Independent Lens Submission Deadline: 9/24/2010

Independent Lens is currently accepting submissions for the October 2011-June 2012 season. Jointly curated by ITVS and PBS, we welcome a spectrum of independent documentary, including social issue, point of view, history, and animation. A number of short films are also accepted and broadcast each season.

The deadline to submit is Friday, September 24, 2010. For more information read the Independent Lens submissions FAQ. And to get a feel for some of our award-winning programs, check out trailers from this past season…

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Ask Not Snags Outstanding Doc at GLAAD Awards

ITVS-funded Ask Not by Johnny Symons was honored for Outstanding Documentary at the GLAAD Media Awards earlier this month in San Francisco. Ask Not originally aired in June 2009 on Independent Lens.

Equally important is the attention such an award will draw to the national debate over Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT.) The film explores the genesis of that policy from its inception under then-President Clinton in 1993.

Ask Not sheds light on how DADT has prevented some of America’s most talented recruits from serving their country. Examples include skilled Arabic translators so desperately needed in Afghanistan and Iraq combat, ordered to be silent and celibate or else be removed from duty.

“This was a fun award to receive and a great acknowledgment of the film and the issue,” said Symons.

The hype around Ask Not could not come at a more relevant time. At his State of the Union address this past January, President Obama vowed to repeal DADT during his first term. Soon after, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen also denounced the policy before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The film also recently aired on Capitol Hill to coincide with Congressional hearings on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

Congratulations to Johnny and his team!

Tags: Ask Not, don't ask don't tell, gay rights, Johnny Symons, Military

Tip of the Day: Consume Indie Films on a Global Scale

Travel the world without leaving your sofa. Check out the Global Perspectives Project for films from over 75 countries.

The Global Perspectives Collection hosts more than 100 ITVS-funded films from over 75 countries. Films attached to the collection include the award-winning Waltz with Bashir and Last Train Home.

Visit the site to learn more about independent documentaries from around the world and the diverse, political and social issues they take on.

Tags: documentaries, gobal perspectives, indie, last train home, tips, walz with bashir

Ngôi Làng Mang Tên Versailles – (A Village Called Versailles)

Panelist Uyen Le is interviewed for Saigon TV KJLA

Community Cinema’s National Coordinator Desiree Gutierrez reflects on a screening of A Village Called Versailles held earlier this month before an entirely Vietnamese audience in Southern California.

As one of the National Community Cinema Coordinators, I am use to hosting screenings with diverse crowds, but Sunday night I had the chance to be the outsider at a screening of A Village Called Versailles hosted by Nguoi Viet Daily News in Orange County’s Little Saigon.

The newspaper was the first Vietnamese publication outside of Vietnam and has a rich history. As it was told to me, the newspaper originated out of a series of letters that traveled back and forth between Vietnam and the U.S. as people tried to track down their family members and friends after the war.

Tiffany Le a reporter at Nguoi Viet reached out to me last month wanting to learn more about hosting a screening of A Village Called Versailles. She knew the residents of her community would want to see the film, but as she pointed out, they would not drive to LA or West Hollywood to attend one of our already scheduled events. We made arrangements to host the film at the newspapers auditorium in the heart of Little Saigon.

The newspaper had given us tremendous media coverage. We had a feature with images run a few days before the screening, and an interview with the filmmaker run the day of the event, not to mention a half page ad in the World Cup edition of the paper. Needless to say, the Vietnamese community knew we were having an event and they turned out. Nearly 200 people and four media crews filled the auditorium, and as I had been warned, I the only “Westerner” in the room.

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Tags: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, oil spill, Vietnamese

Tip of the Day: Find That Film!

Want to see where that hot new indie film is playing near you? Search by zip code at itvs.org and find out how close your favorite independent films are to you.

Local listings and video clips are all available online. Browse the titles most interesting to you with our “find films” feature here.

Tags: DDF, diversity, funding

Can a Human Being Be Illegal? Thoughts on Immigration through Film

"The New Americans" from Global Voices on PBS WORLD

The national dialogue on immigration has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks, with many municipalities declaring boycotts of Arizona over the recent enactment of a strict immigration law that critics say amounts to little more than institutionalized racial profiling. Some Arizonans, in response, have sworn to boycott the cities that demonized their state. Regardless of your position on the law, the truth is that immigration is an issue at the forefront of international debate and legislation, as the increasing mobility of humanity makes borders ever more easily crossable as people search for social and economic opportunity.

Even in the UK, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s flippant retort to a citizen angry about Eastern Europeans flooding into Britain sparked a backlash that may have cost him the recent election there.

Much of the debate turns on what rights are afforded a person just for having been born in a particular nation, and what are refused to a person for not having been. Even that  is being parsed, as Arizona considers withholding citizenship and birth certificates to children born to undocumented immigrants on U.S. soil (although this contravenes the U.S. Constitution and may not survive the courts if passed).

"Tia and Marco" from the online series FUTURESTATES

Truly understanding the particulars of immigration requires a knowledge of individuals involved in the transformative process of emigrating or immigrating — often to a foreign land, often without knowing anyone or even possessing a familiarity with customs and language, and often either fleeing persecution or poverty. In turn, they often contribute to the rich cultural fabric of their adopted country. Some evidence indicates immigration boosts a nation’s overall economy, while there is similar data showing that some states absorb an uneven share of the costs for immigrants without healthcare or jobs.
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Tags: Arizona, Global Voices, immigration, law, PBS World, the new americans, tia and marco

Newly Funded: Films from Around the World

ITVS funds, distributes, and promotes new programs produced by independent producers primarily for public television and beyond.

