October 4, 2017
Kartemquin (KTQ) is a collaborative center for documentary media makers who seek to foster a more engaged and empowered society. Focusing on people whose lives are most directly affected by social and political change and who are often overlooked or misrepresented by the media, Kartemquin films open a dialogue, both in communities and between the public and policymakers. Thanks to support from Voqal, Kartemquin was able to continue its work to set the next generation of documentary makers on paths to sustainable careers.
Several of these documentary makers experienced success in the past year. Internship alumnus Dinesh Sabu finalized and released his Kartemquin-produced, feature documentary debut, Unbroken Glass, a project first started during his internship and made in collaboration with fellow intern alumni Ian Robertson Kibbe and Matt Lauterbach. The film won Best Documentary Director at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and received a Special Jury Mention at the Austin Asian American Film Festival. Dinesh has traveled across the country to present the film to audiences that most directly need to see it including South Asian Americans, the mental health community and university students. In June 2017, the film was broadcast to a national audience on the World Channel’s America Reframed.
Meanwhile, 2016 Diverse Voices in Docs (DVID) alumna Ashley Mills has continued to successfully develop her DVID project Unapologetic and is on the path to finish and release the film in the next few years. She was selected to participate in Tribeca Film Institute\’s TFI Network, a filmmaker/industry market hosted each year during the TribecaFilm Festival, and was chosen as a 2017 Firelight Media Documentary Lab fellow. In addition, she found an editor for Unapologetic in Rubin Daniels, a Kartemquin internship alumnus and one of the editors of current Kartemquin project America to Me.
Whether it’s the KTQ Internship, Diverse Voices in Docs program, or KTQ labs, Kartemquin’s development of new diverse documentary filmmakers is unparalleled. Voqal is proud to support this work aimed at creating a more engaged and empowered society through a more socially equitable documentary maker community.