Chicago is on the road to the Oscars! This week on Chicago Stories, Mayor Emanuel sat down with local Chicago-based film company Kartemquin Films, which has been making powerful independent films for over 50 years.

Kartemquin Films has just been nominated for not one, but two Academy Awards this year for Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (nominated for Best Documentary), and Edith+Eddie (nominated for Best Short Documentary).

Freshly returned from the Sundance Film Festival, hear from Betsy Steinberg, Executive Director and Tim Horsburgh, Director of Communications and Distribution, as they talk to Mayor Emanuel about Kartemquin Films, one of Chicago’s best-kept secrets.

Founded in 1966 by Gordon Quinn, Jerry Temaner and Stan Karter, Kartemquin has produced over 60 films, winning major critical and journalistic prizes including multiple Emmy, Peabody, and RFK Journalism awards. Kartemquin’s best-known work is the seminal 1995 documentary Hoop Dreams, which chronicled the lives of two aspiring basketball players in inner-city Chicago.

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail is about an Asian American bank based in New York’s Chinatown, the only financial institution to face criminal charges following the housing crisis, but it many ways it’s not about that at all. Its title “Small Enough to Jail” places it directly in the context of the financial crisis. It was directed by Steve James, the director of Hoop Dreams. Edith+Eddie is about America’s oldest interracial newlyweds.

Last year was a record year for film and media production in Chicago. In 2017, eight full-season television series were among the many film and media projects produced in Chicago last year, resulting in an estimated $423 million economic impact.

Listen to this week's Chicago Stories episode on Apple Podcasts here: http://bit.ly/ChiStories Chicago Stories is also available on Spotify and Soundcloud.

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