“Sunshine is a refreshing and compelling self-portrait of an adopted woman driven to search for her pride and identity while reconnecting with her biological mother.”   -Wellsphere.com

“Profoundly affecting. Even resistant guys will find themselves melting in the sunshine.”   -Austin American Stateman

Has your life ever taken an unexpected detour?  Just in time for Mother’s Day, filmmaker Karen Skloss reunites with her biological mother to tell a personal story about adoption and life as a single mother, while grappling with the definition of family. Young, pregnant, single, and unprepared, Skloss struggles with incredible ironies — that history has repeated itself, and that efforts to protect family can sometimes do the most harm.

Sunshine premieres tonight, Tuesday, May 4 at 10:00 on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).

Programming Manager Karim Ahmad.

Matthew Meschery, ITVS director of digital initiatives, discusses FUTURESTATES at the SXSW trade show.

Preparation for a trip to the SXSW film festival usually entails digging through their program guide jam-packed full of screenings and panels and the like, and trying to figure out how to fit it all in. Soon thereafter, you realize that fitting it all in is a Sisyphean exercise –– it’s just plain impossible. This year in particular was a real banner year for ITVS at SXSW because we had the great pleasure and privilege of presenting the theatrical premiere of FUTURESTATES, our new series of short films, at the festival.

The films premiered Sunday evening to a huge crowd and some very animated reactions in the Austin Convention Center’s 500-seat G-Tech Theater. For me, it was a real thrill after over a year of developing these projects with the filmmakers, to finally get to watch these films with an audience and see how people relate to these innovative new stories about life in a future America.

Of course, the hordes of people who attended our opening didn’t get there all on their own. We had our work cut out for us getting people to the screening (see the aforementioned scheduling impossibilities). Luckily, in addition to me pounding the pavement from screening to screening promoting the FUTURESTATES premiere –– a tall order, when one is pre-occupied with reaching out to the next round of prospective FUTURESTATES applicants –– I also helped out our communications team. They manned a booth at the festival trade show, which was decked out to the nines in full FUTURESTATES regalia. At the booth, we screened some of the films; had a “Predict-O-Meter” station, where folks could enter their predictions into the interactive timeline; and of course, a generous supply of FUTURESTATES-branded microwave popcorn (must-have for any trade show booth).

At the screening, we were lucky enough to be joined by three of the filmmakers from the six films premiering: Annie Howell (director of Tia & Marco), Aldo Velasco (director of Tent City), and Garret Williams (director of The Rise). The other three films screened in this special selection of shorts were Tze Chun’s Silver Sling, Greg Pak’s Mister Green, and Ramin Bahrani’s Plastic Bag. The filmmakers explained the geneses of each of their storylines, their approach to visually creating futuristic worlds on an admittedly tight budget, and even their personal views on the future of America –– all in all, a very smart and comprehensive Q&A.

Of course, I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t mention the fantastic slate of ITVS-funded documentaries in the festival also, specifically Laura Poitras’s The Oath, Carol Dysinger’s Camp Victory, Afghanistan, Neil Diamond’s Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian, and Lixin Fan’s Last Train Home, all of which, I’m happy to say, played to truly riveted crowds festival-wide –– a huge congratulations to them all.

All in all, this year’s festival, more than any other year I’ve been, was a truly amazing experience –– and not just for me, but for ITVS, and for the talented group of filmmakers we were lucky to bring in to create the first season of FUTURESTATES. Now go check them out online at futurestates.tv –– I’ve got to get back to work on season 2!

Karim Ahmad
ITVS Programming Manager

Actor Mikel Chase with Aldo Velasco after the FUTURESTATES screening at SXSW.

When I learned that my film Tent City would be screening at SXSW as part of the FUTURESTATES presentation, I was editing a feature film in production in a jungle in India, near the Bhutanese border. I wanted to go to Austin but wasn’t sure if it was worth it; I’d have to leave production a week early, then travel for three and a half days around the globe to make it in time.

It was a crapshoot, because festival screenings are often a bit of a letdown. You arrive full of high hopes, but audiences rarely provide the kind of rapturous response that every filmmaker craves. But I had to see Tent City in front of an audience. This might be my only chance, because the FUTURESTATES shorts were created for Internet broadcast. Would my film’s complex story-within-a-story structure play in front of a crowd? One thing was for sure: I myself would not be able to enjoy my own screening. I’d be too nervous and too hypersensitive to the audience’s mood to relax.

