At Tribeca All Access with ITVS Vice President of Programming Claire Aguilar

The Tribeca Film Festival was founded as a response to the events of 9/11 to help Lower Manhattan recover after the tragedy and to celebrate the vitality and diversity of New York City through filmmaking. Tribeca All Access has been an integral part of the film festival and has supported relationships between filmmakers from underrepresented communities and film industry executives. Read about ITVS’s involvement with Tribeca All Access from ITVS vice president of programming Claire Aguilar.

ITVS vice president of programming Claire Aguilar.

ITVS-funded filmmakers Marco Williams and Hugo Perez.

ITVS has been involved with Tribeca All Access (TAA) since its beginning in 2004, and we continue to appreciate and rely on it as a resource for exciting projects from filmmakers of color. TAA elicits a vibrant atmosphere every year, not only because of the excellent quality projects in development, but also because of Tribeca’s commitment to diversity. So amid the glamour and excitement of Tribeca Film Festival––the festival’s opening film was Woody Allen’s Whatever Works––there was the simultaneous excitement of 31TAA filmmakers excitedly pitching their films in development.

This year I met with new documentary producers who were part of Tribeca All Access, but the group also included many ITVS-supported producers. The three days of meetings take the form of 30-minute one-on-ones with the producing team, and I was able to meet with all nine documentary project teams. TAA also supports narrative projects, but because of limited time I only met with docs this time. For six years, TAA has been fostering these producers not only with setting up these initial development meetings with them, but continuing to support the TAA “alumni” with year-round support, often culminating in screening the finished film at the festival.

There are a myriad of connections between the TAA producers and ITVS. Not only does TAA provide the genesis of a future project and relationship, but it can branch off in many different ways. ITVS-funded producer Nicole Opper pitched her film OFF AND RUNNING: A Very American Coming of Age Story at TAA in 2008 and it is premiering at this year’s festival. Another ITVS-funded filmmaker, Marco Williams, received development support for his documentary The Immigration Project, and was selected at this year’s TAA to meet with industry. Hugo Perez, selected to pitch at TAA for his narrative project, Immaculate Conception. He has been working with ITVS on a screenplay of a short fiction online film called Seed, as well as a documentary completed last year, SUMMER SUN WINTER MOON. And producer Phil Bertelsen, also selected to pitch at TAA for his narrative project Ghost Days with producer Tanya Hamilton, has been awarded development funding for his documentary on Black Hollywood, Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams. Jason DaSilva, who was awarded ITVS funding early this year for his documentary WHEN I WALK presented his film about living with multiple sclerosis. Accompanied by his brother/co-producer Leigh DaSilva, Jason spoke about his project and the blogging and behind-the-scenes online films that will be part of the project.

-Claire
ITVS vice president of programming

Tags: film festival, Tribeca All Access

Podcast Interview with Vice President and Indie Lens Series Producer

Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard has been host of Independent Lens for the past three seasons. Find out how he was selected as host, his long-time interest in PBS and more about the series history in the latest except from the podcast interview with Lois Vossen, vice president and series producer

Over the next several months, be sure to check out the blog to hear more excerpts and learn about the series and public media.

Download the interview on iTunes for free (TRT: 2:30) >>

Tags: film resources, independent film, Terrence Howard

Recent Talkback About Independent Lens This Month

Always thought-provoking, sometimes controversial, Independent Lens brings you documentaries, dramas, shorts and Web-exclusive projects made by independent thinkers. Check out some of the recent Talkback.

TAKING ROOT:
The Vision of Wangari Maathai

“I have never felt such pride in my entire 36 years of life. I felt that this incredible story should be required viewing for children in all the world schools. To think that someone so unassuming and undervalued in that particular society, was capable of effecting such an epic change. Thank you PBS, for bringing this story to television. My 10 year old is getting a valued lesson in life from watching these programs with me.”
Posted by: Eurica on April 17, 2009

“I watched this beautiful, hope-inspiring, powerful story sitting upright on my bed with tears streaming down my face. It made me want to go out and start a grassroots women’s movement… It is just what we need. To use planting of trees and women as a spiritual focal point of the earths renewal, healing and protection; symbolically translating into personal renewal and healing, spreading to families, groups, communities and national pride.”
Posted by: Kathy Struewing on April 21, 2009

