Archive for September, 2010
Pushing the Elephant Goes to DC
Rose Mapendo, Congressman Ted Poe, Ritu Sharma, Ambassador (Ret.) George Ward, Samantha Mathis
This past Wednesday and Thursday, September 15th and 16th, the filmmakers of Pushing the Elephant (PTE), Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel, and their main subject, Rose Mapendo, traveled to Washington DC — in cooperation with ITVS — to raise awareness around violence against women and girls internationally. Also along were Rose’s brother, Kigabo, and outreach coordinator, Kim Borba. Filmmakers Davenport and Mandel filed this report for BTB.
Our first stop was the World Bank. In an event hosted jointly by the Bank’s Social Development Department and the World Bank Institute Fragile States Program, we generated concrete dialogue among fifty World Bank staff and partners on the role of leadership and reconciliation in response to violence in fragile and post-conflict countries. A panel that included Fragile States staff, Rose and the filmmakers followed the screening. The discussion focused on ways Rose’s experience could help Bank staffers better understand the communities in which they are working. Tamara Gould (vice president, ITVS International) introduced the program, contextualizing the value of social-issue media in inspiring action. Our advisory council member Kury Cobham, an operations officer in the Social Development Civil Society Fund, at the World Bank, organized the event and supported its success within the Bank. › Continue reading
P.O.V. Explores America Post 9/11
The Oath, by filmmaker Laura Poitras, airs Tuesday night on P.O.V.
Tuesday night on P.O.V., tune into The Oath, the second installment in a trilogy about America post-9/11. The first film, My Country, My Country, documented the U.S. occupation of Iraq from the perspective of an Iraqi family. The third film will focus on domestic surveillance.
Filmed in Yemen, The Oath is a family drama about two men whose fateful encounter in 1996 set them on a journey that would lead to Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo Bay Prison, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Filmmaker Laura Poitras tells the story of Abu Jandal, bin Laden’s former bodyguard, and Salim Hamda, a prisoner at Guantanamo and the first man to face the controversial military tribunals. The film begins as Hamdan is set to face war crimes charges at Gitmo, and as Jandal is a free man, driving a taxi in Yemen.
Check out the trailer below and watch The Oath Tuesday night on P.OV. (check local listings.)
Filmmakers’ Work Showcased at TedxChange
The Revolutionary Optimists, from filmmakers Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen
ITVS-funded filmmakers Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen will have some of their latest work presented this Monday, September 20th at the TedxChange event in New York. Co-hosted by TED and the Gates Foundation, Monday’s event will showcase a short film extracted from the filmmakers’ upcoming feature project, The Revolutionary Optimists.
The documentary is currently in production and profiles Amlan Ganguly, a lawyer-turned-social entrepreneur who has made significant impact in the poorest neighborhoods of Calcutta by empowering children to become leaders in improving health and sanitation.
Monday’s event, convened by Melinda French Gates, will feature some of the world’s most inspired thinkers and doers and marks the anniversary of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals: Ten years in, where does the global community stand in the work to save and improve lives around the world?
Be sure to catch Monday’s event, streaming live here. Nice work, Nicole and Maren!
The Parking Lot Movie: Filmmaker Interview
Filmmaker Meghan Eckman
Filmmaker Meghan Eckman spoke to BTB this week about her film The Parking Lot Movie, which premieres on Independent Lens Tuesday, October 19th. The film will also be screened tonight in San Francisco at the parking lot across from The Good Hotel at 7 PM.
Congratulations on your film. Give us a little background on the movie and what inspired you to make it.
One of my friends was a parking lot attendant at this lot and he suggested that someone make a movie about it. I volunteered, and showed up the next day with my video camera.
Once we started filming, it became immediately apparent to me that this parking lot was very film-worthy. And once I started doing interviews with former parking attendants, I realized it needed to be a feature.
The parking lot has great myths and lore attached to it. It’s legendary in Charlottesville. Once I started filming, I got to uncover why it was legendary and what made it so special.
Is this little parking lot in Charlottesville really a microcosm of America or, shall I say, humanity?
› Continue reading
Free Parking & Free Movie!
The Parking Lot Movie screens for free this Friday, September 17th outside The Good Hotel in San Francisco
The launch of this year’s season of Independent Lens, hosted by America Ferrera, kicks off this Friday night, September 17th at 7 PM in San Francisco. Don’t have a ticket? Perfect. It’s free! Just show up to the parking lot across from The Good Hotel at 7th and Minna Street.
In conjunction with Parking Day — an annual global event where citizens, artists, and activists transform metered parking spaces into temporary public spaces — ITVS will transform The Good Hotel’s parking lot into an outdoor movie theater for one night and preview Independent Lens’ season opener, The Parking Lot Movie, ahead of its October 19th broadcast premiere.
Ferrera Waxes Enthusiastic about New IL Season
America Ferrera
America Ferrera, the host of the upcoming season of Independent Lens did us proud in Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch column today. In it she hinted that she might like to get involved in a documentary project in the near future, and also revealed which two films coming up in this Independent Lens season are her personal favorites (we’re not telling, go see for yourself!).
Here’s an excerpt from the interview to whet your appetite, then click through for the whole article:
Ferrera: I have been a part of many independent projects, and I feel kinship with independent filmmakers, and I love documentaries. I feel that this is a really wonderful thing, that PBS › Continue reading
Announcing the Sixth Season of Community Cinema
Community Cinema returns for its sixth season with nine compelling documentaries from this year’s lineup on Independent Lens. The free screening series, which begins in October, connects thousands with community-based organizations in more than 70 cities nationwide and online.
Check out America Ferrera, the new host of Independent Lens, singing the praises of our Community Cinema series:
Community Cinema screens films monthly › Continue reading
Adoption Stories Continue on P.O.V.
In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee Directed by Deann Borshay Liem
P.O.V. continues its focus on adoption stories this month with In The Matter of Cha Jung Hee, Tuesday night (check local listings).
In the 1960s, the Sun Duck Orphanage in South Korea switched the identities of two orphans when an American family adopted one of them.
Filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem goes on a quest to search for her “double” — a girl named Cha Jung Hee — in an attempt to resolve a case of mistaken identity and in the process explores the complexities of international transracial adoptions.
Last Tuesday, P.O.V. aired another ITVS-funded film on adoption, Off and Running.
The Making of Independent Lens
Lois Vossen, VP of ITVS & Series Producer of Independent Lens
With the September 24 deadline for Independent Lens approaching, and the new season premiering next month, BTB has decided to give you an intimate, inside look at how the Emmy Award-wining series gets made.
Lois Vossen is the show’s series producer and vice president of ITVS. We sat down with her recently to learn about the curating process behind the program, and what she looks for in an Independent Lens film.
Revisiting Paul Conrad: Drawing Fire
Paul Conrad
Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Paul Conrad passed away on Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86 years old.
Conrad’s legendary career spanned half a century, allowing him to take aim at everyone from Harry Truman to Dick Cheney. Among many prestigious journalistic awards, Conrad’s favorite distinction was his 1973 inclusion on Richard Nixon’s enemies list.
Independent Lens showcased the artist’s career in the film: Paul Conrad: Drawing Fire. Narrated by Tom Brokaw, the film includes nearly 200 Conrad cartoons and interviews with the artists’ family, friends, and colleagues.
Check out a gallery of Conrad’s work on the Independent Lens website.
Plus, watch Paul Conrad: Drawing Fire, streaming now on Netflix.
The film joins over a dozen ITVS projects now available to Netflix subscribers, including: › Continue reading
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