Episode 91: Behind the Camera: Sixty Years of Chicago Documentary
In this episode, Mary Morten gathers four leaders shaping the future of documentary film in Chicago.
Stacy Robinson, artistic director of Kartemquin Films, marks the studio's 60th anniversary and the hard-won lessons behind 80-plus films, including Hoop Dreams and The Interrupters. Yvonne Welbon, founder and CEO of Sisters in Cinema, talks about turning 30 years of research into the country's only brick-and-mortar space dedicated to Black women filmmakers. And two filmmakers who came up through their fellowship programs, Cam Be and Arlieta Hall, share what's next: Cam's Joffrey Ballet documentary premiering on PBS, and Arlieta's deeply personal film on caregiving through Alzheimer's, Finding Your Laughter.
Together they talk candidly about a funding climate where legacy institutions built around race are being targeted, why finding your people matters more than going it alone, and what it takes to keep Chicago's documentary ecosystem alive.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
- Stacy Robinson on Kartemquin's 60th anniversary, the studio's philosophy of documentary as social inquiry, and how they decide which stories to tell
- Yvonne Welbon on building Sisters in Cinema from a grad school research project into a physical home for Black women filmmakers in South Shore
- Cam Be on his process, his fellowship with Kartemquin, and his new PBS documentary Joffrey Ballet: The Next Movement
- Arlieta Hall on Finding Your Laughter, her film about caregiving through her father's and mother's Alzheimer's, and balancing comedy, storytelling, and heart
All four guests on a funding climate where the Civil Rights Act of 1866 is being weaponized against race-conscious programs, and why community, not isolation, is what keeps filmmakers going
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