Archive for May, 2009
At the Israel Market for International Co-Productions with ITVS Vice President of Programming Claire Aguilar
The 11th Israel Market for International Co-Productions recently concluded. Held in Tel Aviv, the event aims to foster dialogue between Israeli filmmakers and foreign counterparts, offer international audiences new and interesting insight, promote and nurture young talented Israeli Arab and Jewish filmmakers and raise funds for Israeli-foreign co-productions. Read about ITVS Vice President of Programming Claire Aguilar’s experience at this year’s Co-Pro.
The 11th Israel Market for International Co-Productions.
I just participated in the 11th Israel Co-Production Forum in Tel Aviv. It was my fourth time at the Co-Pro and in Israel, and as always it was an inspiring and invigorating experience.
This was a special year for ITVS, where we were honored with a special tribute for films that we produced with Israeli producers as well as films presented by ITVS International through co-productions or acquisition. The tribute to ITVS opened with the film BE LIKE OTHERS, by Tanaz Eshaghian and Peter Wintonick, which explores transsexual counterculture in Iran. This unprecedented film explores the re-assignment of gender in a Muslim country, where sex-sex operations offer a cure for “diagnosed transsexuals.” In Israel, there obviously is interest in Iran on all levels, and this film offered insight into an intimate part of the culture. Nine other films were featured in the ITVS tribute including ON THE BORDERS OF DESPERATION, STORM OF EMOTIONS, YOUNG YAKUZA, PICKLES, INC. and UNMISTAKEN CHILD. These films will tour in cinematheques across Israel.
Ask Programming: Recent Questions from Filmmakers
ITVS programming staff answer questions from filmmakers about the funding process:
Q. I am putting together an application for LINCS. What makes a strong Letter of Agreement?
A. The Letter of Agreement is more than a simple contract between the filmmaker and the public television station. ITVS reviewers read an applicant’s Letter of Agreement as a reflection of the strength of your partnership with the public television station. The terms of this partnership are unique and vary for each production. However, the depth of commitment can be demonstrated in how well you lay out and articulate the obligations of the public television station and the role of the public television representative as well as the obligations of the filmmakers. Similar to your development and articulation of your program treatment, the Letter of Agreement should be one of substance.
For more guidance on crafting a Letter of Agreement >>
Q. Does it help my application if I include letters of support from funders or letters of interest from broadcasters?
A. No, do not waste your efforts in padding your application with letters of interest and support––these do not improve the quality of your application under ITVS review. From our point of view, the development of your idea and the overall quality of your project is apparent in the articulation of your program treatment and the execution of your work-in-progress. For the application, letters of interest and support are extraneous. If you like, you can provide a brief summary (one to two sentences) of your supporters in a paragraph describing the project’s status.
There is only one exception. If you are applying to LINCS, a Letter of Agreement with your partnering public television station is a mandatory part of your application.
Filmmaker Profile: Peter Rosen, GARRISON KEILLOR: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes
Peter Rosen’s career wasn’t always in filmmaking. Shortly after graduating from Cornell University with a degree in architecture, he changed course and decided to pursue his passion––film.
“Once I saw you had to work for some company for about 30 years before they would actually let you design anything, I quit after a year or so,” Rosen says.
Since he was a teenager, Rosen had enjoyed taking still photographs and received several awards for his work. His love of photography led naturally to filmmaking and in college he began making documentaries. Today, he has produced and directed over 100 full-length films and television programs, which have been distributed worldwide and have won awards at many major film festivals.
In 1990, while directing the PBS special Carnegie Hall at 100: A Place of Dreams, Rosen and his production team brought back all the performers who played on the famous stage, including Garrison Keillor, best known for his role as host of the radio program A Prairie Home Companion. At the time, Rosen decided Keillor would be a great subject for a documentary, and 16 years later, he got the chance to make the film.
ITVS International Films now on iTunes
IRANIAN KIDNEY BARGAIN SALE, the first of many ITVS International films launching on iTunes.
Do you enjoy downloading your favorite films online? Check out IRANIAN KIDNEY BARGAIN SALE, the first of many ITVS International shows launching on the iTunes Movie Store, where documentary film fans can now rent or buy the movie at their convenience.
Against the backdrop of an official kidney referral agency, IRANIAN KIDNEY BARGAIN SALE follows young Iranians through the organ trade process: from their first encounter to surgery and kidney removal.
Community Cinema Presents ASK NOT at the Oakland Museum of California
Last night marked the final Oakland Community Cinema Screening for the season with more than 150 people attending ASK NOT at the Oakland Museum of California. ASK NOT, airing June 16 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings), explores the tangled political battles that led to the infamous “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and reveals the personal stories of gay Americans who serve in combat under a veil of secrecy. Read a recap of the event below and find out how the policy affects those in the bay area community.
