The New Americans is a seven-hour American documentary, produced by Kartemquin Films, that was originally broadcast on American television over three nights on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in late March 2004.
Independent Lens is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of Independent Lens were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Howard, Maggie Gyllenhaal, America Ferrera, Mary-Louise Parker, and Stanley Tucci, who served two stints as host from 2012-2014.
ITVS is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries on public television through distribution by PBS and American Public Television, new media projects on the Internet, and the weekly series Independent Lens on PBS. Aside from Independent Lens, ITVS funded and produced films for more than 40 television hours per year on the PBS series POV, Frontline, American Masters and American Experience. Some ITVS programs are produced along with organizations like Latino Public Broadcasting and KQED.
Kartemquin Films is a four-time Oscar-nominated 501(c)3 non-profit production company located in Chicago, Illinois, that produces a wide range of documentary films. It is the documentary filmmaking home of acclaimed producers such as Gordon Quinn, Steve James, Maria Finitzo, Joanna Rudnick, Bing Liu, and Aaron Wickenden.
Chicago 10: Speak Your Peace is a 2007 American animated documentary written and directed by Brett Morgen that tells the story of the Chicago Eight. The Chicago Eight were charged by the United States federal government with conspiracy, crossing state lines with intent to incite a riot, and other charges related to anti-Vietnam War and countercultural protests in Chicago, Illinois during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
Byron Patrick Hurt is an American activist, lecturer, writer, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. In 2010, he hosted the Emmy-nominated television show, Reel Works with Byron Hurt. His documentary Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and broadcast nationally on PBS in 2007. His film Soul Food Junkies received the Best Documentary Award at the 2012 American Black Film Festival and aired on PBS' Independent Lens in January 2013.
A Good Man is a 2011 documentary film about Tony Award-winning dance choreographer, Bill T. Jones, and his efforts to create the dance-theatre piece, "Fondly Do We Hope...Fervently Do We Pray", a salute to Abraham Lincoln for Chicago's Ravinia Festival. A Good Man details Jones's personal struggles with race and coming to grips with the legacy of the Lincoln Presidency and the American Civil War. From the initial pre-production to the show's final performance, the documentary follows Jones as he attempts to connect with his dancers and convey the spirit of the civil rights movement that has inspired him as an artist.
Milking the Rhino is a 2009 documentary film, produced by Kartemquin Films, that examines the relationship between the indigenous African wildlife, the villagers who live amongst this wildlife and conservationists who look to keep tourism dollars coming in. Both the Maasai of Kenya and the Ovahimba of Namibia have spent centuries as cattle farmers. With their lands being turned into protected game reserves, these ancient tribes have turned to tourism as a means of survival.
Margaret Luce Brown is an American film director.
America ReFramed is a weekly independent documentary series broadcast on World Channel. Since 2012, America ReFramed has broadcast over 120 films by independent filmmakers. The series is co-produced by American Documentary, Inc. and the WORLD Channel. America ReFramed films feature personal stories that have a strong social-issue focus.
Motto Pictures is a documentary production company based in Brooklyn, New York specializing in producing and executive producing documentary features. Motto secures financing, builds distribution strategies, and creatively develops films, and has produced over 25 feature documentaries and won numerous awards.
The School Project is an independent cross-platform media project. It explores what a healthy public education system looks like through the lens of Chicago Public Schools. It focuses on issues including standardized testing, charter schools, privatization, and school closings. It is a collaboration between Kartemquin Films, Siskel/Jacobs Productions, Free Spirit Media, Kindling Group, Media Process Group, and several freelancers. Its media partners include Catalyst Chicago, Chicago Sun-Times, and WTTW/Channel 11.
Brent Edward Huffman is an American director, writer, and cinematographer of documentaries and television programs, including Saving Mes Aynak (2015). His work has been featured on Netflix, The Discovery Channel, The National Geographic Channel, NBC, CNN, PBS, TIME, The New York Times and Al Jazeera America and Al Jazeera English and premiered at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), and many other U.S. and international film festivals. He is also an associate professor at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University where he teaches documentary production and theory.
David Osit is an American filmmaker best known as one of the directors, with Malika Zouhali-Worrall, of the 2015 documentary Thank You for Playing. Osit and Zouhali-Worrall also directed "Games You Can't Win," a short film inspired by the feature for The New York Times Op-Docs. Both the feature and short were inspired by the art house video game That Dragon, Cancer. In 2017, Thank You For Playing won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary.
Vivian Kleiman is a Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker. She has received a National Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Research and executive produced an Academy Award nominated documentary.
Heather Ross is an American film director best known for her 2009 film Girls on the Wall, for which she won an Emmy Award. Ross won a prime time Emmy Award for her work as producer of the Bryan Cranston episode of the genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are. She is also known for directing the 2014 documentary short Baby Mama High as part of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's American Graduate series. The film caused a stir in 2017, when Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) objected to the film's content during a House subcommittee hearing on CPB funding. Harris admitted that he had not actually viewed the film.
Marilyn Ness is an award-winning documentary film producer and director based in New York City She is known for social justice documentaries, including Bad Blood: A Cautionary Tale (2010), Cameraperson (2016), and most notably, Charm City (2018). Her recent projects include, Netflix Original documentary Becoming with Michelle Obama, which was nominated for four Primetime Emmy awards and Netflix Original documentary Dick Johnson is Dead, which was on the Academy Award Shortlist for Best Documentary in 2021.
Joseph Hall Wilson is an American film director and producer, best known for documentaries and impact campaigns that explore oppression and empowerment among gender and sexual minority communities. He has received an Emmy, GLAAD Media and several film festival awards, and his work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Ford Foundation, ITVS and Pacific Islanders in Communications.
Cooked: Survival by Zipcode is an 2018 American documentary film, directed and produced by Judith Helfand. It follows the 1995 Chicago heat wave which resulted in the deaths of 739 people, primarily affecting poor and disadvantaged communities.