“This story is just what the world should be aware of at this time of economic, social, and political chaos. Keeping focus on what really matters in life is what this story teaches us.”
Posted by: Malia Cross on April 20, 2009

View more Talkback and submit your own for TAKING ROOT >>

RECYCLE:

“So much of our visual references to Muslims have come in disjointed clips on the evening news… I truly felt I was walking along beside this man and I so wanted to shake his hand and look him in the eye by the end of this film.”
Posted by: Harry Garvin on April 16, 2009

“At many instances the movie brought tears to my eyes. I think this story is presented more from a humanitarian perspective rather than religious conventions or beliefs. I am glad that, finally a movie such as this one was able to shed some light on the lives of people living that part of the world who are merely seeking to survive peacefully.”
Posted by: Raed on April 2, 2009

View more Talkback and submit your own for RECYCLE >>

Tags: Africa, environmental, Jordan, Mujahideen

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

Host Amy Goodman speaks with Wangari Maathai about the Independent Lens film TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai.
Listen to the interview >>

“AT HOME IN UTOPIA a documentary by Michal Goldman, that will air on PBS’s Independent Lens, tells the story of the United Workers Cooperative Colony in the Bronx.”
Read more >>

Host Marc Steiner speaks with Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangaria Maathai about TAKING ROOT.
Listen to the interview >>

“Community Cinema screening: TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai tells the story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement.”
Read more >>

Tags: Africa, Bronx, environmental

At NALIP with ITVS Production Manager Jorge Trelles

Over the weekend, ITVS Production Manager Jorge Trelles attended the annual National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) conference. Read about his experience and about how Latinos are making a difference in media.

Carlos Sandoval, producer of A CLASS APART, Jorge Trelles, ITVS production manager, and Bernardo Ruiz, producer of American Experience’s ROBERTO CLEMENTE and Board Member of NALIP.

Juan Mandelbaum, producer of OUR DISAPPEARED, Natalia Almada, producer of EL GENERAL, and Simon Kilmurry, executive director of P.O.V., discuss creative and financial strategies for their documentaries.

As I landed into John Wayne airport in Orange County, CA, I knew this year’s National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) conference promised to be one for the books.

This year celebrated the 10-year anniversary of this great organization, which has done so much to provide not only a voice, but a megaphone for Latinos in the media. The combination of documentary filmmakers, new media producers, narrative producers, funders, studio executives and everything in between delivered what it had promised––a celebration of a decade of influence.

During an uplifting keynote address, Luis Valdez, founder of El Teatro Campesino, gave some background on the history of Latinos in media to remind everyone about our righteous place in society, as the original Americans, and as the future of the national media.

Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS, took time to recognize the valuable contributions of Latino producers, past and present, and also addressed PBS’s strategy to increase minority presence throughout the organization as well as representation on the board and management.

Our very own ITVS-funded producers also contributed to the energy of the conference. Natalia Almada, producer of EL GENERAL, and Juan Mandelbaum, producer of OUR DISAPPEARED/NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS shared a panel facilitated by P.O.V.’s Simon Kilmurry. This case study traced the creative and business journeys of these films that tell stories of the Latino diaspora.

On the new media developments, the conference had sessions about some of the most successful multi-platform projects online today. Douglas Cheney, co-founder of Big Fantastic, and Eric Escobar of Kontent Films showed their immediate audience feedback models, the development of fictional social platform profiles of their narrative characters, as well as their “concept placement” model as a funding tool. Manuel Garcia-Durán, chairman and CEO of mio.tv, described the success of the “comunitainment” model, the idea of combining social media with original content, which has placed mio.tv as one of the few profitable online portals today.

But for me, one of the greatest highlights came from the “What’s Going On? Meeting Today’s Challenges” panel facilitated by Frances Negrón-Muntaner, co-chair of NALIP. In this panel, we received a number of rating statistics from Cindi Smith of Nielsen Entertainment, which reinforced that at 13 percent of the American population, Latinos are the biggest consumers group of media today. Ligiah Villalobos, writer of LA MISMA LUNA, described how the trends of today’s market point at international plot lines as some of the hottest commodities.

