American Cinematographer - April 1996 - 104

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something in-house. We can put
out basically a broadcast-quality
picture. We no longer have to go to
any of those expensive postpro¬
duction houses for most things. Of
course, we pay the price in terms of
equipment these days, compared
with [the cost of] a couple of cam¬
eras and an
editing machine."
Returning to their most
visible production, 1 ask why Hoop
Dreams

was

such

a

hit. What

was

it

that touched both audiences and
critics alike?

"My feeling is that it basi¬
cally said to America, 'There's
some
hope/" Quinn reflects. "It's a
very positive story. It's a view of
inner-city life that just isn't shown.
All kinds of elements

they're in

are

in it,

but

proportion and
foreground. There's

a proper

not in the

crime and

fear, but there

are

also

birthday parties and homework.
"But early on, we really
had a lot of trouble raising money.
We'd be talking to someone, and
they'd say, 'Well, I don't know.
There isn't much of a story there.'
Someone

even

said, 'Now, if some¬

thing really bad happened to those
kids, then you've got a story.' Not
only was that horrifyingly coldhearted and
but

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crass

and all of that,

dramatically, in terms of

what's emotional and what will
make people go into a theater, he
was dead wrong."
Asked what was going

through his mind that disappoint¬
ing February morning the Oscar
nominations were announced,
Quinn hesitates. "You know, we
had gotten so much attention. We
knew we had a great film, but we

just didn't think it had that kind of
commercial potential. We had been
so knocked out
by everything that
was
happening, we weren't crushed
by the Academy thing or anything
like that.
"What was unfortunate
that it was another slap in the
face at the documentary in general.
It's the one category that seems to
attract all the lightning. You know,
was

there

was a big scandal the
year
Roger & Me and The Thin Blue Line
didn't get nominated. It detracts

from the films that

are

"Of course,

Hoop Dreams
bought the publicity
got by not being nominated,"

couldn't have
it

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nominated.

says

Blumenthal.

April 1996

Director James agrees.
"The only thing better for our film
would have been to be nominated
for Best Picture. The second best

thing that could have happened
the snub."

was

Kartemquin's current and
forthcoming productions include
two documentaries with

Peter Gilbert: The New

James and
Americans, in

which

they'll follow immigrants
or four
years from their
country of origin to the United
over

three

States, and Stevie, in which James
reconnects with a boy to whom he
was a

Big Brother while in college.
Also

on

the books

are

Sweet Dreams, America, a longitudi¬
nal study of urban redevelop¬
ment on

Chicago's West Side,
Bridges & Boundaries: Chicago
Crossings, a look at the relationship

and

of African-Americans and Ameri¬
can

Jews

over

the last century.

"Sweet Dreams evolved
out

of

our

connection Austin

com¬

munity groups, which were trying
to organize a campaign to stop the
Brach candy company from closing
its stores and moving its operations
south," says Blumenthal. "It has
possibilities of following a bunch
of very human stories over a long
period of time, as well as telling a
story with broad social implica¬
tions. We've begun with some ini¬
tial money from the MacArthur
Foundation, and we hope it will
end up on public television."
"This is a very good ex¬
ample of something that's very
high-risk," says Quinn. "You
know, it's very hard to make
people see what the final story will
look like. It's hard to describe. [Our
idea is to] follow some of these
characters and

see

what stories

emerge from this process.
don't know what's going to

You
hap¬

and it's very hard to get
people on board for something
where they don't see the payoff."
Quinn pauses, then
smiles. "But I think people forget
that when Hoop Dreams started, it
was real
high-risk. No one knew
what the story would be. And yet
the story we wound up with
pen,

moved

a

lot of hearts."
American Cinematographer - April 1996

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