Watch DEATH OF A SHAMAN on Global Voices on PBS WORLD

Through a journey that takes her back to her roots in Thailand, a young Mien woman from Sacramento strives to come to terms with her father’s death and drug addiction, and her sister’s murder. Reunited with her Mien relatives, she begins to grasp the complexity of her father’s past and experience the nuances of lost identity.

Watch a preview below:

DEATH OF A SHAMAN airs Sunday, May 24 at 10:00 PM on Global Voices on PBS WORLD (check local listings). A Co-presentation with KVIE/Sacramento and CAAM

Tags: drugs, Sacramento, Thailand

Ithaca Community Cinema Reports on TAKING ROOT

Ithaca Community Cinema recently held a screening of the Independent Lens film TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai at S.T.A.M.P.‘s Guerrilla Griots Human Rights Media Arts Center. TAKING ROOT tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a global movement. Afterwards, a discussion was led by the film’s musical composer and two sisters from Kenya who participated in the Green Belt Movement. Read more about this event and its impact in the report below from the Guerrilla Griots blog.

The Ithaca Community Cinema screening of TAKING ROOT.

TAKING ROOT music composer Samite of Uganda with the one of the Kamau sisters of Kenya.

S.T.A.M.P.’s Guerrilla Griots Human Rights Media Arts Center is one of over 50 venues throughout the United States who participate in a free, monthly screening series in partnership with ITVS and PBS. Community Cinema is a monthly screening series which creates accessible opportunities for civic engagement and public education around important social issues.

To bring in Spring, Community Cinema featured TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai. TAKING ROOT tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights and defend democracy––a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration. On March 20, over 100 people from the greater Ithaca area packed a small screening room downtown to watch the film; listen to the inspiration of TAKING ROOT musical composer Samite of Uganda; learn from two sisters from Kenya who participated in the Green Belt Movement; and share local, fair-trade and organic fare courtesy of GreenStar Community Projects.

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Tags: Africa, environmental, Wangari Maathai

Watch These ITVS Programs This Month on Public Television

BOLINAO 52, premiering this month on public television (check local listings). In 1988 a group of Vietnamese boat people attempted to flee their country in search of freedom. Once at sea the boat’s engine died leaving over 100 people stranded in the ocean. What happens next is an unbelievable story of perseverance that changed the lives of the survivors forever.

Watch a preview below:

BOLINAO 52 received ITVS LINCS funding and is distributed by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA).

Also, be sure to check out HEART STRINGS: The Story of the Kamaka `Ukulele, premiering this month on public television (check local listings). Out of all the Hawaiian manufacturers that were crafting instruments at the dawn of the twentieth century, only Kamaka Hawaii remains in business today. HEART STRINGS is the story of four generations of one family that has carried on its namesake business and commitment towards craft, culture and heritage, maintaining age-old values with a distinctly Hawaiian point of view.

Watch a preview below:

HEART STRINGS received ITVS LINCS funding and is distributed by PBS Plus.

Learn more about these films and other upcoming ITVS programs >>

Tags: Hawaii, Human Rights, music, Vietnam

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

“CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America, a documentary feature on the PBS series Independent Lens, begins with the arresting picture … of downtown Los Angeles hanging upside down in the sky. It’s a simple but surprisingly potent image … and it captures as well as anything the menace and nonsense of its subject, the self-destructive assertion of territory and tribe.”
Read full review >>

“It isn’t often that people get to explain, on national television, why they ate their companions. Still, that, exactly, is what the survivors of the 1972 Andes plane crash get to do on STRANDED––an Independent Lens film.”
Read more >>

Veteran linguists Alex Nicholson and Jarrod Chlapowski and Nathaniel Frank, author of Unfriendly Fire discuss the Independent Lens film ASK NOT.
Listen to the interview >>

“Think back to the last time you were so gripped or inspired by something you saw on television that you felt compelled to get involved … Enter Community Cinema. Run by the Independent Television Service (ITVS), producers of the PBS documentary film series Independent Lens, Community Cinema combines screenings of selected Independent Lens films with panel discussions about the important social issues the films explore.”
Read more >>

“Deborah Dickson’s documentary … looks at the many betrayals and losses endured by Hmong refugees. WITNESSES TO A SECRET WAR [on Global Voices on PBS WORLD] includes interviews with multiple subjects, refugees…”
Read full review >>

Tags: African American, gay, plane crash

At the Peabody Awards with Vice President and Indie Lens Series Producer Lois Vossen

Winners of the 2009 Peabody Awards.

Maria Finitzo and Justine Nagan, winners for MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH, with Lois Vossen (middle).

