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Newly Funded: ITVS is Pleased to Announce Funding for David Osit’s Building Babel
ITVS recently approved funding for the documentary Building Babel by filmmaker David Osit (Director/Producer).
Building Babel follows a year in the life and work of Sharif El- Gamal, the developer behind New York’s ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ otherwise known as Park51 — a Muslim community center two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center. The film covers Sharif’s struggle to build the embattled center against seemingly endless opposition, all while struggling with his own religion and identity amid intense scrutiny.
Building Babel provides a portrait of American identity ten years on from September 11th. Who are Muslims, and who are Americans? Where does the line get drawn, and who gets to draw it?
Watch an interview with David Osit after the jump> › Continue reading
Optimistic Daredevils for Social Change
By Kaleigh Gaynor
The filmmakers and stars of the ITVS-funded documentary The Revolutionary Optimists were models for social change at TEDxChange and the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, where they introduced Map Your World, the new transmedia project inspired by the film.
A short piece from the film was created for TEDxChange, an event co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and TED in Berlin on April 5, 2012, where participants were encouraged to apply new perspectives to pre-existing big picture issues. The short, introduced by Melinda Gates, showcased the evolution of Map Your World, a cross-platform project inspired by the documentary.
The Revolutionary Optimists follows “The Daredevils,” a group of youths in one of India’s most notorious squatter’s colonies, who have made a dramatic improvement in the health of their community, a place that cannot even be found on a map of the region. Determined to make a geographic and meaningful map of their colony, the Daredevils have been painstakingly tracking and collecting data around health issues that impact them – water, sanitation, and infectious diseases. In 10 years, they have made dramatic improvements in their area: They’ve turned a trash dump into a soccer field, lobbied for electricity, and decreased diarrhea and malaria rates in their neighborhood. › Continue reading
Gunny Premieres on FUTURESTATES
Directed by Patrick Stettner the film will be available to stream for free at futurestates.tv and simultaneously on pbs.org.
A young female soldier returns home after a traumatic tour of duty, taking a new medication that can selectively erase memories. Learn more about Gunny from filmmaker Patrick Stettner in a recently conducted Skype interview, after the jump.
› Continue reading
Global Voices Tackles Kony, Women’s Issues, and More
Global Voices returns for a fifth season begnning Sunday, May 6 at 10 PM with Peace vs Justice, a film that examines the local and international efforts made to stop Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Africa.
ITVS has announced the lineup for the fifth season of Global Voices, the international documentary television series airing on the WORLD channel, with select episodes available online on PBS Video. Showcasing documentaries from Uganda, Indonesia, Russia, Chile, and Pakistan, this season of Global Voices presents the U.S. broadcast premieres of 13 documentaries funded by ITVS International, and encore presentations of acclaimed programs previously broadcast on Independent Lens, POV, and on Link TV. › Continue reading
Catching Up with Whitney Dow and Septent for When the Drum is Beating Premiere
The documentary, which premieres Thursday on Independent Lens, explores Haiti’s complex past and present through the music of the country’s oldest and best-known band — Septentrional. Last week, BTB caught up with the director and band via Skype in New York.
Learn more about When the Drum is Beating on the Independent Lens website.
Laura Keller – NB Premieres on FUTURESTATES
Directed by Mo Perkins the film will be available to stream for free at futurestates.tv and simultaneously on pbs.org. An online social screening of the short will take place here this Friday, April 13 at 11AM PT / 2PM ET.
With global population at an extreme high, federal fertility lotteries now determine who can and can’t reproduce. When one woman learns that she will be permanently sterilized, her faith in the system is shaken. Learn more about Laura Keller – NB from filmmaker Mo Perkins in a recently conducted Skype interview, after the jump.
› Continue reading
Advantageous: A Future Friday Premiere
ITVS presents a social screening of FUTURESTATES: Advantageous. This event will take place online Friday, April 6 at 11AM PT / 2PM ET.
Join us for a social screening of FUTURESTATES Episode 1: Advantageous with filmmaker Jennifer Phang, who will be taking part in the screening to talk about the film and take your questions live.
Participants can join for free by signing in with Facebook or directly on the site, interacting with other viewers and panelists in real-time, while watching the film. Viewers can comment, ask questions, take polls, and even express their feelings about what they’re watching through a variety of tools on the site. This is an entirely new way of experiencing documentary films and it is inherently social. › Continue reading
Man Behind the Muppet: Thursday on Independent Lens
The documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey airs Thursday on Independent Lens on PBS.
Watch Meet the Man Behind Elmo on PBS. See more from Independent Lens.
When Kevin Clash was a boy, he built his own puppets and staged shows for the neighborhood. Today, he is living his ultimate dream as the big man behind the little, furry Muppet Elmo on Sesame Street. Being Elmo premieres April 5 (and can be seen again on April 9) on PBS. Check local listings.
Ever wonder what is Elmo’s favorite food? Elmo himself answers after the jump! › Continue reading
Advanced Screening of The Island President in D.C.
U.S. Climate Action Network, 350.org, and ecoAmerica invite you and a guest to advance screenings of the The Island President on April 15th and 16th in Washington, DC. The documentary will premiere on PBS next season on Independent Lens.
These two advanced screenings of The Island President are part of the Washington, DC International Film Festival (FilmfestDC) lineup. While both screenings are open to climate community leaders and the rest of the public, the Monday evening screening will be immediately followed by a special Q&A discussion. › Continue reading
Season 3 of FUTURESTATES Underway with Advantageous
Directed by Jennifer Phang the film will be available to stream for free at futurestates.tv and simultaneously on pbs.org. An online social screening of the short will take place here this Friday at 11AM PT / 2PM ET.
The film follows Gwen — a spokesperson for a radical technology allowing people to overcome their natural disadvantages and begin life anew. Learn more about Advantageous from director Jennifer Phang in a recently-conducted Skype interview, after the jump.
› Continue reading
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