It was Juan Gonzáles, columnist of the New York Daily News and co-host of Democracy Now! that reminded everyone “it’s the pipe, stupid!” It is the federally funded media pipelines that have brought on revolutionary changes that have re-shaped the way we communicate with each other (from the postal systems to the telegraph to the radio to TV to the Internet and satellite). On that note, Mark Lloyd, vice president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, spoke about the fact that there is $7.2 billion today that has been allocated by the Obama Administration, to fund broadband installations on the communities that need it the most. He reminded us that it was “brown” who helped to get “black” into the White House, and it was now time for “brown” to reap the benefits from that political power. He reminded us that a decade of influence was not enough. It is time for the next decade to be the decade of real power.

Well said.

-Jorge
Production Manager, ITVS

Tags: Latino, NALIP

TAKING ROOT Video Modules Available

ITVS is proud to present COMMUNITY CLASSROOM lesson plans and video modules for TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, which tells the story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a global movement.

Classroom activities and homework assignments examine how environmental issues such as deforestation are intricately linked to many other social issues, and how organizations such as the Green Belt Movement mobilize citizens to take action.

Standards aligned lesson plans are directed toward grades 9 through 12, and college students for use in the following subject areas: social studies, environmental studies, political science, women’s studies, international studies, world history, government and civics.

Watch video modules and download lesson plans >>

Tags: Africa, environmental, Wangari Maathai, women

GOODBYE SOLO Filmmaker Wins Fellowship

Congratulations to Ramin Bahrani for being selected to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship, which are given to individuals with exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.

Be sure to tune into Charlie Rose next week to watch Ramin discuss his upcoming ITVS film GOODBYE SOLO, which looks at Solo, a friendly Senegalese taxi driver in Winston-Salem, North Carolina who is hired by an elderly Caucasian man named William to drive him in two weeks time to a mountaintop where he plans to commit suicide.

The film currently is playing across the country and will have its premiere in San Francisco this Friday, April 17, at the Clay Theater. Meet Ramin Bahrani in person at the bay area screenings.

Find more information about this screening and others >>

Tags: Charlie Rose, film screenings

One Take Online Global Video Competition

ITVS and the University of Miami invite you to participate in One Take, an online global video competition that encourages participants to submit a video monologue responding to the question: “Is access to clean, safe water for drinking a basic human right? Why? or Why not?”

Grand Prize is $500 USD
Runner-up Prize $300 USD
Special prize of $300 USD – for the entry that is correctly subtitled in the most number of languages.

The competition will be open until June 15, 2009 and prizes will be announced on September 15, 2009.

Find out more information and submit your video response >>

Tags: environmental, video contest, water

Watch TAKING ROOT Tonight on Independent Lens

How does the simple act of planting trees lead to winning the Nobel Peace Prize? Ask Wangari Maathai of Kenya. In 1977, she suggested rural women plant trees to address problems stemming from a degraded environment. Under her leadership, their tree-planting grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, defend human rights and promote democracy and brought Maathai the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.

“Lisa Merton and Alan Dater’s Kenyan TAKING ROOT… attests to the seismic changes wrought by women of different religions and ethnicities working together. [A] Lucid, lovingly crafted pic, which won the audience award at Hot Docs,” Daily Variety

Check out the trailer below:

TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai airs tonight at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings)

Tags: Africa, environmental, women

BANISHED Wins Erik Barnouw Award

Marco Williams and Strickland family descendant Dorothy Pemberton from the Erik Barnouw Award-winning film BANISHED.

BANISHED, by Marco Williams, recently was awarded an Erik Barnouw Award, which recognizes outstanding reporting and programming on television or in documentary film that is concerned with American history.

From the 1860s to the 1920s, dozens of towns and counties across America violently expelled entire African American communities, forcing thousands of black families to flee their homes. A century later, these towns remain all white. BANISHED tells the story of three of these communities and their black descendants, who return to learn shocking histories.

BANISHED aired last season of Independent Lens and is a co-production of ITVS, Two Tone Productions, the Center for Investigative Reporting and the National Black Programming Consortium, with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Tags: African American, Human Rights, social justice