American Cinematographer - April 2016 - 68

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Gordon Quinn (co-founder of
documentary-production company
Kartemquin Films): I first met Haskell
when he came by Kartemquin's first
studio in the old Hyde Park Bank
Building in the late Sixties. We were just
starting out and had a vision for what
we wanted to do, but we were pretty
much taking whatever jobs came along.
Haskell told us that it was best to make
money selling our skills - camera,
sound, editing - and honing them on
other people's dimes. 'Keep your eye on
your vision,' he told us, 'and don't be
distracted by competing for work you
don't care about.'
Over the years I'd see Haskell
from time to time at demonstrations,
events and festivals, and an occasional
visit to Kartemquin. He was always
fighting for something: within our
camera union, for the safety of his fellow
workers, and for democracy and transparency within our organization; in the
country, for civil rights; and in the
world, for basic human rights for all.
His documentaries and the features he
directed were all part of the struggle. He
was a risk-taker both in the stances he
took and, creatively, in how he told
stories.
Peter Gilbert (documentarian):
Like many young filmmakers, I moved
out to L.A. to pursue my dream to be a
cinematographer. I ended up working at
Fox as an errand boy for a group of
producers, and after a couple of months
they asked me what I wanted to do. I
told them I was a cameraperson; they
told me they would try to help me out.
A week later I received a phone call
from Haskell. I was 22 years old and
idolized him. Medium Cool was one of
the films that inspired me to dream of
making films. He asked me if I knew
how to load Éclair cameras. I said yes,
and he asked me to work with him the
next day on a documentary for a band.
When I got to the location, I
realized that I was the only loader for
four different types of cameras. I was so
over my head. At one point I was almost
in tears working in a changing bag.
68

April 2016

Four Voices in Chicago

Haskell took over for me, telling me not to
worry: 'It will all be fine.' In the back of my
head, I was thinking, 'I will never work
again.' And more importantly, I screwed
up working with Haskell, whom I desperately wanted as a mentor. I went home an
emotional mess.
The next day I got a call from
Haskell. He asked me to come over to his
house and show him my work. With great
trepidation I went over to meet him. He
was amazing. We spoke for hours. He
asked me what I truly wanted to do. I told
him that I just wanted to make films that
had some social meaning, but that I also
loved to photograph the world - I loved
everything about making images. He
looked at me and said, 'Go back home to
Chicago. Buy a camera and shoot! Make
films!' He told me not to worry about what
others are doing, but that if I just kept
shooting and making films that it would
all work out. I took his advice. I went
home and bought a camera. I began my
journey with Kartemquin Films in
Chicago. I sent him my work all the time,
and he would send me critiques - always
gentle but spot on.
After I had the privilege of working
with Barbara Kopple on American Dream,
Haskell sent me a note that, to this day, I
look at when I'm feeling down. It said, 'I
told you it would work out.'
Suree Towfighnia (producer on
Four Days in Chicago): In the winter of
2012, I called Haskell to talk about the
NATO summit coming to Chicago and
the counter summit organized by groups
of progressives, veterans and Occupy
Chicago. The week would culminate with
a march through downtown to the NATO
meeting, with dozens of veterans 'returning' their medals by throwing them back
to NATO. Haskell percolated on what
story to tell.
Four Days in Chicago is told from a
specific moment in time and place, a documentation of what mainstream media
often presents as the 'other.' Roaming the
streets that week with Haskell was a
dream for me, sharing time with one of the
most talented and compassionate souls I
know, with a camera in my hand and a lav
American Cinematographer

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on him. He would pause and be visibly
impacted by the loss of rights and
economic opportunities, and the tragic
realities that people shared with him -
stories that were deeply American, yet
were being lost in the big media hype of
the day. 'This is not about politics,' he once
told me. 'This is about a system that's failing us.'
Haskell had the instinct to know
when to film and when to be present. He
never stopped being curious and fighting
for the right thing. There's a huge space to
fill when it comes to using our cinematography power for good - as [filmmaker]
Andy Davis said, '93 on, never off.'
Haskell continued until the very end to
speak up for what mattered, and he saw
his role of 'celebrity' as one that could help
influence for the better.
Peter Kuttner (filmmaker):
Haskell had rounded up three generations
of filmmakers to work with him on the
day of the march [depicted in Four Days in
Chicago]. It began in Grant Park, appropriately close to the spot in Medium Cool
where an off-camera voice famously
shouts, 'Look out Haskell! It's real!' as a
tear-gas canister goes off close to the lens.
As the marchers moved forward, the
cameras split up, and the next time I saw
Haskell was just after the Afghanistan and
Iraq war vets had thrown their service
medals over the fence toward the
temporarily fortified lakefront building
housing NATO. The Chicago police, now
bolstered by state troopers, started to
surround demonstrators, preparing for
arrests. Haskell, of course, was oblivious to
all of this, wearing, as always, his black ball
cap of invincibility with its blazing-white
'12on12off ' emblem. I could see his lightweight digital camera shooting above the
crowd as I was pushed by police in full riot
gear in another direction.
It wasn't the first time that following Haskell got me into trouble, nor was it
the last, even in the all-too-short time
since the NATO protests. But the trouble
was always of the kind that, in the end,
made the world a better place. So it was
worth it. For that alone, I'd follow him
anywhere.
American Cinematographer - April 2016

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