"A Good Man" (2011) - Kartemquin Films
“A Good Man” (2011) – Kartemquin Films

From today, Friday, September 2, until next week Friday, September 9th, the Kartemquin Film’s feature documentary “A Good Man” – which follows renowned director/choreographer Bill T. Jones (“FELA!”) as he and his company develop an original dance-theater piece in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s Bicentennial – will be available to watch for FREE on the company’s website.




This move is part of a major retrospective celebration of the not-for-profit documentary collective (Kartemquin Films), which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, as films from its astounding library are screened theatrically (most recently at the Museum of the Moving Image in NYC), and select titles released online a-week-at-time, for FREE viewing.

Through two tumultuous years, in “A Good Man,” audiences will “witness both raw moments of frustration as Jones struggles to communicate his vision to dancers and collaborators, as well as moments of great exhilaration when movement transcends the limitation of words. Jones and his company come face to face with America’s unresolved contradictions about race, equality and the legacy of our 16th President. Initially an indictment of The Great Emancipator, the work evolves into a triumph of hope for our struggling democracy, with Jones revealing that Lincoln was ‘the only white man I was allowed to love unconditionally’… ‘A Good Man’ is a window into the creative process and, indeed, the creative crisis of one of our nation’s most enduring, provocative artists as he explores what it means to be a good man, to be a free man, and to be a citizen.”

The film had its world premiere at the Full Frame International Documentary Festival in 2011, and was an official selection at the SilverDocs Film Festival, the Southern Circuit Film Festival and the DOXA Film Festival.

A Good Man is a co-production of Kartemquin Films, AMERICAN MASTERS, Independent Television Service (ITVS) and Media Process Group, in association with Ravinia Festival.

Watch a preview of the film below, and head over to Kartemquin’s website to watch the rest.