In celebration of Media Process Group’s 25th anniversary, a retrospective of company’s award-winning and always provocative documentaries were screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center recently, an event MPG’s founder Bob Hercules deemed “a great success.”
Carol Marin MC’d the program, which was divided into segments that covered MPG’s earlier body of work and its present projects and activities.
Special guests were Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina’s parish and the subject of an MPG doc, “Radical Disciple: The Story of Father Pfleger,” and Kartemquin Films’ Gordon Quinn for an excerpt screening of the doc about choreographer Bill T. Jones, the first MPG and Kartemquin production collaboration.
Proceeds from the MPG retrospective went to Jeff McCarter’s Free Spirit Media, which the editor/cameraman and Emmy winning producer founded to share his extensive experience with underserved urban youth.
MPG’s Walker serves on the Free Spirit Media board.
McCarter thanked Hercules, MPG and all those in the documentary film community for embracing the organization. “Media Process Group, Kartemquin and all of the amazing story-tellers who really are in this because of their passion for shining a light on stories that wouldn’t otherwise be told,” he said.
Students from Free Spirit Media recorded interviews in the pre-event reception, asking only two questions: What’s the power of media in the world and what can it do to make the world a better place?
The interviews will be included in a short doc about the power of media for change. “We’re very interested in that because that’s what students are doing every day in the Free Spirit Media program,” McCarter said, “telling their stories and other stories that might not otherwise be told.”