Albert Maysles, Peabody Award winner and acclaimed filmmaker, with Lois Vossen.

Yesterday, I attended the 2009 Peabody Awards ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. This year, PBS received six Peabody Awards and I’m proud to say that one-third of those went to Independent Lens.

Taking home awards were Maria Finitzo for MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH: Terra Incognita, which looks at Dr. Jack Kessler, a prominent neurologist, who shifts his diabetes research to stem cell research when his daughter is paralyzed from the waist down. The second Peabody was given to KING CORN, by Aaron Woolf, Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney, which follows two recent college graduates who embark on a mission to see where America’s food comes from––by growing it. In the rural town of Greene, Iowa, the two friends plant a single acre of the nation’s most powerful crop–corn–and then set out to track it from a seed to the dinner plate.

The ceremony was hosted by NBC’s Brian Wiliams. Anyone who has seen him as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart knows he has a good, contagious sense of humor. He was a very good MC for the Peabody ceremony––the perfect mix of sincere recognition for the remarkable work being honored and very funny humor to make the ceremony more entertaining and also sincere and effective. One of my favorite moments was Brian Williams persistent teasing of Wolf Blitzer and CNN.

Other highlights of the Peabody Awards included an honor to Saturday Night Live for their political parody coverage of the 2008 presidential election, Entourage and Breaking Bad.

After the ceremony, I spent time with Albert Maysles (who received a Peabody Award for The Gates) and the staff of The Onion online. I later joined the other winners for the champagne reception at The Paley Center. It was a big day for Independent Lens and the filmmakers!

Lois
- Vice President and Independent Lens Series Producer

Tags: Brian Williams, Peabody Awards

Community Cinema Presents ASK NOT in Washington, D.C.

ITVS Regional Outreach Coordinator Michon Boston discusses the Community Cinema screening of ASK NOT in Washington, D.C., which premieres June 16 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings). Read her report of what it was like screening this film in the hub of national politics.

This season, Community Cinema featured two Independent Lens films about policies that impact the U.S. military, LIONESS and ASK NOT. At screenings for both of these films, I asked everyone who has served––past and present––to stand up so we can say “Thank you” to those who have served our country. It’s a very moving moment for the audience and the service members.

ITVS Regional Outreach Coordinator Michon Boston with Vince Patton, a retired master chief petty officer of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The latest film, ASK NOT, examines the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. We videotaped the screening recently held at the Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center, which was largely attended by military as well as people interested in the topic. However, it didn’t occur to me, until after the taping, that a camera pan of the audience might capture someone on active duty while serving under the policy. This demonstrated some of the fear these men and women must face under DADT.

Joining us at the event were three men from the film: Alex Nicholson, Jarrod Chlapowski and Vince Patton of Service Members Legal Defense Network (SLDN). Other guest speakers included Darren Manzella from SLDN and Kim Jones from Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).

After brief introductions and a discussion on the topic, the panel opened up questions to the audience. And in true Washington fashion, the first question from the audience was “What can we do?” about this issue. Together, the panelists offered advice, which included:

#1: Write your congressional representatives and senators before 2010.
#2: Find a safe space to share stories about gay men and women you know who serve. Talk about the issues openly and join others, tell friends and other family members to get involved.
#3: Tell the story in letters, calls and emails to representatives and friends. The stories from ASK NOT are, according to the panelists, a place to start if you don’t have a personal story.

One question that arose during the discussion: When DADT is repealed––and everyone on the panel is confident it will be eventually––would the former military men on the panel affected by DADT re-enlist?

Alex Nicholson, who founded the Call To Duty nationwide veteran speaking tour, said he would return but his ideal career would be to serve as an Army JAG (Judge Advocate General) lawyer. He serves as executive director of Servicemembers United, a progressive “DADT 2.0-style” advocacy organization for Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans that was formed directly out of the work featured in ASK NOT. Meanwhile, Jarrod Chlapowski finished his military service in 2005 and chose not to re-enlist. Jarrod completed his Masters and is about to write his thesis and travel abroad on a fellowship. Lastly, Darren Manzella, a former U.S. Army Sergeant who was discharged in 2008, believes his career was terminated too quickly and would come back to the Army but wouldn’t want to start at the bottom. He also added that his return would be contingent on how old he is when DADT is repealed. He currently is a lobbyist for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and does outreach around the country on the military readiness issue to repeal DADT.

As the discussion came to an end, a student from American University’s Queers and Allies organization shared a story about a George Washington University student who was discharged because of DADT. The student also was left with no choice but forced to withdraw from the university because he lost his financial aid package provided by the U.S. military. The story made everyone reflect on an underlying question, “Does having the DADT policy make us any safer or smarter?”

