Director and founding member of , has been making documentaries for over 40 years. , of the Sun Times, called his first film (1966) "an extraordinarily moving documentary." With Home for Life Gordon established the direcon he would take for the next four decades, making cinéma vérité films that invesgate and crique society by documenng the unfolding lives of real people.

At Kartemquin, Gordon created a legacy that is an inspiraon for young filmmakers and a home where they make social‐issue documentaries. Kartemquin’s best‐known film, (1994), execuve produced by Gordon, was released theatrically to unprecedented crical acclaim. The film follows two inner‐city high school basketball players for five years as they pursue their NBA dreams. Its many honors include: the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Fesval, The Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, Chicago Film Crics Award ‐ Best Picture, Los Angeles Film Crics Associaon ‐ Best Documentary and an Academy Award Nominaon.

Some of Gordon’s other film include Vietnam, Long Time Coming, Golub, , and the Chicago Maternity Center. He execuve produced or produced , , and Stevie. Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita and (he also directed the Palesnian segment of this award winning, inmate, seven‐hour PBS series). Recently he produced a film that deals with the human consequences genec medicine, In The Family, and execuve produced two films, one about community‐ based conservaon in Africa: , and on a wrongful execuon in Texas. He’s currently direcng A Good Man about dancer Bill T. Jones for American Masters, just completed as Director, and No Crossover, the Trial of Allen Iverson as Execuve Producer.

Gordon is a supporter of public and community media and has served on the boards of several organizaons including The Humanies Council, The Chicago Public Access Corporaon, and The Public Square Advisory Commiee, The Illinois Advisory Commiee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Gordon was a leader in creang the Documentary Filmmakers Statement of Best Pracces in Fair Use, and frequently speaks to the media, legal, and educaonal communies about this fundamental right.

Connued‐ Joanna has been a producer with Kartemquin since 2003. In late 2008, she le the posion of Director of Development for the company to pursue filmmaking full me. She is currently developing a new film with Kartemquin on photographer Rick Guido, who le the world of fashion photography to use his lens to challenge the way we see beauty by photographing individuals with genec condions.

Joanna is also producing A Good Man, a feature‐length co‐producon with Kartemquin, the Ravinia Fesval, Media Process Group and American Masters, following the creaon of a major dance piece by the choreographer Bill T. Jones on Abraham Lincoln to premiere at Ravinia in September of 2009.

Joanna produced and directed In the Family, her personal story of tesng posive for the hereditary "breast cancer" gene and an exploraon into the psychological, social, legal and ethical challenges surrounding predicve genec tesng. The film premiered at Silverdocs in 2008, was broadcast naonally on PBS' P.O.V. the same year and was a finalist for the NIHCM Foundaon’s Health Care Radio and Television Journalism Award.

Before coming to Kartemquin, Joanna co‐produced a film on war photographer Robert Capa for the American Masters series at WNET in New York. Robert Capa in Love and War was broadcast on PBS and the BBC, premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Fesval and was the presenng film for the 2003 Emmy award for Outstanding Nonficon Series.

Prior to the Capa project, Joanna worked for American Masters for three years contribung to numerous films including Juilliard, Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For and Joe Papp: In Six Acts. Joanna also worked to help research and develop a 6‐part series on the American novel, funded in part by the Naonal Endowment for the Humanies.

Joanna received a Master’s degree in Science and Environmental Journalism from New York University and a Bachelor’s degree in English from Northwestern University. She is currently an adjunct professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Connued‐ Howard Reich has been a Chicago Tribune arts cric and writer since 1983. In addion to covering jazz, blues and gospel music for the Tribune, he has authored several invesgave reports, including arcles on the systemac the of royales from the jazz composer Jelly Roll Morton, the illicit trade in looted musical instruments and the hidden story of his mother's Holocaust past. His invesgaons have been featured on ABC‐TV's "Nightline" and various Naonal Public Radio programs. He is the author of three books: "The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich: A Son's Memoir" (2006); "Jelly's Blues: The Life, Music and Redempon of Jelly Roll Morton" (2003), wrien with William Gaines; and "Van Cliburn" (1993).

