Newly Funded: ITVS is Pleased to Announce Funding for Mariachi High
ITVS recently approved funding for the documentary Mariachi High by filmmakers Kim Connell and Ilana Trachtman.
In a part of America that rarely makes headlines, there is a small town with a group of teenagers who will captivate your ears and warm your heart. Mariachi High presents a year in the life of the champion mariachi ensemble at Zapata High School on the Rio Grande in South Texas. As they compete and perform with astonishing musical virtuosity, these teens, and the music they make, will inspire, surprise, and bring you to your feet.
Join ITVS is congratulating the filmmakers!
Words Are the Building Blocks for New Ideas
ITVS and PBS Food are proud to present three videos from Douglas Gayeton’s The Lexicon of Sustainability multiplatform project, which uses photo collage, animation, and hand-written typography to explore terms and ideas behind sustainable agriculture.
The Lexicon of Sustainability is based on a simple premise: people can’t be expected to live more sustainable lives if they don’t even know the most basic terms and principles that define sustainability.
For the past three years Douglas Gayeton and Laura Howard-Gayeton have crisscrossed the USA to learn this new language of sustainability from its foremost practitioners in food and farming. Alice Waters on edible schoolyards. Wes Jackson on reinventing wheat farming. Joel Salatin on embracing the value of saner farming practices. Vandana Shiva on the global imperative of protecting seeds. Paul Stamets on how mushrooms can save the world. Will Allen on Food Security. Temple Grandin on the humane slaughter of animals. Farmer John on the revolutionary idea of community-supported agriculture.
RECAP: Doc U — The Future of Docs on PBS
By Katharine Relth
On Thursday, May 10th, Independent Lens Senior Series Producer Lois Vossen sat on a panel for “Doc U: The Future of Docs on PBS” in Los Angeles, CA. The event was presented by the International Documentary Association.
In preparing for last night’s Doc U: The Future of Docs on PBS, each one of the panelists (and probably most of the audience) thought that they would be gearing up for some major mobilization. Up until Wednesday, May 9, the IDA and other proponents of quality independent programming like Kartemquin Films had joined together to release a public campaign against PBS’s recent decision to move its exemplary series for independent documentaries, Independent Lens and POV, from their long-established slots on Tuesday night to Thursday night, a slot reserved for local programming. But the day before this panel was set to mobilize the documentary community to support IDA and Kartemquin’s PBS Needs Indies campaign, the Public Broadcasting Station announced that both Independent Lens and POV would find a new home on Monday nights. This was an incredible victory for everyone involved. The IDA was so pleased with this announcement, hoping it will mean a renewed viewership for the programs affected by the earlier change. › Continue reading
Life Begins at Rewirement Premieres on FUTURESTATES
Directed by Trevin Matcek the film will be available to stream for free at futurestates.tv and simultaneously on pbs.org.
In Life Begins at Rewirement — Simon Ender struggles with his decision to commit his elderly mother into a revolutionary nursing home alternative that has solved the rapidly growing Senior Citizen overpopulation. Learn more about the short by filmmaker Trevin Matcek in this recently produced BTB interview, after the jump.
› Continue reading
Kony Unveiled: A Social Screening of Peace vs. Justice
ITVS presents an online social screening of Klaartje Quirijns’s Peace vs. Justice on Wednesday, May 16 at 5PM PT / 8PM ET. The event will take place here.
What do you really know about Joseph Kony? On Wednesday we will be hosting a live online screening and discussion of the documentary Peace vs. Justice, going beyond the slick marketing of KONY 2012 and taking an in-depth look at the rebel leaders responsible for the most egregious of human-rights abuses – kidnapping children and forcing them to fight.
Peace vs. Justice examines the International Criminal Court’s investigation of the LRA and takes a critical look at the problems of applying Western ideas of justice and reconciliation to other countries and continents.
Join us for a social screening of Peace vs. Justice with filmmaker Klaartje Quirijns, who will be taking part in the screening to talk about the film and take your questions live. › Continue reading
Director Sedika Mojadidi on Filming Her Father in Motherland Afghanistan
Director Sedika Mojadidi
One in seven Afghan women dies in childbirth. Motherland Afghanistan, airing Sunday, May 13 on Global Voices on the WORLD Channel (check listings), introduces the women behind these devastating statistics. Afghan American filmmaker Sedika Mojadidi examines her father’s work as an OB/GYN as he struggles to make a difference. Beyond the Box spoke with Mojadidi about filming such an intimate story alongside her father.
Both your parents are physicians. How did you get into film?
I was always interested in movies. I gravitated toward them naturally, from a young age. And in school, I studied film for a long time, film theory and film history. I was never good in science or math so it’s ironic that I’m following my parent’s story because growing up I wasn’t really all that interested in medicine.
Your voiceover guides part of the film, but it’s your father’s voice that serves as the chief narrative. Was this your intention all along?