Missed this screening in Washington, D.C.? Be sure to check out the next screening on Sunday, May 31 at 5:00 PM at Busboys and Poets ( 2021 14th St.). For more information, email asknot@communitycinema-dc.org.

Find more Community Cinema screenings like these in your neighborhood >>

Tags: gay, Military, WHUT

Watch STRANDED Tonight on Independent Lens

How far would you go to stay alive? The survivors of the well-known 1972 Andes plane crash recall what it took to live in the mountains for over 60 days with no food, water, or supplies. What they reveal is a story about one of humanity’s greatest taboos and one that asks the question, what would you do?

“[STRANDED] is an exceptional film, at once disturbing and elevating, deliberate yet powerful. It takes a story that we all think we know, one of the 20th century’s most familiar tales of resilience and survival, and demonstrates that we haven’t really known it at all,” Los Angeles Times.

Check out the trailer below:

STRANDED: The Andes Plane Crash Survivors airs tonight at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).

Tags: Andes, plane crash

ITVS Programming Department and Panel Review

ITVS staff members Joy-Marie Scott, Annelise Wunderlich, Cynthia Kane and Claire Aguilar at Panel Review.

The ITVS office has been abuzz with a milestone for the Programming department known as Panel Review, which has filmmakers around the world anxiously waiting for the news that they’ll be awarded the jackpot to finish their documentary.

On occasion, you might wonder “How does ITVS select its programming?”

It’s no easy task as we aim to fund the highest quality from the most diverse points of view. To do this, we go beyond the staff at ITVS, and we facilitate a peer-review process that gathers the input of distinguished independent filmmakers, film festival and television programmers, commissioning editors and the like. Each of our three production funding initiatives culminates in a final Panel Review, in which panelists recommend ten to 12 projects for funding. If you’re a filmmaker who has made it to Panel Review, congratulations! Your project is among the top six to ten percent of applications, and at this stage, there’s no doubt you have a top-notch production underway. Alas, the competition is fierce.

The Panel Review for International Call took place last week, and at the end of a hair-raising, time-zone bending, technologically intense week, we emerged with a prioritized list of 12 projects that our Panelists recommend for funding. In its fourth year, International Call received nearly 500 applications from 80 countries, spanning six continents. In the end, we’ll offer co-production financing ($50,000 to $150,000) to eight to ten programs.

This International Call Panel was particularly unique in that we experimented with videoconferencing. Given the economic climate and the current green enlightenment, the International Programming team wanted to chart a new process that would be all-around more efficient—trimming costs and time as well as our global footprint—while maintaining the integrity and richness of debate for which ITVS Panel Review sessions are known. We succeeded in channeling our five panelists to a virtual conference center online, in which all participants were displayed on screen in a sort of Hollywood Squares formation. For two sessions on Thursday and Friday, our Panelists logged in from their offices in different parts of the world, spanning five time zones, which had us in San Francisco beginning at the near crack of dawn. This form of virtual panel was an ITVS first and also an innovation in the field. As such, I emerged with a fresh appreciation for pioneers.

And the jackpots go to… How I wish I could tell!

We’ll officially announce the slate towards the end of summer when all contracts have been signed. Meanwhile, down the hall, Open Call is having its Panel Review. Programming Managers Karim Ahmad and Richard Saiz have their panelists sequestered in the conference room to hash out the merits of another thirty finalists.

-Joy-Marie Scott
Programming Coordinator, ITVS International

Tags: film resources, Panel Review

CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison Discusses Public Media with Better.tv

Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), recently sat down with Better.tv to discuss the importance of public media in changing peoples’ lives and engaging communities.

Watch the clip below in which Harrison discusses how programs like FRONTLINE and Independent Lens are helping to inspire public television viewers and reaching a more diversified audience.

Tags: CPB, Frontline, Patricia Harrison

Art House Theater Interactive Map

Where do you go to see your favorite indie films? Today many art house theaters are struggling to survive, as multiplex theaters are becoming a fixture of the suburban American landscape.

Check out the Independent Lens Art House Theater Interactive Map to add your favorite theater or comment about others. Whether it’s a grand, restored movie palace or run-down single-screen, share your favorite spot for indie and alternative film viewing. Or if you’re an indie filmmaker, share where people can check out your next screening.

Visit Your Lens to map your favorite independent theater and post your comments >>

Read the Inside Indies article about Art House Theaters >>

Tags: Art House Theater, film resources, independent film