Howard has been wring on culture since 1976 and has won two Deems Taylor Awards from ASCAP; the Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern University's Alumni Associaon; six Peter Lisagor Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists; two William Jones Awards and the Outstanding Professional Performance Award from the Chicago Tribune; the Excellence in Journalism Award from the Chicago Associaon of Black Journalists; and the Sarah Brown Boyden Award from the Chicago Press Veterans Associaon, among other honors. His assignments have taken him to many of the world's cultural capitals, including Havana, Moscow, London, Paris, Vienna, Munich, Warsaw, Prague, Montreal and Panama City.

He is a longme correspondent for DownBeat magazine and lives in a Chicago suburb with his wife, Pam Becker, an editor at the Chicago Tribune.

Connued‐ A founding partner of Kartemquin Films, Jerry Blumenthal has been a director, producer, editor and sound recordist with Kartemquin since 1967. Blumenthal's film, Golub: Late Works are the Catastrophes (2004) ‐ co‐produced with Gordon Quinn ‐ revisits the great American thirteen years aer the award‐winning Golub (1988) and was an official selecon of the 2004 Internaonal Documentary Fesval Amsterdam (IDFA).

Vietnam, Long Time Coming (with Quinn and Peter Gilbert) aired on NBC and earned a naonal Emmy and the Directors Guild of America Award for Best Documentary of 1999. Among his many other films, Blumenthal lists The Last Pullman Car, the two Taylor Chain films, The Chicago Maternity Center Story, and the Palesnian story in Kartemquin's seven‐ hour PBS series, The New Americans (2004).

Zak is Kartemquin Films' Director of Producon and has been on staff since 2002. Most recently he served as Co‐Producer on At the Death House Door. That film premiered at the 2008 SXSW Film Fesval and won awards at the Atlanta Film Fesval, the Full Frame Documentary Fesval, DOC NZ, and Doc Aviv. It was a finalist for the Human Rights award at IDFA in 2008 and was officially short‐listed in the Best Documentary category for the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

Currently, Zak is co‐producing with Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz, an ITVS‐ funded project that will air as part of the Frontline series in 2011. He has served as Locaon Sound Recordist for At The Death House Door, In the Family, and Typeface. Previously, he has recorded sound on a variety of documentaries for the CBC, Channel 4, and PBS.

Zak began at Kartemquin by serving as Post Producon Manager and Audio Mixer on the acclaimed PBS documentary mini‐series, The New Americans. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Columbia College Chicago in 2001 in Film and Video. Connued‐ Jim Trompeter is an award‐winning composer, performer, and instructor in Chicago. His richly varied composional styles can be heard on the Oprah Winfrey Show, HBO’s “The Sopranos” and ABC News.

He has played with an impressive array of musicians over the years and as a member of Gloria Estefan’s “Miami Sound Machine”, he performed in over 350 live and televised concerts worldwide. He performed on the band’s double planum recording, "Let it Loose," and composed and arranged for its live tours. Jim also toured with Jazz Trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, Jon Secada, Boy George, Amy Grant, Tony Randall, David Lee Roth, Joe Mantegna, Whitney Houston, Sammy Davis Jr., Oprah Winfrey, Shecky Green, Art Garfunkel, Dennis Miller, Sinbad, Paul Rodriguez, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Lovano, Arturo Sandoval, Kurt Elling, Bob James, Dave Liebman, Randy Brecker, Crisan Mcbride, Tim Hagans, Rick Margitza, Steve Rodby, Paul Werco, Paquito D'Rivera, Bobby Mintzer, Eddie Daniels, Fareed Haque, Conte Condoli, Lou Marini, Andy Narell, Richie Cole, Sco Wendholt, George Garzone, Louis Bellson, Bill Watrous, and Carl Fontana, Claudio Rodi, among others.

Jim won the Down Beat Magazine award for “Best Instrumental Jazz Performer”; Montreaux Jazz Fesval’s “Stan Kenton Memorial Scholarship” award for Best Performer, finalist in the “Hennessey” Naonal Jazz Fesval and five Down Beat awards in the Large Ensemble category.

As a Producer Jim’s produced and arranged BillBoard Magazine's Pop Song of the Year, “It Doesn't Really Maer Now.” Jim was Musical Director of the 1993 Clio Awards held in New York City.

Photo by Joanna Kozek