Kartemquin Films: A Chicago Treasure

Since 1966, Kartemquin Films has been producing documentary films that examine and critique society’s issues, problems, and contradictions by focusing on the stories of real people. The group’s most widely acclaimed film, Hoop Dreams, became their greatest commercial success, but Kartemquin’s other films are equally as dedicated to showcasing extraordinary ordinary people or tackling important issues.

            Kartemquin Films was started by three friends from the University of Chicago. Two of them, Gordon Quinn and Gerald Temaner, were volunteers for Doc Films, another local institution and the longest continuously running film society in the country. Along with Stan Karter, Quinn and Temaner decided to form a filmmaking company, which they dubbed Kar - Tem - Quin, a blend of the three founders’ last names. (continued)

The Chicago Way

Kartemquin released their first film in 1966.  Home for Life, a powerful chronicle of two elderly people entering a home for the aged, established the direction the organization would take over the next four decades and exhibits the gritty, no-frills visual style reminiscent of other Chicago documentary filmmakers, including Mike Gray and the Film Group (American Revolution 2 and The Murder of Fred Hampton). This “Chicago Style” was modeled after cinema verite, a style of documentary that shows an event or action unfolding without a film crew’s interference. It was a “fly-on-the-wall” approach to documentary with no narrator, no graphics, no statistics, no re-creations, and no onscreen antics by the filmmakers—in other words, none of the techniques associated with documentaries today. In addition, the visual style for these early black and white films was a straightforward, no-nonsense look in which the simple camerawork belied the absolute control that the shooter had over the camera as he followed the action. That was the key element to the style—to follow the action, or capture the subject—not to stand in front of the camera and become the subject a la Michael Moore.

Window into History

Because of the cinema verite approach, watching the films of Kartemquin from the 1960s is akin to seeing history come to life. People, places, and events are more spontaneous and alive without the filters of explanatory intertitles, formal-sounding voice-overs, or onscreen journalists interpreting the images. Recently Facets distributed two DVD releases of Kartemquin’s work from the turbulent 1960s, Kartemquin: The Early Years, Volume 1 and Volume 2; and, while no documentaries are completely free of bias and perspective, the short films in each volume of this series offer a relatively unfiltered view of another time and place. Sometimes, the issues and events are uncannily relevant for today; other times, the films serve as snapshots of the past.

            Volume 1 includes two films, Parents and Thumbs Down, which focus on teenagers, and I can see the appeal of this DVD for today's young people as a way to compare and contrast their values and circumstances to those of kids in the past. However, as someone who grew up watching the radical politics of the era, I preferred Volume 2, which includes Anonymous Artists of America, Hum 255, and What the Fuck Are These Red Squares? All three films center around campus life at the University of Chicago during the 1960s, which was a time before texting, tweeting, and touring virtual worlds—a time when students showed an active interest in issues and politics and took responsibility for the world around them. In Anonymous Artists of America, the psychedelic rock group of the same name performs at the University of Chicago, the artists’ alma mater. While “anonymous” is a good word to describe them in retrospect, they were once the opening act for the Grateful Dead and connected to Ken Kesey’s Acid Test Graduation. Hum 255 chronicles the impact of a student strike at the University of Chicago not only from the perspective of those who were expelled but also from those who remained in school. And, the provocatively titled What the Fuck Are These Red Squares? chronicles a group of students trying to cope with the violence at Kent State and Jackson State.

Inquiring Nuns Want to Know

            My favorite Kartmequin film is a 1968 documentary called Inquiring Nuns (image at top), which is also available through Facets. It’s an engaging and enlightening film featuring a pair of nuns who pound the pavement of the gritty streets of Chicago asking everyone from hippies to professors, “Are you happy?” I loved seeing the Chicago of 40 years ago—from the Art Institute to old-fashioned neighborhood supermarkets. And, the selection of interviews reflects the true cross-section that is Chicago. As a film historian, the most poignant interview for me was with Lincoln Perry, otherwise known as Stepin Fetchit, an African American comedian from the Golden Age of Hollywood who was much maligned for his comic characterization of “the World’s Laziest Man.” The most popular black entertainer during his day, Perry was forgotten by the mainstream public and ostracized by many in the black community for perpetuating negative stereotypes. The nuns are oblivious to both his fame and his notoriety—a comment on the fleeting nature of stardom. In the film, the thoughtful, kindly entertainer seems to be doing well, but in just eight short years, increased criticism and a debilitating stroke would turn his life into a living hell. Knowing the outcome of his life makes his interview all the more tragic. Other interviews are sincere, articulate, and filled with insights into the era's concerns and worries. While the nuns appear to be onscreen "personalities," which is not a cinema verite characteristic, their simple, innocent approach to the interviews make them more like the film's subject than it's crew.

            Kartemquin Films is a Chicago treasure. They picked up the social mandate of nonfiction filmmaker John Grierson, who coined the term “documentary” during the early 1930s, fused it with the political consciousness of the 1960s, and then updated it for the modern era. Anyone interested in history, documentary filmmaking, or Chicago will learn much from their body of work.  --Susan Doll