But on Sunday, March 14, I was very pleasantly surprised. My film –– in fact all the films –– looked gorgeous splayed onto that stadium-sized screen at the Austin Convention Center. My previous digital shorts had looked a bit fuzzy when blown up to the silver screen. But Tent City, which was shot on the RED camera by the very talented Mathew Rudenberg, looked breathtaking –– at least to me! A large portion of my film is composed of black and white stills, used to relay a futuristic science-fiction story in the manner of Chris Marker’s La Jetée. With their inky blacks and icy whites, these stark still images surpassed all my expectations for the force of their narrative power.

Watch the FUTURESTATES series trailer:

The objective of the series is to reimagine the problems of today in a slightly futuristic setting. Greg Pak’s Mister Green envisions a future in which bio-terrorists might be the best thing for mankind. Tze Chun’s film Silver Sling is about a world in which surrogate mothers can perform accelerated pregnancies for paying customers –– at tremendous personal cost. And Tent City follows the current housing crisis to its logical conclusion and projects a future in which almost all families have lost their homes and must live in improvised tent cities.

If there were any doubts about the audience’s interest in the films, the question and answer session swept them away. People seemed fascinated not only with the films and their themes but how the entire series was created. Somebody asked about the dystopian quality of the films, how all of them projected a bleak future. This took me by surprise; I don’t feel I have a particularly pessimistic worldview. My response to the question was that by necessity any film about the future had to be dystopian, at least to a small degree. Narrative structure demanded it; otherwise there would be no tension in the story. And I realize now that for the most part the FUTURESTATES films are optimistic about humankind’s ability to stay humane even under adverse conditions.

Later that night PBS and ITVS threw a raucous party on the set of Austin City Limits that took all of us by surprise for its bacchanalian ferocity. Who knew that public television folks could be such relentless hedonists?

Aldo Velasco
Filmmaker of Tent City on FUTURESTATES

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!

Learn more about the FUTURESTATES screening at SXSW >>

Filmmaker Keith Maitland with film subjects of The Eyes of Me.

Panel moderator Paul Stekler leads a round table discussion with Keith Maitland, filmmaker of The Eyes of Me; Karen Skloss, filmmaker of Sunshine; Michel Scott, filmmaker of The Horse Boy.

Last night, nearly 200 people gathered in a dark room to share an hour-long look into the lives of four blind teenagers. With the twinkling lights of the Austin City Limits stage as a backdrop, I couldn’t ask for a more fitting place to experience the incredible communal experience of watching the live Independent Lens broadcast of The Eyes of Me.

The Eyes of Me follows four blind teens over the course of one dynamic year. It’s about watching these teens growing up before our eyes. As they discover who they are, it is my hope that you will discover something about yourself –– it’s about challenging your own perception and seeing yourself in a new way… at least that’s what it’s always been about for me.

The entire process of creating this film, from a nascent idea, through 250 hours of rolling cameras, and two and half years of editing, has been both rewarding and challenging in degrees that I’m still not sure I can register. Along the way, I have learned many lessons about my creative processes, and my own humanity.

The event was especially exciting for me –– by coincidence Independent Lens scheduled the film to air on March 2, otherwise known around these parts as Texas Independence Day. Patrick Floyd, my producing partner had the great idea to celebrate Texas Independence Day as Texas Independents’ Day due to the fact that this season, Indie Lens has chosen three Austin-based independent films: The Eyes of Me, Karen Skloss’ Sunshine and The Horse Boy by Michel Scott.

As the crowd assembled in the historic room, Bill Baird of the Austin band Sunset, kicked off the night with a short set of his distinctively beautiful songs –– many of which are on the soundtrack of my film.

KLRU set the stage for an incomparable filmmaker’s round table led by the award-winning filmmaker and professor, Paul Stekler. Paul was effusive in his description of all three films and probing in his line of questions for me, Karen, and Michel. It was a rare pleasure for me to share the stage with these filmmakers and to give our assembled audience a view into the other great Austin films that Independent Lens will present this season. Each filmmaker gave their own perspective on what goals they have for the impact of their film on the audience and I was really pleased to hear both Karen and Michel express sentiments similar to my own –– we make independent films so that audiences can connect with our subjects and in effect, understand themselves and each other that much better. It’s a simple goal that takes years of work to accomplish.

During the screening I experienced a mixture of feelings: happiness, pride, and relief. It’s been a long road to get to Independent Lens. There have been a lot of folks who have contributed to the effort and without them all, last night could never have happened.

To everyone at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the hundreds of individual donors, All Blind Children of Texas, The Meadows Foundation, Austin Film Society, ITVS, Independent Lens, PBS, and, of course, to the audience who let us into their living room last night, on Texas Independents’ Day, I can’t think of anything more fitting to say than: Thanks Y’all.

-Keith Maitland
Filmmaker, The Eyes of Me

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.

