he started utilizing his artistry for social justice bringing awareness to their cases and hope to their families that their loved ones will be found.

This Is Not A Dream (Co-Production)

Anna Andersen, Kelsey Peterson; Grishma Shah

Deb Mellen was born a survivor. The child of Holocaust survivors, she learned at a young age to never ask ‘why?’ and to just keep moving forward. So when a car accident left her paraplegic, followed by the tragic death of her husband, she heard her parent’s words, “there is no before”, moving her forward in search of something more. When in Miami for rehab, Deb was introduced to sailing. She scoured the web for an accessible boat and found The Impossible Dream — the only accessible-designed sailing vessel in the world. Now, she has assembled a racing team — the only disabled crew registered — for the race from St. Petersburg, Florida to Isla Mujeres, Mexico. They race to reveal a deeper perspective on the importance of accessibility, its systemic shortcomings, and the consequences they have on people with disabilities and progress for humanity. They race to feel free. And they race to win.

Artist Reveca Torres envisions how her disabled ancestors Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, and Henri Matisse lived and created. Through letters and artifacts, she finds that they’ve made a path for contemporary disabled artists and their struggles parallel her own. As Reveca connects with present day artists with disabilities, together they imagine and work towards a society in which the barriers they face no longer exist and disability art and culture is celebrated.

Untitled Scientist Project

(Co-Production)

Jiayan “Jenny” Shi

The Untitled Scientist Project captures the storm center of the crackdown on scientists and researchers that have ties to China. As the film closely follows legal cases and their aftermath, it looks back on the history of racial profiling and the systemic mistrust of Chinese American Scientists. Through vérité footage of the film’s participants and their families, archival footage, government documents, FBI files, and interviews with other impacted scientist, lawyers, experts, journalists, and community organizers, the film tries to answer some of the most urgent questions: Is China in fact using a wholeof-society approach to steal technology and intellectual property from the U.S.? What is science and where is the boundary between national security and academic freedom? What is the impact on academia which values openness, collaboration, transparency, and reciprocity? How to resist the racial profiling of Chinese which has deeply rooted in history?

Notes on the Future

Amir George, Artistic Director

Filmmaking is the youngest art form in the world with infinite potential to not only entertain, but to inspire.

The impact of documentary films is undeniable and I’ve always been fascinated by the form’s ability to illuminate the unknown or the overlooked and allow humanity to further develop a sense of identity.

Every film nurtures possibility and there are a myriad of textures surrounding reality.

Throughout my career, I’ve grown to have an appreciation for risk taking and pushing the boundaries on how we currently understand cinematic language.

Life is not simple, why should our stories be?

I am inspired by Gordon’s wisdom and the foundation he built from collective ingenuity and communal storytelling. I can’t thank him enough for what he has done for our industry. How my journey has led me here is simply, alignment.

Alignment with the willingness to help filmmakers bring their films to life and share them throughout the world.

Alignment with the intent of cinematically uplifting the cultural assets of the city of Chicago and the Midwest region through documentary filmmaking.

Alignment with the growth and evolution that Betsy Leonard and the team have already created.

Alignment with creating space for diverse perspectives and imaginations to coexist, to engage, and emerge.

It’s important for us to be radical and challenge the form and ourselves. As we shape and tell stories that define realities, we will ‘find a way out’ together.

William Greaves once said, “To define a reality is to find a way out.”

- Amir George

“Growth is what I’m interested in. Growth within the community and beyond to the places that Kartemquin hasn’t been yet. Inviting new audiences to experience Kartemquin, building those audiences, and creating spaces for people to have access to films, to have access to learning more about filmmaking, and to becoming better filmmakers.”

Yvonne P. & Jose-Albin D. Afable

Lainey Canevaro Weinstein

Sandra Cordova Micek

Abby Lynn Kang Davis

Sylvia Ewing

Justine Nagan

Diane Quon

Neal Robin

Brenda Robinson

John Sloss

Elizabeth Iams Wellman

HOST COMMITTEE SPECIAL THANKS

Rebecca Baruc

Leslie Buchbinder

Margaret Caples Taylor

Rosemary Caruk

Judith Cottle

Annie Drew

Eve Ewing

Moss Modern Flowers

Kathleen Field Orr

Damon Jones

Keira Kennedy

Chris Kowalke

Ydalmi Noriega

Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation

Aaron Saidman

Katy Schultz

Kate Stewart

Laura Washington

Kat White

Stephen Whisnant

PRESENTING SPONSOR SUSAN E. MORRISON

SUSTAINING SPONSORS

FRIENDS OF KARTEMQUIN

KARTEMQUIN BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sylvia Ewing, Board Chair

Mike Narciso, Treasurer

Neal Robin, Secretary

Lainey Canevaro

Sandra Cordova Micek

Fenell Doremus

Ivan Garcia

Elizabeth Iams Wellman

Abby Lynn Kang Davis

Jack I. Lerner

Patrice Perkins

Gordon Quinn

Elspeth Revere Stacy Robinson

Floyd Webb

Shirley Yang

KARTEMQUIN FILMS STAFF

Yvette Flojo, Director of finance and operations

Mar Garvey, Production Manager

Amir George, Artistic Director

Tikahya Lampley, Finance Associate

Betsy Leonard, Executive Director

Emily Long, Director of Development

Isabelle Martin, Manager of FIlmmaker Funds

Gordon Quinn, Co-Founder + Senior Advisor

Leslie Simmer, Director of Editing

Haydée “hr” Souffrant, Manager of Filmmaker Programs

Whitney Spencer, Director of Marketing and Distribution

Matt Taylor, Post Production Manager

Kartemquin Films, 2022