Granito Makes Good Use of the Past
A Scene from Granito
Granito is a story of destinies joined by Guatemala’s past, and how a documentary film from 1982 — When the Mountains Tremble — became forensic evidence to help prove a genocide case against a military dictator.
In Granito, the characters sift for clues buried in archives of mind and place and historical memory, seeking to uncover a narrative that could unlock the past and settle matters of life and death in the present. Like a crime thriller where the narrative is revealed step by step, this epic film travels between present and past, uncovering evidence of massive crimes and bringing accountability to the present.
The film, by Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis, was selected during last year’s round of Open Call.
Watch the producers of Granito answer questions about the film below.
Flood-Ravaged Pakistan Struggles to Survive
The recent floods in Pakistan have taken a devastating toll on the nation, affecting as much as a quarter of the country. So far, the death rate has climbed to an estimated 2,000 and the overall damage has affected approximately 20 million Pakistanis.
Women and children have been the worst affected, as millions await aid and protection. Touring the wreckage last weekend, UN. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the floods the worst destruction he had ever witnessed.
The flooding, which began in late July, brings suffering to an area already rife with political turmoil. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was recently criticized for taking a trip to Europe to meet with leaders in Britain and France. Critics slammed the trip as “insensitive” and called it a “joy ride.” President Zardari most recently decided to forgo any celebration of the 63rd Anniversary of Pakistan’s independence last Saturday, August 14.
All news to date indicates that the situation in Pakistan is likely to worsen before it improves. A harsh truth to the already high casualty figures is that many more towns and villages, not accessible by communication, will likely have greater losses to report in the weeks ahead. Relief and recovery efforts will certainly remain the highest priority in Pakistan long after the floodwaters recede.
As Pakistanis — an especially high percentage of them women and children — face this unprecedented catastrophe it is important to remember the forces of strength and survival that have been produced from that nation. Benazir Bhutto, one of history’s most resilient leaders, inspired millions in times of struggle. The nature of such leadership is what rallies a country in times of crisis, and it’s certainly worth remembering such a historical figure now.
Slated to run this season on Independent Lens, Filmmaker Duane Baughman’s, Bhutto, chronicles the life of the first woman in history to lead a Muslim nation.
In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs
Film Series to Empower Women
Independent Television Service, producers of Emmy-award winning documentaries for public television, has teamed up with the Chicago Foundation for Women, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Chicago Public Media to present the Women’s Empowerment Summer Film Series — a free series of screenings highlighting issues facing women in the U.S. and around the world. A 45-minute discussion with representatives from local organizations serving women and girls will follow each screening.
Littlefeather recounts price of native activism
Sacheen Littlefeather, the actor who stood in for Marlon Brando at the 1973 Oscars, says she paid a high price for her criticism of Hollywood portrayals of First Nations people. Littlefeather, now 63, said that act of advocacy cut her acting career short and put her life at risk. She was speaking to TV critics in a promotion for Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian, a Canadian-made documentary that is to air on PBS’s Independent Lens in November.
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Rosie O’Donnell returns to daytime TV on Oprah’s net
Oprah Winfrey announces that Rosie O’Donnell is returning to daytime TV in a talk show (gak) on The Oprah Winfrey Network, in the middle of PBS’s day at Summer TV Press Tour 2010 when, if she’d waited until the next morning, she could have announced it during Discovery’s day at the tour — Discovery being Oprah’s partner in OWN. So instead of listening to Benazir Bhutto’s cousin Mahin Hemmat, and Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani talk about a new PBS Independent Lens project, Bhutto, they were madly typing on their laptops about how the sometimes polarizing Rosie…
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Brando’s 1973 Oscar Stand-in Recounts Fallout
Sacheen Littlefeather says she paid a price when she decried Hollywood’s stereotyped portrayal of American Indians at the 1973 Oscars… She spoke Thursday during a presentation to TV critics on “Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian,” a documentary airing in November on the “Independent Lens” series.
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ITVS Teams Up with All Roads Film Project at Nat Geo
Michon Boston, Community Cinema’s Regional Outreach Coordinator in Washington D.C., updates BTB on a new partnership between ITVS and the All Roads Film Project at National Geographic.
My first community partnership experience with the All Roads Film Project at National Geographic was in 2007 when ITVS and All Roads co-hosted a special screening of Miss Navajo for the All Roads Film Festival. We brought in filmmaker Billy Luther, and the film’s star Crystal Frazier (and her mom) to join the Q&A moderated by Francene Blythe, the festival’s director. The National Geographic special events team hired a vendor to make fry bread on the spot during the after-party on the patio. It was a night to remember; especially the fry bread. Additionally, ITVS International content has appeared on the National Geographic Channel in the past. The two organizations also partnered up this past summer for the premiere screening of Bhutto in Washington, DC and back in 2007 around the film Please Vote for Me.
