Liz Kaar
Director
Liz Kaar is an independent director, producer, and editor based in Chicago. She has worked closely with Kartemquin Films, Chicago’s documentary powerhouse, for over a decade. Her editing projects have been honored with a variety of award recognition, including short-listed for the Academy Award, nominated for Emmy and IDA awards, and winning the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism Award.
She recently edited SXSW-premiering documentary The Dilemma of Desire and the festival-favorite short film ‘63 Boycott, directed by Gordon Quinn. She co-directed and edited Hard Earned, a six-part television series for Al Jazeera America about people living on low wages across the United States. She directed, produced, shot and edited Stranded by the State, a web series and TV mini series, co-produced by In These Times magazine and Kartemquin Films, about the human cost of the two-year Illinois budget impasse, the longest a state has gone without a budget since the Great Depression. In the past, she associate-produced and edited the music documentary Andrew Bird: Fever Year, and short film On Beauty. She is currently finishing up two narrative films– producing Computer Hackers, a feature sci-fi comedy, and directing The Turkey, a feature “weirdo” comedy. She is also editing the documentary Any Given Day, a groundbreaking film on people co-existing with mental illness.