Full Frame 2016 will host world premiere of Kartemquin’s 'Raising Bertie'

Kartemquin and Full Frame Documentary Fest have announced that the Chicago doc collective will debut its latest work Raising Bertie at this year's film festival. The world premiere is scheduled for April 9, 2016 at the Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham.

Kartemquin Films, Chicago's award-winning documentary collective, is well known in Durham thanks to previous docs they have screened at Full Frame. Basketball centered Hoop Dreams, a Kartemquin film by Steve James, celebrated its 20th anniversary at Full Frame with special programming in 2014. The same year, Full Frame included a special tribute to James, screening several of his films with Kartemquin, including The Interrupters and At the Death House Door, both award-winners at the Durham fest.

Filmmaker Margaret Byrne

Raising Bertie, director Margaret Byrne's debut documentary, was filmed over a period of six years in Bertie County, a rural community in eastern North Carolina. It follows the lives of three African American boys as they grow into adulthood, dealing with issues that include generational poverty, educational inequity, and race.

Bud

Set in Bertie County, a rural African American-led community, the film takes the viewer deep into the emotional lives of three young boys - Reginald "Junior" Askew, David "Bud" Perry, and Davonte "Dada" Harrell - as they face a number of challenges over six years as they grow into adults. All three will attend the world premiere.

Dada

Byrne, a single mother, largely self-financed the film, with partial funding from the MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the Durham-based Southern Documentary Fund, along with support from IFP and Good Pitch Chicago.

Junior

"This film has been a labor of love. Over the last seven years, we have maintained close, trusting relationships with each family in the film. I love them and am honored that they trusted me, gave me an unfiltered window into their lives, and believed what we were doing was important," said director Margaret Byrne. "The individuals in this story are representative of their community and they matter. I'm so thrilled to be showing the film for the very first time in public at Full Frame."

Bertie County

"We always knew we had to premiere this film at Full Frame, a festival with which we have held a long and fond association over many years, and which is adept at facilitating the type of nuanced and multifaceted conversation Raising Bertie will generate here, and throughout the 2016 election year and beyond," said Gordon Quinn, an Executive Producer on the film and Artistic Director of Kartemquin Films.

"Raising Bertie challenges us to see the value in lives too often ignored."

For more information on screenings and tickets to Full Frame, coming up April 7-10, 2016, visit the Full Frame website.