Milos Stehlik Interviews Filmmaker Steve James

abacus
The documentary film, “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”, follows the Sung family, a Chinese immigrant family and owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York. Courtesy of Kartemquin Films
abacus
The documentary film, “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”, follows the Sung family, a Chinese immigrant family and owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York. Courtesy of Kartemquin Films

Milos Stehlik Interviews Filmmaker Steve James

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The documentary film, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail follows the Sung family, a Chinese immigrant family and owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York. Charged with mortgage fraud, Abacus would become the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges from the 2008 financial crisis. 

WBEZ Film Contributor, Milos Stehlik of Facets, sits down with the director of Abacus, Steve James. He’s best known for the 1994 Academy Award-nominated documentary Hoop Dreams, and most recently Life Itself, the biopic of late film critic Roger Ebert.  Abacus: Small Enough to Jail will screen at the Gene Siskel Film Center, June 16-22, 2017.