QUEST

A North Philadelphia family’s 10-year journey is an illumination of race and class in America, a testament to love, healing, and hope.

Film Signature Image
Series
POV
Premiere Date
June 18, 2018
Length
90 minutes
Funding Initiative
Open Call
  • Nominated laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    2018 News and Documentary Emmy Awards-Outstanding Social Issue Documentary
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    2018 News and Documentary Emmy Awards-Best Documentary
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    2018 Peabody Awards-George Foster Peabody Award
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    2017 Cinema Eye Honors-Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
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    2017 Cinema Eye Honors-Outstanding Achievement in Editing
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    2017 Cinema Eye Honors-Audience Choice Prize
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    2017 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival-Grand Jury Prize
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    2017 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival-Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights
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    2018 Independent Spirit Awards-Best Documentary
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    2018 Independent Spirit Awards-Jeep Truer Than Fiction Award
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    Jonathan Olshefski
    Director

    Jonathan Olshefski

    Jonathan Olshefski is an artist and documentary filmmaker. QUEST is his first feature-length documentary. Olshefski strives to tell intimate and nuanced stories that honor his subjects’ complexity by employing a production process that emphasizes collaboration, dialogue, and relationship. Jonathan lives in Philadelphia and is an Associate… Show more Professor at Rowan University where he teaches in the department of Radio, TV, and Film. Show less

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    Sabrina Schmidt Gordon
    Producer

    Sabrina Schmidt Gordon

    Sabrina Schmidt Gordon is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. She is the co-director, producer, and the editor of BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez, winner of Best Film Directed by a Woman of Color at 2015's African Diaspora International Film Festival. Sabrina is also the co-producer and editor of Documented, the story of Pulitzer Prize-winning… Show more undocumented journalist Jose Antonio Vargas and Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes (Independent Lens, 2007), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and made the Chicago Tribune’s “Best Documentaries of 2007." Sabrina teaches documentary filmmaking at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and is Co-Chair of the Black Documentary Collective (BDC). Show less

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    The Film

    Filmed with vérité intimacy for over a decade, QUEST is the moving portrait of a family in North Philadelphia. Christopher "Quest" Rainey, along with his wife Christine'a, aka "Ma Quest," open the door to their home music studio, which serves as a creative sanctuary from the strife that grips their neighborhood. Over the years, the family evolves as everyday life brings a mix of joy and unexpected crisis. Set against the backdrop of a country now in turmoil, QUEST is a tender depiction of an American family whose journey is a profound testament to love, healing, and hope.

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