We’re proud to announce the latest projects recently funded by ITVS. We look forward to working with each of the filmmakers to support their broadcast and continued effort to bring a diversity of programming to viewers.

Congratulations to all the filmmakers!

OPEN CALL

Wham! Bam! Islam!
by Isaac Solotaroff
Wham! Bam! Islam! follows one of the most intriguing stories to come out of the Middle East in recent memory: the creation of THE 99 — the first Muslim superheroes and brainchild of Kuwaiti Naif Al-Mutawa.  Following the story of THE 99’s creation and distribution throughout the Islamic world and Al-Mutawa’s emergence as a central figure in the raging debates over the role of religion and tradition in contemporary Muslim societies, Wham! Bam! Islam! is a powerful story about the challenges, risks and value of bridge building between Islam and the West at the dawn of the 21st century.
Co-production of ITVS

This Is Where We Take Our Stand
by Bestor Cram, Mike Majoros, and David Zeiger
This Is Where We Take Our Stand, conceived and shot as a verité production, tells the story of the multi-faceted struggle to organize Winter Soldier, a unique gathering of veterans and active duty soldiers.  The film weaves highly personal organizing experiences with four days of stunning testimony at the largest gathering of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.  The program concludes two years later with the disbanding of the army of anti-war veterans, struggling to move on with their lives back on the home front; some in disarray, some still on active duty, all changed by their commitments to serve their country.
Co-production of ITVS
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Tags: newly funded, Open Call

ITVS LINCS Funding: Deadline June 18

Looking for film funding? Don’t miss out on LINCS, which provides matching funds up to $100,000 for single non-fiction public television programs on any subject and from any viewpoint, in partnership with a public television station.

The deadline for LINCS submissions is Friday, June 18, 2010. Due dates are not postmark deadlines and all materials must arrive at ITVS by 5:00 PM PDT.

Find more information about guidelines and how to apply >>

Have additional questions about LINCS? Email jonathan_archer@itvs.org or call 415-356-8383 x284.

Looking for advice on how to create a more compelling proposal? Click on the “continue reading” button below to get some insider tips.
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Tags: funding, LINCS

This Week on Global Voices: The China-North Korea Border in Perspective

Last week, a North Korean border guard shot four Chinese citizens, killing three, near Dandong along the tense border between the two countries. This comes just over a year since Current TV reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling were arrested by North Korean guards at a different stretch of border in March of 2009 and sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp (former President Bill Clinton negotiated their release in August of the same year).

While China and North Korea historically have been politically and economically friendly, the increasingly erratic and provocative behavior of North Korea’s leadership has strained relations in recent years. That is precisely the story Chinese-born filmmaker Liang Zhao set out to tell when he went back to his childhood home in Dandong, situated on the border with North Korea. In his film Return to the Border, which airs beginning this Sunday on Global Voices (PBS WORLD), Liang goes back to his hometown only to find it vastly changed from his childhood decades ago. In the intervening years, North Korean President Kim Il-sung died and was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il. China abandoned its isolationism and began trading with the West, further alienating its fellow communists in North Korea. North Koreans suffered a brutal famine, in which as many as 2 million died.

Liang talks Dandong residents and former North Korean citizens, and tours the border, even covertly entering North Korea to bear witness to the strange militarism of its culture and fearful behavior by its citizens. Border guards appear, and quietly ask for cigarettes and food. The film explores how borders are purely man-made barriers, and how common humanity transcends them on a daily basis.

Tune in to watch Return to the Border — premiering Sunday on Global Voices (check local listings)— for a glimpse into this controversial line on the map for context into the conflicts there that are making the news today.

Tags: Border, China, Kim Jong Il, North Korea, South Korea

Geneva Forum on Social Change 2010

The Geneva Forum on Social Change (GFSC) was established in January 2009 by students of the International Organizations MBA Programme at the University of Geneva as an annual event which uses the power of documentary media to promote positive social change. Prominent filmmakers, academics and professionals lead stimulating discussions about the most pressing social issues. Chi Do, ITVS Associate Director of Communications, gives us her take on the forum:

The term “movers and shakers” took on new meaning for me at the 2010 Geneva Forum on Social Change on May 28-29. The dynamic weekend featuring ten award-winning documentaries (including four from ITVS), four keynote speakers, six panels, seven workshops (plus expos on sustainability and new media!) brought together more than 500 people — all driven by a common desire to see how the merging of public and private, governmental and non-governmental, even the merging of our virtual and physical worlds can bring about innovations to address the most critical social issues of our time.

A Discussion with Filmmakers from the Geneva Forum on Social Change

Geneva is a hotbed for international dealings whether it be diplomacy or finance, and the GFSC represented that to a tee by attracting participants whose work reaches so many corners of the globe: international organizations, NGOs, private corporations, diplomatic corps, foundations, the list goes on. In one room I would meet someone working to develop water and energy conservation programs for an entire country on behalf of USAID, and then turn around and meet another person who started a foundation to support youth in a small village in Africa with nothing more than what was in their savings account and the help of a few friends. The amount of brain stimulation and soul inspiration to be had was off the charts!

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Tags: documentary, Geneva, social change, social entrepreneur