A panel discussion at the Oakland Community Cinema screening of ASK NOT, a film that explores the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Bay Area Regional Outreach Coordinator Sara Brissenden-Smith opened the discussion with Johnny Symons, filmmaker of ASK NOT; Darryl Moore, council member from District 2 in Berkeley; Rebecca Kaplan, council member at large; and Zoe Dunning, Navy Reserve Commander (Ret.) and board co-chair at the Service Members Legal Defense Network (SLDN). At her retirement in June 2007, Dunning was the only openly gay person serving in the United States Military.
The audience discussed topics that together culminated in a conversation on the issues raised in the film and recent related current events around California’s Proposition 8.
So what was the inspiration to make ASK NOT?
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 from viewers about films airing this month.
STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME:
“This was such an uplifting and touching story of a love that was truly meant to be. Despite the horror they endured and not knowing if they would stay alive long enough have a future together, they found each other again. The love and affection that they have for each other, even after 60+ years of marriage, renews my faith in love.”
Posted by: Abby Borgman on May 28, 2009
“What a beautiful love story in the midst of so much sadness. The mother of a friend of mine survived a concentration camp and was one of the sweetest, gracious ladies I knew growing up. I was too young at the time to realize what she must have gone through to survive and still have such a positive outlook on life everyday. Thank you for a very moving and uplifting story.”
Posted by: Cathy Sweeney on May 27, 2009
“Very, very moving! Loved Ina and Jack. This film gave a very different and more personal prospective of the Holocaust.”
Posted by: Michele Merrill on May 27, 2009
View more Talkback and submit your own for STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME >>
Virgin America Offers ITVS International Films In-flight
ITVS International has taken flight—literally. Virgin America, which currently flies to nine U.S. cities, is offering SOLO, an ITVS International film. SOLO recounts Andrew McAuley’s brave journey as he attempted to cross 1,000 miles of one of the wildest and loveliest stretches of the Southern Ocean from Australia to New Zealand by kayak.
ITVS International and Virgin America have partnered to release even more ITVS International films this year on Virgin America’s interactive, in-flight entertainment system, RED. These films will be available on demand on all of Virgin America flights.
Latino Public Broadcasting Open Call Deadline
Are you an independent producer working on a project that relates to or is representative of Latino Americans? Be sure to apply to Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB)’s Open Call 2009.
Deadline: June 1 at 5:00 PM.
LPB supports the development, production, acquisition and distribution of non-commercial educational and cultural television that is representative of Latino people or addresses issues of particular interest to Latino Americans.
Programs should bring new audiences to public television and have a recognizable impact on a broad range of viewers, presenting a range of subjects, viewpoints and forms from a variety of Latino producers across the country that complement and challenge existing public television offerings.
Watch STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME Tonight on Independent Lens
They say, “Love conquers all.” Or at least that’s what Jack Polak thought while struggling for survival in a Nazi concentration camp. Jack, his wife Manja and his new love, Ina, all end up living in the same barracks. When Jack’s wife objects to the relationship, in spite of their unhappy marriage, Jack and Ina resort to writing secret love letters, which gives them the strength to survive. Academy Award-nominee Michele Ohayon (Colors Straight Up, 1997) tells this daring tale of unusual love, war and the human condition.
“Through their clandestine love letters, this inspiring documentary offers both a fascinating glimpse of a dark chapter in history and a touching love story,” The Week
Watch a preview below:
STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME airs tonight at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings)
ITVS and WNIN Present ASK NOT
Johnny Symons, producer and director of ASK NOT, a film that explores the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, airing on Independent Lens, June 16 at 10:00 PM (check local listings), discusses his most recent Community Cinema screening in Evansville, Indiana. Find out what it was like for him as he ventured into this unfamiliar Midwestern region and discovered a much more diverse community than expected.
WNIN Community Cinema organizer Suzanne Hudson-Smith with ASK NOT filmmaker Johnny Symons.
A large crowd gathered at the Evansville Community Cinema screening, which included Military vets, members of a gay youth group and a number of devoted senior citizens, among others.
I was on my way to Evansville, Indiana. Though I consider myself a geography geek, I’d never even heard of it. The map in the airline magazine revealed that Evansville was near St. Louis, MO and Louisville, KY––and further south than both of them. As I gazed out over rectangles of green and brown Midwestern farmland shimmering in the spring sunlight, I thought about the Community Cinema screening I’d been at the night before––the one in San Francisco, where the first four questions came from anti-military activists concerned about the American imperialist agenda. I had a feeling tonight’s event wouldn’t consist of the same crowd.
I was greeted at the airport by Suzanne Hudson-Smith, the upbeat and charming organizer of Community Cinema at WNIN, Evansville’s PBS affiliate. As we chatted on the way to the event, I noticed Indiana license plates emblazoned with slogans like “In God We Trust” and “Where Good Men Get Better.” “Your Wife is Hot,” declared a billboard, “Better Get the A/C Fixed.” Suzanne shared her own, somewhat different perspective on life in Evansville as an open lesbian.
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