Oracle and Rebuild Foundation present

HOOP DREAMS SHORTS

an evening of short films from the production team of the acclaimed 1994 documentary + a screening of Hoop Dreams at Black Cinema House.

Hoop Dreams Shorts screening
March 31, April 1 & 2 at 8PM
Oracle Theatre | 3809 N. Broadway, Chicago
Selected evenings will feature Q&As with the filmmakers, Arthur Agee, and more!
Reserve Your Seats Now

Hoop Dreams screening
April 3 at 4PM
Black Cinema House | 7200 S. Kimbark, Chicago
Screening followed by Q&A with Arthur Agee
Reserve Your Seats Now

Admission is FREE in Public Access Theatre™
Reservations are strongly recommended.
All performances at Oracle are wheelchair accessible.
The screening of  Hoop Dreams at Black Cinema House will be presented with Open Captioning.

Proceeds from these screenings will benefit Goldie’s Place, an amazing support center for people who are homeless. Visit goldiesplace.org to learn more.

Oracle Productions and Rebuild Foundation’s Black Cinema Houseare thrilled to present vital new work from the creative team that brought audiences across the globe this seminal classic. Screenings taking place on March 31, April 1 and 2 at Oracle Theatre (3809 N. Broadway, Chicago) will include short films from Hoop Dreams’ own Frederick Marx, Susanne Suffredin, Peter Gilbert, and Leo Gilbert, with work featuring the likes of Hoop Dreams subjects William Gates and Arthur Agee as well as Drinking Buddies director Joe Swanberg. In addition, Oracle and Black Cinema House will host a screening of Hoop Dreams on April 3 at Black Cinema House (7200 S. Kimbark, Chicago). Arthur Agee and Susanne Suffredin will join us for talkbacks following the films on select evenings. We are delighted to showcase the craft of incredible local filmmakers telling essential stories connected to our Chicago community.

Screenings at Oracle Theatre will feature:

(Location: 3809 N. Broadway, Chicago)

“Rites of Passage”
Frederick Marx, the Academy Award-nominated editor and producer of Hoop Dreams, presents this mixed media short documentary about the importance of modern day rites of passage for teenagers transitioning into adulthood.

“Higher Goals”
An educational companion piece to Hoop Dreams, Higher Goals features NBA star Isiah Thomas in a fast-paced, entertaining PBS special that encourages young athletes to put their dreams of professional sports in perspective and focus on getting an education. The film also features Hoop Dreams subject William Gates and long time Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Meadows.

Excerpts from @home
Hoop Dreams production manager and editor Susanne Suffredin helms this documentary about one man’s journey to create more aggressive awareness of American homelessness using social media to document testimonials from the homeless themselves. Produced by the Kindling Group.

“Journeyman”
Leo Gilbert, NYU film student and son of Hoop Dreams producer/cinematographer Peter Gilbert, presents this short narrative about an aging NBA star struggling to return to the court or stay with his family. Starring Hoop Dreams subject Arthur Agee and acclaimed independent filmmaker Joe Swanberg.

Screening at Black Cinema House will feature:

(Location: 7200 S. Kimbark, Chicago)

Hoop Dreams
First exhibited at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the audience award for best documentary, Kartemquin’s Hoop Dreams is the remarkable true story of two American dreamers; an intimate reflection of contemporary American inner-city culture, following two ordinary young men on the courts of the game they love. This screening is presented with permission from Kartemquin Films.

Filmmaker biographies:

Steve James (director Hoop Dreams and “Higher Goals”)
Steve James’ affiliation with Kartemquin began in 1987 with the start of production of Hoop Dreams, for which he served as director, producer, and co-editor. He has since then become one of the most acclaimed documentary makers of his generation, with noted works being Stevie,The New Americans,The War Tapes, At the Death House Door, The Interrupters, and most recently, Life Itself.

Peter Gilbert (producer, director of photography, Hoop Dreams)
Peter Gilbert is one of the filmmakers who made Hoop Dreams, serving as a Producer and Director of Photography. The film won numerous awards including The Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, Producers Guild of America, Independent Spirit Award, and The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for Journalism. Hoop Dreams was on 100+ top ten lists for 1994. Also with Kartemquin and Steve James, he recently finished At the Death House Door which premiered at South by Southwest in 2008, and won awards at several other festivals following, including the inspiration award at Full Frame. It aired on the Independent Film Channel in May of 2008.

