Community Cinema Shines in Houston

HoustonPBS’s Julie Coan provides some glowing feedback from a recent Community Cinema screening of Deaf Jam. The documentary, by filmmaker Judy Lieff, premieres on Independent Lens next Thursday, November 3.

We had an incredible turnout at the HoustonPBS Community Cinema screening of Deaf Jam with 175 people from all ages and ethnicities. A number of deaf students from Teague Middle School came with their teachers. An organization called Communication Axess Ability Group provided two interpreters for free so everyone could enjoy the evening.

After the film we had a local ASL poet, Jonathan Leach, perform as well as two spoken word poets, Robyn Adams and Marcell Murphy. They were incredible.
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Women’s X-Change Opens Doors for New Talent

Last week at the Ford Foundation in New York, ITVS and Chicken & Egg, co-presented The Women’s Exchange — a workshop for women filmmakers producing documentaries about women and girls. ITVS Vice President of Programming Claire Aguilar, was at the event and filed this report.

While planning the Women and Girls Lead campaign, ITVS wanted to ensure that the next generation of women filmmakers can be fully supported to make documentaries that will inspire and create change.

This was the reason for organizing The Women’s X-Change — an opportunity for filmmakers to engage in dialogue and get needed support from other women and men involved in media and social change.
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Tags: chicken & egg, claire aguilar, ford foundation, women and girls lead, women's x-change

New AIR Initiative Seeks Innovative Media Makers

Localore — a new initiative from The Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) — is recruiting innovative producers to lead public stations in ways beyond broadcast.

Calling all independent media makers (yes, we’re talking to you filmmakers!). Do you want to explore new ways of telling your story? Do you have an idea that takes advantage of both traditional and digital media? Then take a look at Localore, a new initiative from our friends at The Association of Independents in Radio (AIR), that’s designed to fuel public media’s capacity for innovative storytelling and journalism.

Through Localore, AIR will recruit talented radio, TV, film, and online producers to lead 10 public station-based projects, blending approaches to broadcast and digital platforms. This means mixing traditional media with mobile applications, online video, digital games, data visualization and maps — anything that will help to bring stories to the public in new ways beyond broadcast.

Interested producers are invited to submit proposals until November 10th at Localore.net.A second round of vetting in December will call on producers, matched with incubator stations, to submit final proposals.

Watch the station runway video (above) to see which public stations are interested in partnering with Independents. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get your innovative project considered for this game-changing initiative.

Tags: call for submissions, documentary, film, filmmakers, funding, media makers, producers, Production

ITVS Garners Four Nominations for IFP Gotham Awards

ITVS films received four out of five nominations in the Best Documentary category for the 2011 Gotham Awards. The award ceremony will take place on November 28th at Cipriani Wall Street in New York.

ITVS nearly got a clean sweep in the Best Documentary category of the IFP Gotham Awards with ITVS films receiving four out of the five nominations.  Check out the list of ITVS Best Documentary nominees along with their trailers after the jump >>
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Tags: Awards, Batman, documentary, film festival, Gotham, IFP, independent film, New York, Sundance, Tribeca

ITVS Announces Funding for Eight International Productions through The Global Perspectives Project

ITVS has contracted with eight international documentary projects from its 2011 International Call. The next International Call Deadline is December 9, 2011.

ITVS announced that it has contracted with eight international documentary projects from its 2011 International Call as part of the Global Perspective Project. This year’s selections provide extraordinary access and insight into the daily lives and struggles of people who live in Uruguay, Iran, China, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Myanmar, and India.

The productions were selected through a competitive application process, which resulted in 476 submissions from 118 countries representing 72 languages.

All eight documentary projects are slated for eventual broadcast, including primetime slots on the Emmy® Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, P.O.V., and the international series, Global Voices.

Check out the complete list of funded projects after the jump >>
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Tags: documentary, filmmakers, financing, funding, international, PBS, producers, public media, public television

Women and Girls Lead, Front and Center in NYC

The multi-year public media initiative anchored several high-profile events in New York last month with actor Geena Davis and other key members of the Women and Girls Lead team.

The campaign made a big splash in Manhattan on Tuesday, September 21st with a panel at Mashable’s Social Good Conference at the 92nd Street Y, entitled: Women and Girls Lead: Where Storytelling, Gaming, and Public Media Converge. (NOTE: You can watch the entire panel in the video below…)

The panel was moderated by Aaron Sherinian, VP of Communications at the UN Foundation, and included: Geena Davis (Academy Award winner and advocate), Paula Kerger (president and CEO of PBS), Abigail Disney (executive producer of Women, War & Peace), and Asi Burak (co-founder of Games for Change).
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Tags: Geena Davis, Mashable, New York, nyc, PBS, Social Media, women and girls lead

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with The Storm That Swept Mexico

ITVS celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with Raymond Telles’ documentary and interactive website on the complex historical, social, political, economic and cultural forces that shaped the Mexican Revolution and its legacy.

The Mexican Revolution, the first major political and social revolution of the 20th century, not only changed the course of Mexican history, but also profoundly impacted its relationships with the rest of the world. The Storm That Swept Mexico, produced in association with Latino Public Broadcasting, looks at the complex historical, social, political, economic, and cultural forces that shaped the Revolution, influenced its course and determined its consequences and legacy.

Watch The Storm That Swept Mexico throughout Hispanic Heritage Month on PBS (check local listings).
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Tags: documentary, Heritage Month, Hispanic, Latino, Mexican, Mexico, PBS, revolution

Updates on The Judge and the General

The award winning documentary The Judge and the General  recently broadcast on Global Voices and is currently streaming on PBS.org through October 9th. BTB recently caught up with filmmaker Elizabeth Farnsworth for an update.

The Judge and the General reveals the transformation of Judge Juan Guzmán in Chile as he is assigned by judicial lottery to investigate the first criminal cases filed against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. An international detective story, the film follows the judge as he uncovers the truth about the regime he had supported.

BTB recently caught up with filmmaker Elizabeth Farnsworth, who gave us the following updates since the film first broadcast in 2008:
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World Mourns Passing of Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai, the first environmentalist and African woman to win the Nobel Prize, passed away while having treatment for ovarian cancer on Monday.

Wangari Maathai, the first environmentalist and African woman to win the Nobel Prize, passed away on Monday while having treatment for ovarian cancer. Maathai was the founder of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization encouraging women and families to plant trees.

She was recently the focus of the Independent Lens documentary Taking Root: The Story of Wangari Maathai and was featured in DIRT! The Movie. Maathai will be remembered for her work in women’s rights, democracy, and the environment.

Watch the trailer for Taking Root: The Story of Wangari Maathai >>
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Tags: activism, Africa, environment, international, Kenya, women's empowerment, women's rights

Veteran Producer Raymond Telles Receives 2011 ALMA Award

The prestigious ALMA awards  promote accurate and balanced portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment industry. Raymond Telles was recently lauded with a  ALMA award for Outstanding Career Achievement. 

Telles’s distinguished 30-year career as a documentary filmmaker includes three ITVS-funded films: The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers’ Struggle, Race is the Place, and The Storm that Swept Mexico, a documentary about the Mexican Revolution currently airing on PBS in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month (check local listings).

ITVS is proud to be part of Ray’s extended family, and speaking of extended family, our good friends and co-funders at Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) published a blog post about Ray and his illustrious career. Click here to read the post >>

Watch the trailer for The Storm That Swept Mexico after the jump >>
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Tags: Alma, Awards, Heritage Month, Hispanic, Latino, lifetime achievement, Mexico, PBS