Visiones Kicks Off on Global Voices
Visiones: Latino Art and Culture, directed by Hector Galan
Visiones: Latino Art and Culture profiles some of the most influential painters, musicians, dancers, and writers working in America today. Parts one and two of the six-part series air this Sunday, August 15 on Global Voices on PBS WORLD.
Directed by Hector Galan, Visiones explores how contemporary Latino artists continue to build on rich traditions that reflect a unique multi-ethnic experience, taking established art forms and reinventing them, constantly challenging themselves and the communities that nurture them.
From New York City’s breakdancers to mural painters in Los Angeles to stage actors in Texas, the series offers a unique cross section of Latino artists working today.
Check out parts one and two of Visiones this Sunday on Global Voices.
FUTURESTATES Goes Hollywood
It’s official: FUTURESTATES has gone Hollywood. No, we didn’t sign a multimillion dollar deal with a studio for a trilogy of sci-fi features to rival Marvel Studios’s many franchises (but there’s always next year). We’re referring instead to a selection of five FUTURESTATES films presented in the posh screening room at the offices of top Hollywood talent agency CAA.
Last week’s screening was co-hosted by CAA and Film Independent (FIND), designed to promote the exceptional work these organizations are doing in both independent and commercial film and television circles to promote diversity in the industry, and also to celebrate the FIND fellows that were greenlit by ITVS for season 1 of FUTURESTATES: Ramin Bahrani (Plastic Bag), Tze Chun (Silver Sling), Amyn Kaderali (The Other Side), Aldo Velasco (Tent City), and Garret Williams (The Rise).
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On the Scene at a War Criminal’s Conviction
Filmmaker Adrian Maben
The ITVS-funded film-in-progress Comrade Duch tells the story of the gifted Cambodian mathematician turned mass killer Kaing Guek Eav and the trial to bring him to justice. Filmmaker Adrian Maben was outside the courtroom last month when Duch was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
When I started to work on Comrade Duch, it was clear in my mind that this film should not be a courtroom film with heaps of legal wrangling and judicial squabbles. The central idea was to find an answer to the question of how one man could possibly inflict so much pain on his fellow citizens and justify his acts.
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Revisiting Sentenced Home and the Case of Many Uch
Filmmakers Nicole Newnham and David Grabias
Sentenced Home aired back in 2007 on Independent Lens and put a human face on a controversial immigration policy. The film followed three young Cambodian Americans, raised in inner-city Seattle, each of whom faced deportation for mistakes they made as teenagers. Filmmakers Nicole Newnham and David Grabias provide an update on the case of Many Uch, one of the three subjects featured in Sentenced Home.
In June, 2007, Many Uch decided to apply for a pardon for his 1994 crime from Christine Gregoire, the governor of Washington State. Although we knew it was a long shot, it was something that we had been hoping he would do for quite a while. We met Many while filming Sentenced Home in 2003, and we were struck by his gentle soul and his extraordinarily thoughtful perspective on his difficult situation: in limbo, living with the constant threat of an order of deportation to Cambodia.
On the Road: ITVS Represented at DocMontevideo
ITVS' Claire Aguilar, with, Luis González Zaffaroni and Patricia Boero
Last month, ITVS’s Vice President of Programming Claire Aguilar attended DocMontevideo in Montevideo, Uruguay and filed this report.
Montevideo, Uruguay, — a European-style city between Argentina and Brazil — is a unique and surprising place for a television documentary conference. Since Uruguay has been in the news recently — they took a triumphant fourth place at this year’s World Cup and elected a new president in the spring, the former leftist-guerilla Jose Mujica — I was delighted to get a chance to come to a documentary event and also discover this fascinating and beautiful country.
In just its second year, DocMontevideo has established itself as a meeting ground for documentary filmmakers and broadcasters on the South American continent. It comprises a series of workshops, informational seminars, broadcaster meetings, and a pitching forum for 15 projects in development and production. This year, the meeting convened 300 television producers and documentary filmmakers and 30 broadcasters from South and North America.
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Thunder in Guyana Strikes Global Voices
Power Couple: Janet Rosenberg and Dashing Cheddi Jagan
How did a 77-year-old Jewish woman from Chicago become the president of a South American country?
In Thunder in Guyana, airing this Sunday on Global Voices on PBS WORLD, filmmaker Suzanne Wasserman offers a compelling explanation.
Wasserman grew up fascinated by her glamorous cousin Janet, a Chicago native, who at 23 fell in love with a handsome dental student from a country no one in her family had even heard of. Together, the political power couple became known as the founders of modern Guyana, and in 1997, Janet Rosenberg became the first American-born woman to lead a nation.
Throughout the film, Wasserman uses interviews, family photos and archival footage to tell the story of her remarkable cousin: a tale of life-long love, political intrigue, and struggles to bring progressive policies to an adopted country.
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A free monthly screening series, Community Cinema features films from the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens.
In over 50 cities nationwide, screenings are followed by lively panel discussions that bring together citizens, organizations and public television stations to encourage dialogue and action around important and timely social issues. Last season, over 40,000 people attended 500 events nationwide.
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