Frederick Marx (producer, editor Hoop Dreams; director “Rites of Passage”)
Frederick Marx is an internationally acclaimed, Oscar and Emmy nominated director/writer with 40 years in the film business. He was named a Chicago Tribune Artist of the Year for 1994, a 1995 Guggenheim Fellow, and a recipient of a Robert F. Kennedy Special Achievement Award. Utne Reader named it one of 150 of humanity’s “essential works,” and the Library of Congress recently added it to its prestigious National Film Registry. Hoop Dreams (1994) is the film that first interested Marx in the welfare of teenage boys. Boys to Men? (2004) distributed by Media Education Foundation takes that as its central theme.Boys Become Men, now in production, is the sequel, pinpointing initiation and mentorship as the solutions to the problems teen boys face. In 1993, Marx received an Emmy nomination for Higher Goals(1992) for Best Daytime Children’s Special. Producer, Director, and Writer for this national PBS Special, Marx directed Tim Meadows of Saturday Night Live fame. Accompanied by a curriculum guide, the program was later distributed for free to over 4,200 inner city schools nationwide. The Unspoken (1999), Marx’s first feature film, features stellar performances from Russian star Sergei Shnirev of the famed Moscow Art Theatre, and acclaimed stage and screen actor Harry Lennix.

Susanne Suffredin (Post Production Supervisor Hoop Dreams; director “@home”)
Susanne Suffredin has distinguished herself in the fields of both production and post-production for numerous award-winning feature length dramatic and documentary films. Drawn to the power of documentary storytelling, Susanne worked at Kartemquin Films on a number of projects, most notably 5 Girls as Contributing Producer and Editor, on the Academy Award nominated Hoop Dreams as Post-Production Supervisor, and Co-Editor for the Emmy nominated companion piece Higher Goals. Her recent producing and editing credits for Kindling Group include Do No Harm and A Doula Story, as well as Series Editor and Co-Producer for The Calling. Dramatic editing credits include The Rest of Your Life(Possessed Pictures) and Prefontaine (Hollywood Pictures). Susanne just finished directing Kindling Group’s newest feature, @home.

Leo J Gilbert (LJG) (Creator and director of “Journeyman“)
Leo J Gilbert is a filmmaker from Chicago. He is a recent graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and his thesis film Journeyman has played at several festivals. In the future, he hopes to be able to tell all kinds of stories about the people of Chicago.

About Kartemquin Films

Kartemquin is a collaborative center for documentary media makers who seek to foster a more engaged and empowered society. In 2016 Kartemquin will celebrate 50 years of sparking democracy through documentary.

A revered resource within the film community on issues of fair use, ethics, story and civic discourse, Kartemquin is internationally recognized for crafting quality documentaries backed by audience and community engagement strategies, and for its innovative media arts community programs. The organization has won every major critical and journalistic prize, including multiple Emmy, Peabody, duPont-Columbia and Robert F. Kennedy journalism awards, Independent Spirit, IDA, PGA and DGA awards, and an Oscar nomination.

Kartemquin is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization based in Chicago.

Kartemquin Films celebrates its 50th anniversary, and a legacy in Chicago and beyond, and looks forward to another 50 years of innovative and impactful work. Several organizations in Chicago and around the country will host a series of screenings and events to celebrate Kartemquin’s work, and the power of documentary to inspire action. Read the press release.

A complete listing of the year’s events will be regularly updated at www.kartemquin.com/ktq50. Join the conversation on Twitter by using #KTQ50.

About Black Cinema House

Black Cinema House is a program of Rebuild Foundation, a not-for-profit creative engine focused on cultural-driven redevelopment and affordable space initiatives in under-resourced communities. Rebuild Foundation was formed by renowned Chicago artist, Theaster Gates.

Black Cinema House hosts screenings and discussions of films by and about people of the African diaspora,  and offers video classes to neighborhood youth, teaching the next generation to make their own films and tell their own stories.

All screenings at Black Cinema House are free of charge.