Peter Kuttner is a Chicago filmmaker, activist, and cameraman. He is
known for his early socially-conscious documentary films that touch on
topics such as opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam
War, gentrification of Chicago, racism, and social class. He produced
many of these with the film collective Kartemquin Films, of which he
was an original member. He is best known for his work on the film The
End of the Nightstick (1993) with Cindi Moran and Eric Scholl, which
documented police brutality in Chicago and torture allegations against
commander Jon Burge. Kuttner has worked extensively in activism and
community service, and was a founding member of activist group Rising
Up Angry. Kuttner has worked with many collaborators including
Kartemquin Collective founder Gordon Quinn, and filmmakers Haskell
Wexler and Robert Kramer. He is also known for camera work on a number
of major motion pictures including Man of Steel and Source
Code.Kuttner grew up in a middle-class neighborhood and attended
public school near Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. He attended
college at Northwestern University, where he created the film Cause
Without a Rebel (1965), a short documentary film about student
political complacency on the Northwestern Campus. Kuttner graduated
from Northwestern that same year in 1965.After graduation, Kuttner
joined the War On Poverty Pre-College Film Workshop program. During
this time he taught and collaborated with African-American students
from Dillard University in New Orleans on the films Tackle is a
Girl’s Best Friend (1965) and Mary Had a Little Lamb (1965).In 1966
Kuttner was hired as a director at Chicago Television Station WTTW
(Window to the World), a station that would eventually be owned by
PBS. It was here that a visiting crew introduced Kuttner to the
Cinéma vérité style of documentary filmmaking. There he made a
small number of shows including the arts series "Facets".
known for his early socially-conscious documentary films that touch on
topics such as opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam
War, gentrification of Chicago, racism, and social class. He produced
many of these with the film collective Kartemquin Films, of which he
was an original member. He is best known for his work on the film The
End of the Nightstick (1993) with Cindi Moran and Eric Scholl, which
documented police brutality in Chicago and torture allegations against
commander Jon Burge. Kuttner has worked extensively in activism and
community service, and was a founding member of activist group Rising
Up Angry. Kuttner has worked with many collaborators including
Kartemquin Collective founder Gordon Quinn, and filmmakers Haskell
Wexler and Robert Kramer. He is also known for camera work on a number
of major motion pictures including Man of Steel and Source
Code.Kuttner grew up in a middle-class neighborhood and attended
public school near Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. He attended
college at Northwestern University, where he created the film Cause
Without a Rebel (1965), a short documentary film about student
political complacency on the Northwestern Campus. Kuttner graduated
from Northwestern that same year in 1965.After graduation, Kuttner
joined the War On Poverty Pre-College Film Workshop program. During
this time he taught and collaborated with African-American students
from Dillard University in New Orleans on the films Tackle is a
Girl’s Best Friend (1965) and Mary Had a Little Lamb (1965).In 1966
Kuttner was hired as a director at Chicago Television Station WTTW
(Window to the World), a station that would eventually be owned by
PBS. It was here that a visiting crew introduced Kuttner to the
Cinéma vérité style of documentary filmmaking. There he made a
small number of shows including the arts series "Facets".
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