Camp Victory, Afghanistan
By Carol Dysinger
Camp Victory, Afghanistan follows several soldiers — Afghan and American — across the divide of language, culture, and religion as they attempt to accomplish a near impossible task: crafting a modern army to serve a struggling nation.

Last Train Home
By Lixin Fan and Mila Aung-Thwin
China experiences the largest internal migration in the world as rural workers travel to cities looking for employment. In Last Train Home, filmmaker Lixin Fan follows the Zhang family who save all year to travel home for Chinese New Year, along with over 100 million other migrant workers, hoping to salvage the relationship with their teenage daughter.

The Oath
By Laura Poitras
Filmed in Yemen, The Oath is a family drama about Al Qaeda and Guantanamo Bay Prison. This documentary is the second in a trilogy about America post 9/11. The first film, My Country, My Country, documented the U.S. occupation of Iraq from the perspective of an Iraqi family. The third film will focus on domestic surveillance.

Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian
By Neil Diamond
Reel Injun is an exciting, insightful and entertaining feature length documentary about the evolution of the image of North American Native people (The Indians) in famous Hollywood movies, from the silent era to today.
Visit Beyond the Box blog later this month to watch video and get updates on the festival.

Learn more about SXSW >>

ITVS Programming Manager Karim Ahmad with WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM co-producer Megan Gilbride and Kyle Henry.

Karen Skloss, director of SUNSHINE, with Aaron Gaudet, director of THE WAY WE GET BY, winner of the Special Jury Prize at SXSW.

Despite unseasonably cold and wet weather in Austin (and an economic crunch felt industry wide), the opening weekend of the SXSW film and interactive festival was as frenzied as ever.

I arrived in Austin a couple days before the start of the festival, which allowed me a taste of the city––sans festival. I welcomed the proverbial calm before the storm. But more importantly, arriving early gave me the opportunity to conduct a proposal-writing seminar at the University of Texas for students of the graduate film and TV department. UT Austin has long been the stomping ground for many members of the ITVS-funded filmmaker family, so I was glad to reach out to this group before graduation.

In fact, many UT alumni had films in the festival, including Keith Maitland, director of the innovative and impactful ITVS-funded film THE EYES OF ME, Karen Skloss, also ITVS-funded for her fearless and evocative film SUNSHINE, and Ben Steinbauer, whose film Winnebago Man proved a festival favorite––not only due to its highly entertaining nature, but also a special appearance by the Winnebago Man himself, Jack Rebney who has become a hit on YouTube. Other ITVS-funded films at the festival included GOODBYE SOLO, directed by Ramin Bahrani, and THE WAY WE GET BY, directed by Aaron Gaudet, and winner of the Special Jury Award in the documentary competition.

Once the festival was in full swing, I was engaged in the usual juggling act of screenings and meetings and panels galore. At SXSW, there is always far too much happening at one time to do it all! But the panels I attended offered some interesting case studies on distribution and marketing in the brave new world of new media. SXSW demonstrated that digital distribution continues to be a hot topic, and while no one has it all completely figured out, there’s much to be gleaned from forays to date. “The Future of DVD and Digital Distribution” was one such panel, wherein a lengthy discussion took place about the relatively low revenue earned by digital distribution compared to fees earned by television licenses. Rick Allen of SnagFilms likened the state of online video today to the early days of cable, and noted that it took decades to get cable advertising price parity with what it is now. Another hot topic was, as always, funding––and that in this economic climate. Private equity funding for film and TV is slimmer than ever, highlighting the importance of public funding opportunities like ITVS.

Not generally one for the festival party circuit, my evenings mostly consisted of opting for oversized portions of Texas BBQ. But I was happy to make an exception Sunday evening, when ITVS and PBS welcomed festival attendees to our Happy Hour at the Mooseknuckle Pub. This Sixth Street locale was packed with festival-goers and filmmakers alike; eating, drinking and merriment ensued, as the entire shindig was streamed live by PBS Engage (check out a clip of the music performance below).

By Monday, as clouds faded and the temperature rose, I managed to squeeze in a few precious minutes of sun between mentor sessions with emerging filmmakers, before returning to the vestiges of winter in San Francisco that evening, feeling both exhausted and sated from a full schedule at what remains one of my favorite film festivals in the country.

- Karim
Programming Manager, ITVS

PBS Engage hosted a Social Media & Online Video Studio on Sixth Street. Check out the interview below with ITVS-funded filmmaker Gary Huswit, (HELVETICA/Independent Lens), who discusses his new film Objectified.

Check out other filmmaker interviews on YouTube >>

Hip-hop violinist Paul Dateh and singer songwriter Ken Belcher performed at the Happy Hour hosted by ITVS and PBS at the Mooseknuckle Pub. Watch part of their performance below: