digital
New Partnership Reimagines Documentary Storytelling on the Web
By: Jonathan Archer
ITVS has partnered with Mozilla, the Tribeca Film Institute, BAVC, and the Center for Social Media to create the Living Docs Project — a new film community inspired by our original collaboration with Mozilla last October.
Launching Monday, the Living Docs Project brings together documentary filmmakers, developers, funders, and the audience to make the case for a new kind of storytelling on the web.
The web has given documentary filmmakers a powerful mechanism to distribute their films, but we have only scratched the surface of how it can change storytelling. The Living Docs Project sees the web as a canvas on which new types of documentaries can be told.
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ITVS Announces Funding for 30 Mosques in 30 States Project
30 Mosques in 30 States is a unique, multimedia portrait of diverse Muslim communities throughout America.
Part travel blog, part photo essay, part video diary, and part mobile application, 30 Mosques in 30 States is an original documentary experience developed by digital media producers Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq – two young Muslim Americans who set out to visit a different mosque in a different U.S. state for each of the 30 days of Ramadan. The two’s 13,000-mile route will essentially take them across the entire country before they end up back home in New York City. Through their journey, we learn about the first mosque built in the U.S. in the tiny town of Ross, North Dakota in 1929 as well as what life is like for Muslim Americans in Alaska.
There are an estimated 3 million to 4 million Muslims living in the United States – a number that is expected to double by the year 2030. Muslims in the U.S. come from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds including African Americans, South and East Asians, Europeans, Arabs, and East Africans. 30 Mosques in 30 States is a glimpse into the mosaic of Muslim life that can only be told with today’s new forms of digital storytelling. Join Aman and Bassam on their journey, here: http://30mosques.com/
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Live Coverage of PBS at TCA Press Tour
This weekend, PBS will present some of this year’s lineup at the TCA Press Tour in Los Angeles. BTB is at The Beverly Hilton and will be relaying updates from the conference in a series of live posts.
Public Media Invests in Games for Change
By Matthew Meschery
The ITVS-funded Garbage Dreams Game was recognized at this year’s eight annual Games for Change Festival in New York City. Matthew Meschery heads up ITVS’ digital initiatives and participated in one of the festival’s panel, entitled “Public Media and Games.”
So, what does public media have to do with games? Well, with the exception of PBS Kids, there are few examples to date of games being produced within public media. However, that may be about to change. During our panel, representatives from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities announced changes to their classification guidelines to accept proposals for games. I was happy to report that at ITVS we are currently funding several gaming projects that are companion elements to ITVS-funded documentary films. Although these represent small steps, perhaps this is the beginning of a move within public media to embrace games for general audiences, beyond the excellent content that PBS develops for children.
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FOCUS ON: No-budget filmmaking with Mark Thiedeman
By Melody Morgan
FOCUS ON is a regular interview series profiling independent filmmakers and their projects. Up this week is Mark Thiedeman, who has directed many short films and one feature film, The Scoundrel. His new feature, Last Summer, is currently in development and is scheduled to shoot in Arkansas in August.
A scene from "Last Summer," Mark Thiedeman's upcoming feature film
What is the least amount of money you’ve spent on a narrative feature, and how did you manage that?
I shot a no-budget feature in New York a few years ago called The Scoundrel. It cost about $3,000, which was essentially the cost of food, transportation, and half a dozen props. I had an amazing cinematographer, David Goodman, who worked for free, and had some nice looking locations, which were also free. Lucky for us, there are certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn with beautiful restaurants, apartments, and bars that seem to have come from a different era. No art direction required. Why pay for set decoration when you don’t have to?
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Vilmos Zsigmond Answers Your Questions
Director Vilmos Zsigmond
Iconic cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond — DP on such classics as The Deer Hunter, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind — sat down with Independent Lens to answer a few of the questions the audience posed to him earlier this season.
Find out who his favorite directors and fellow cinematographers are, what’s wrong with American film schools, and what exactly constitutes the “American New Wave” he and his best friend Laszlo Kovacs are sometimes credited with ushering in during the 1960s and 1970s.
Read the full interview here>>
The BAVC Producers Institute Extends Storytelling Into the Digital Realm
Wendy Levy, director of the BAVC Producers Institute
Filmmakers, do you know your alternate reality from your augmented reality? If not, you may want to get a glimpse into the future of documentary film by checking out what’s going on at The Bay Area Video Coalition’s Producers Institute for New Media Technologies.
The Producers Institute is a 10-day residency for independent producers who, in collaboration with teams of strategists, technologists, and NGO partners, develop and prototype multi-platform projects related to their documentary projects. Now in its fourth year, the Producers Institute has gained recognition as an incubator for cutting-edge content and thought leadership in public and social interest media. That’s why we’re especially excited that four producers are participating this year with projects related to their ITVS-funded films: Pamela Yates, Granito (Open Call, 2009); Roland Leguiri-Laura, To Be Heard (Open Call, 2008); Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen, The Revolutionary Optimists (Open Call, 2009); and Jehan Harney, Dream of America (Diversity Development Fund, 2008).
This year, ITVS staffers were lucky enough to attend some of the events and activities, including the day of final presentations. By then, producers’ eyes were bleary from a full week of non-stop brainstorming, whiteboarding, designing, wire-framing, and developing their prototypes. Despite the frenetic schedule, the producers presented some impressive work that ranged from the aforementioned alternate reality and augmented reality game prototypes, to geo-targeted mapping projects, to mobile social applications, and much more. Videos of the final presentations should be posted soon, but to learn about the specific project proposals, you can click here. To get a re-cap of the week from the archived Twitter feed and to see more pics, click here.
Rent Independent Lens and Global Voices Episodes on iTunes
Looking to watch something from the comfort of your home over the holidays?
Check out the PBS Indies page on iTunes where you’ll find more than 20 indie films from Independent Lens, Global Voices and other public television series and broadcasts.
Each film is now available for rent for $2.99 or for purchase at $9.99.
A selection of films include: ADJUST YOUR COLOR: The Truth of Petey Green, THE ATOM SMASHERS, BANISHED, the Oscar-nominated DAUGHTER FROM DANANG, A DREAM IN DOUBT, LAKSHMI AND ME, THE LOSS OF NAMELESS THINGS, MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH: TERRA INCOGNITA, MARCH POINT, MILKING THE RHINO, OPERATION FILMMAKER, POWER TRIP, RED WHITE BLACK & BLUE, A SON’S SACRIFICE, STRANDED: The Andes Plane Crash Survivors and ESTILO HIP HOP.
ITVS and PBS Offer Indie Content on iTunes Store
Tired of searching for high-quality indie films? Look no further. ITVS and PBS recently collaborated to bring more than 20 independent films to the iTunes store. Curated specifically for iTunes, this diverse collection includes films from Independent Lens, Global Voices and other public television series and broadcasts.
Some of the groundbreaking films from Independent Lens now available on iTunes include: ADJUST YOUR COLOR: The Truth of Petey Green, THE ATOM SMASHERS, BANISHED, the Oscar-nominated DAUGHTER FROM DANANG, A DREAM IN DOUBT, LAKSHMI AND ME, THE LOSS OF NAMELESS THINGS, MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH: TERRA INCOGNITA, MARCH POINT, MILKING THE RHINO, OPERATION FILMMAKER, POWER TRIP, RED WHITE BLACK & BLUE, A SON’S SACRIFICE, STRANDED: The Andes Plane Crash Survivors and ESTILO HIP HOP, which premiered on the PBS WORLD series Global Voices. Each film is available for purchase at $9.99.
This initiative is part of the Independent Digital Distribution Lab, a project to expand distribution to broadband-connected audiences while exploring revenue-generating partnership models for independent filmmakers and public television.
“By offering content on iTunes, we are helping producers who want to experiment with online content gain access to PBS’s digital distribution outlets,” said Sally Jo Fifer, president and CEO of ITVS.
Apply Now: Producers Institute for New Media Technologies
Are you a filmmaker looking to develop innovative and interactive ways to engage audiences?
The Producers Institute for New Media Technologies, hosted by the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), is a ten-day residency for eight creative teams (independent producers or public broadcasters) with a shared goal of developing and prototyping a multi-platform project inspired by or based on a significant documentary project.
Filmmakers who participate in the institute will develop socially relevant media projects for emerging digital platforms and have opportunities to participate in high-level industry roundtables, intense one-on-one project development with technical mentors, new media storytelling workshops and hands-on prototyping of their ideas.
Participants will adapt and develop film, video and audio content for delivery using a range of interactive formats, including video game applications, interactive web-based experiences, mobile streaming, multi-user communities and new educational software. Propose a range of delivery strategies, including cellphones, other hand-held devices, set-tops, Internet, portable software and more.
Check out the Second Life video below to get an overview of the Institute from Wendy Levy, director of creative programming at BAVC:
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