Dr. Qudrat Mojadidi serves as both a principle charcter in the documentary and as the filmmaker's father
It was always my plan. Actually, I never planned to be in the film but that emerged out of the process of making it for two years. After the first trip, we looked at some of the footage of me translating and other producers felt strongly about keeping me in the picture. I fought against it but eventually surrendered. I felt strongly from the get-go that the film needed to be from my father’s perspective. The film needed to be centered around him, his work, and the patients he looked after.
You immigrated to the U.S. when you were very little in 1972. How much of a culture shock was it for you to return to Afghanistan and shoot this film?
American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen Hits Denver for PBS Annual Meeting
On May 17, Hill Harper, Tony Plana, and Priscilla Diaz will join CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison at the PBS Annual Meeting in Denver for a public discussion on the nation’s dropout crisis as part of the public media initiative, American Graduate: Let’s Make it Happen, made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Priscilla Star Diaz has come a long way. The charmingly little girl of Gabriel Noble’s P-Star Rising (2009) is now a poised 17-year-old starring in her third season of The Electric Company. The hip-hop sensation—who experienced her own struggle with literacy—frequently speaks about self-esteem, persistence, and the value of an education. Diaz is one of several high-profile supporters of American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen who will join public media professionals from across the country at the PBS Annual Meeting in Denver next week.
Patricia Harrison, CEO of CPB
Hill Harper, the film, television and stage actor currently starring in CSI: NY, and notable actor Tony Plana of Ugly Betty fame, will appear with Diaz and CPB President & CEO Patricia Harrison at a special American Graduate breakfast meeting on Thursday morning.
Launched in 2011, American Graduate is public media’s initiative to help communities address the dropout crisis. The project includes television and radio specials, screenings and Teacher Town Halls with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, community partnerships, and, engaging curricula for students in an out of the classroom, and includes new ITVS programming that focuses on the Latino community. High school dropout is an issue that has many faces, and affects people in myriad walks of life—and people across the country are taking action.
› Continue reading
The ITVS Indies Roundup
A curated list of indie news and recommendations from ITVS’s Rebecca Huval.
Get your creativity on! Longshot Radio and Radiolab talked about creativity, revision, and failure at the 99% Conference in New York City last week. For your listening pleasure, they compiled their editors’ picks of podcasts from the event.
Behold the TV of the future: using an iPad as a remote, you can control the features that appear on your screen and the overall size, which can stretch the length of your living room wall. Wired claims this is just “what the TV industry needs to stay relevant.”
“I want a man like Putin, who doesn’t drink. I want a man like Putin, who won’t make me sad.” These are the actual lyrics to a Russian pop song. This gem is explained in the new PBS show SOUND TRACKS that will broadcast in Fall 2012. Until then, you can watch their series on the web to learn the political and cultural stories behind music around the world.
› Continue reading
New Primetime Home for Indie Series Emerges From Independent Strategy Task Force Meetings
ITVS President and CEO Sally Jo Fifer Applauds Year-Round Monday Slot on PBS Core Schedule to Help Meet First-Order Mission of Public Broadcasting
I’m pleased to report that the Independent Strategy Task Force has emerged from months of conversation to deliver a new 10 p.m. primetime slot on Monday nights for Independent Lens and POV. This is great news for our series filmmakers and audiences, but more importantly it affirms the partnership and mission that independents and public broadcasting steward together: amplifying diverse voices to strengthen our democracy.
› Continue reading
The 6th World Premieres on FUTURESTATES
Directed by Nanobah Becker the film will be available to stream for free at futurestates.tv and simultaneously on pbs.org.
Navajo Astronaut Tazbah Redhouse is a pilot on the first spaceship sent to colonize Mars. But a mysterious dream the night before her departure indicates there may be more to her mission than she understands. Watch filmmaker Nanobah Becker’s The 6th World, free on futurestates.tv.
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
- #ILDocClub
- All Video
- Ask Programming
- Audio Podcasts
- Awards
- Community Cinema
- Community Classroom
- Exclusive
- Film Festivals
- Filmmaker Profile
- From the President's Desk
- FUTURESTATES
- Global Voices
- Half the Sky
- In the News
- Independent Lens
- Indie Roundup
- Inside Indies
- Institutional Updates
- ITVS Broadcasts
- ITVS Deep Dive
- ITVS Funding
- ITVS indie roundup
- ITVS Indies Showcase
- ITVS International
- Live Chat
- Minority Consortia
- New Online
- On the Road
- Producer Resources
- Public Media
- Recently Funded
- Social Media
- Social Screening
- Special Events
- Talkback
- Uncategorized
- Women and Girls Lead
Related sites
Film Blogs
Public Media Blogs
-
Get the Beyond the Box e-newsletter, sent monthly with the latest news about ITVS, funding opportunities and more. Enter your email and sign up.
-
Sign up for the Independent Lens newsletter. Get news once a week during the broadcast season (fall-spring).