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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Tags: ap, cbc news, Chicago Tribune, film screenings, Independent Lens, indie films, ITVS, PBS, public television, Washington Post, women's empowerment

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

Independent Lens named by MSN as one of “The Best Shows on TV…”
“Why pay $10 for a movie ticket when you can watch some the finest films the cinema has to offer for free — and from the comfort of your couch. Hosted by Maggie Gyllenhaal, the series focusing heavily on documentaries, and offers up films on a variety of topics including cinematography (No Subtitles Necessary), industrial design (Objectified) and a senior citizen choir (Young@Heart). Upcoming films include P-Star Rising about a 9-year-old with hip-hop dreams, Mine, about homeless pets in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Garbage Dreams, which tells the story of the Zabaleen people, who call Cairo’s massive garbage dump their home. Whether your immediately interested in each week’s film or not, the series has a pretty high quality bar which means you’ll rarely commit to watching something that wasn’t well-made and interesting.”
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“In this Independent Lens presentation, Ms. Pezanoski [director of Mine] tells the story of some pet owners struggling to find their companions and bring them home — like Malvin Cavalier, who had to leave his dog behind when he sought shelter in the Superdome…”
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“It’s hard to imagine that a teenage girl, who performed raps on nightclub stages at 9 years old, would be anxious about showcasing her rhymes among peers.”
Read more about this community screening of P-Star Rising >>

Filmmaker Gabriel Noble and Priscilla (P-Star) Diaz discuss P-Star Rising, which recently aired on Independent Lens.
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Tags: Chicago Tribune, MSN, music, New York Times, pets, WNYC

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

“Documentarians are forever in search of a compelling story, which the good doctor is. But in Marsh, the subject of Geoffrey Smith’s latest documentary, THE ENGLISH SURGEON, the director is also blessed with a true leading man; a 60-ish sage in scrubs whom you hope you will never have need of but would top your list if you did.”
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“UNMISTAKEN CHILD bears witness to a strange and mysterious process, the search for the childhood reincarnation of a recently deceased and revered Tibetan master.”
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“[EL GENERAL] is an imaginative cinematic exploration into the contradictions among familial, personal and national memories framed around one of the most influential and controversial presidents in Mexico’s history—Plutarco Elías Calles.”
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Tags: Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times

In the News: The Latest on TULIA, TEXAS

TULIA, TEXAS airs tonight at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings). Check out the latest media coverage below:

“It’s appropriate that the excellent documentary TULIA, TEXAS (three and a half stars) has such a deliberate pace. If the documentary that told the painful story of this town had had a showy or loud style, the result would have been overkill.”
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“Too often, good stories are overtold by the people behind the camera. By contrast, Cassandra Herrman and Kelly Whelan know that the story of 46 people who were subjected to trumped-up drug charges in a town of 5,117 doesn’t need a lot of fancy gimmicks.”
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“From its start, the film lays out discrepancies in perspectives and effects.”
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“As compelling as any feature film, this documentary looks at an undercover agent who put 46 citizens of a small town in jail for drug dealing. All but seven were black citizens from the “other” side of the tracks.”
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“Tonight’s must-see TULIA, TEXAS: The beauty of this richly crafted documentary is its even-handed approach.”
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Tags: Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Texas