FUTURESTATES
FUTURESTATES Theatrical World Premiere at SXSW
Plan on attending South by Southwest (SXSW)? If so, you won’t want to miss the theatrical world premiere of FUTURESTATES –– ITVS’s new fictional series that explores what life will look like in America in the decades and centuries to come.
Join us on Sunday, March 14 at 5:00 PM, where we’ll be screening the following FUTURESTATES mini-features:
Mister Green, directed by Greg Pak
Plastic Bag, directed by Ramin Bahrani
The Rise, directed by Garret Williams
Silver Sling, directed by Tze Chun
Tent City, directed by Aldo Velasco
Tia & Marco, directed by Annie Howell
This is a unique opportunity to see these groundbreaking new films on the big screen at the one-of-a-kind SXSW Film Festival in high definition. Filmmakers Greg Pak, Annie Howell, Aldo Velasco, and Garret Williams will also be in attendance for a Q&A session, in addition to members of the ITVS staff.
This is your chance to ask all your pressing questions and learn more about this innovative project that’s unlike anything you’ve seen in public media.
We look forward to seeing you there!
FUTURESTATES’s Predict-o-Meter: You’re the Oracle
We’re really excited about FUTURESTATES –– ITVS’s brand new online fictional series. The website (http://www.futurestates.tv) includes 11 fictional mini-features –– available to watch for free –– that explore possible future scenarios through the lens of today’s global realities.
But did you have a chance to check out the “Predict-o-Meter” yet? After watching a few episodes, forecast future events and explore the predictions left by others on the immersive timeline.
When will the ice caps melt? Will our first female president be elected? Will the rainforest rebound, or disappear? Will California sink into the Pacific?
Submit your own prediction and see others about what lies ahead >>
ITVS’s FUTURESTATES Profiled in The New York Times
FUTURESTATES has arrived!
The new online fictional series from ITVS represents a huge innovation for public media. Check out the New York Times story below to learn more about the creative concept behind the series and what makes it so unique.
Also, be sure to watch FUTURESTATES today by visiting http://www.futurestates.tv and tell us what you think!
For Web and Public TV, Brief Films That Dramatize Issues
By Elizabeth Jensen
March 7, 2010
ITVS is best known for its financing of documentaries, many of which appear on PBS’s Independent Lens series. But beginning on Monday, the organization will present a series of brief, fictional films that cast social issues into the future, in the hopes of drawing a younger audience not necessarily interested in public television.
The new films, 11 in all, will appear first on the Web, and later move to broadcast. Their subjects will be familiar to those who watch ITVS-financed documentaries: climate change, immigration and exploitation of the poor, among other social issues. Under the series title FUTURESTATES, the films will give fictional treatments to the same kinds of subjects, some with a science-fiction twist, exploring how those issues can play out in the future.
The films, which run about 15 minutes each, are meant to attract a diverse audience of so-called millennials, young adults in their 20s and 30s, as well as filmmakers in that demographic group, said Sally Jo Fifer, the president and chief executive of ITVS. Fiction is “what they’re working in,” said Ms. Fifer, and online is where to reach them, ITVS executives said. “We wanted to get that demographic in the public media family,” Ms. Fifer added.
FUTURESTATES: A New Online Fictional Series From ITVS
X (Anthony Giangrande) is created as a robot in the story-within-a-story in Tent City by Aldo Velasco.
The wait is finally over!
Today, ITVS launched FUTURESTATES –– a brand new online fictional series that explores many of today’s complex social issues by imagining how they play out in the world of tomorrow.
Each of the 11 episodes are available for free on the series website www.futurestates.tv and will be available on pbs.org in April. FUTURESTATES will also have its theatrical premiere at South by Southwest on Sunday, March 14.
ITVS worked with some of today’s best and emerging indie filmmakers to complete the 11 films for the series. Contributors include acclaimed American director Ramin Bahrani, whose mini-feature entitled Plastic Bag is narrated by the legendary Werner Herzog, Greg Pak’s Mister Green and Tze Chun’s Silver Sling.
What life might look like in America in the decades and centuries to come?
ITVS Launches New Online Fictional Series on Monday
A surrogate (Diana Masi) looks at her new scar in Tze Chun's Silver Sling.
What will life look like in America in the decades and centuries to come?
On Monday, March 8, ITVS will launch FUTURESTATES –– a new online fictional series that represents a huge innovation for public media.
Each of the 11 episodes will be available for free beginning March 8 on the series website www.futurestates.tv with subsequent distribution on pbs.org. FUTURESTATES will also have its theatrical premiere at South by Southwest on Sunday, March 14.
Have your own predictions for the future? Be sure to tell us on the “Predict-o-Meter,” a unique feature on the FUTURESTATES website where you can submit your own predictions about life in the future, and comment on the predictions of others. Think you know when the ice caps will melt? Know when we’ll elect our first female president? Will the rainforest rebound or disappear? Share your predictions with us on Monday.
Are you as excited as we are? Then you won’t want to miss the extended series trailer below!
ITVS Films at SXSW 2010
Held annually in Austin, Texas, South by Southwest (SXSW) is considered one of the world’s premiere festivals, recognizing the best of film, music and interactive projects. This year’s festival takes place March 12-21.
We’re really excited about this year’s festival! You won’t want to miss the world premiere of six episodes of our new online fictional series FUTURESTATES on March 14. These narrative mini-features explore many of today’s complex social issues by imagining how they play out in the world of tomorrow.
Learn more about FUTURESTATES on Beyond the Box >>
Also be sure to check out these four other compelling ITVS films at SXSW this year.
Sneak Preview of FUTURESTATES episode Fallout
It’s almost here… ITVS’s new fictional online series — FUTURESTATES — launches online March 8 and will have its theatrical world premiere at South by Southwest (SXSW) on March 14.
FUTURESTATES explores possible future scenarios through the prism of today’s global reality. America circa 2010 sits at the crux of competing and paradoxical forces of creation and destruction. Never before have we been capable of such great discovery and accomplishment, and yet our very existence hangs in balance as climate change, weapons of mass destruction, and economic collapse threaten our very existence.
Check out this sneak preview of Fallout, by Ben Rekhi. The War on Terror has escalated drastically, bringing America into conflict with countless enemies. Los Angeles has fallen victim to a nuclear attack from an unknown aggressor. In the aftermath of the bombing, a young man’s search for his girlfriend addresses the human toll of eternal war.
Join the FUTURESTATES Facebook Fan Page and watch other clips >>
A Sneak Peek at FUTURESTATES: A New Online Fictional Series
What will become of America in five, 25, or even 50 years from today?
Beginning March 8, ITVS will launch a new online fictional series called FUTURESTATES, which will explore many of today’s complex social issues by imagining how they play out in the world of tomorrow.
The series will be accessible exclusively online and be available for free. ITVS worked with over 20 of today’s best and emerging indie filmmakers to complete the 11 films for the series. Contributors include acclaimed director Ramin Bahrani, whose mini-feature entitled Plastic Bag is narrated by the legendary Werner Herzog, Greg Pak’s Mister Green and Tze Chun’s Silver Sling.
Can’t wait until March 8? Watch the video preview below. Also be sure to join the brand new FUTURESTATES Facebook Fan Page to watch more video previews and to get the latest news on the series.
Join the FUTURESTATES Facebook Fan Page and watch other clips >>
Six Films From ITVS’s FUTURESTATES to Premiere at SXSW
Held annually in Austin, Texas, South By Southwest (SXSW) is considered one of the world’s premiere festivals, recognizing the best of film, music, and interactive projects.
SXSW recently announced its 2010 film line-up and this year six ITVS films from our new online fictional series FUTURESTATES will have their theatrical premiere at the festival. These films include Mister Green by Greg Pak; Plastic Bag by Ramin Bahrani; The Rise by Garret Williams; Silver Sling by Tze Chun; Tent City by Aldo Velasco; and Tia & Marco by Annie Howell.
These narrative mini-features explore many of today’s complex social issues by imagining how they play out in the world of tomorrow.
Beginning March 2010, FUTURESTATES will be accessible exclusively online via ITVS’s redesigned website and will be available for free –– via streaming video –– on the new site’s enhanced broadband video player.
At AFI Digifest with Programming Manager Karim Ahmad
Matthew Meschery, director of Digital Initiatives, and Karim Ahmad, programming manager, present the new FUTURESTATES iPhone application.
Last week, on the heels of the announcement about FUTURESTATES, a new online fictional series by ITVS, I had the pleasure of previewing the series and one of its key distribution and promotional tools at this year’s AFI Digifest. This was part of AFI’s Digital Content Lab, an incubation program where content makers and technical innovators collaborate to create new media projects. For ITVS, it was our first-ever iPhone application.
This is the third year ITVS has collaborated, and this time, we really sought to break new ground. FUTURESTATES is about the future––each episode presents a different filmmaker’s vision of the not-too-distant future, allowing them to use speculative and science fiction to comment on current events. We were determined to match this content with technical innovation in our distribution approach. That’s how we got the idea of the FUTURESTATES iPhone application.
To go from the basic concept to the presentation of the prototype took us less than two months, due solely to the talent and resourcefulness of the team AFI put together for us. We worked with iPhone app developers Omnilogic Systems, based out of Saskatoon Saskatchewan (that’s right, Saskatoon) and new media guru Garnet Hertz. We started with the basics––full episodes from the series as well as behind the scenes photos and videos streaming to your iPhone––because after all, the future is content accessible anywhere on-demand.
Upcoming Screenings
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Community Cinema selections are screened in over 50 locations throughout the United States. In March, Community Cinema presents Dirt! The Movie, directed by Bill Benenson and Eugene Rosow.
It’s under our feet and under our fingernails, but what is it? And how did it get there? Inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, find out how industrial farming, mining, and urban development have led us toward cataclysmic droughts, starvation, floods, and climate change. Dirt is a part of everything we eat, drink, and breathe. Which is why we should stop treating it like, well … dirt.
Check out the schedule and find Community Cinema in your neighborhood >>Recent Posts
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- FUTURESTATES Theatrical World Premiere at SXSW
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- Live Webinar Tomorrow Night: Copyright and Fair Use in the Art World and Classroom
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