Deadline News Indies Can Use

One of BTB’s chief responsibilities is to keep an eye out for news the independent producer can use. With that in mind, we asked our Programming Department to highlight upcoming deadlines for us — featuring funding opportunities, festival deadlines, and other things you may find helpful. These will be for both U.S. and international producers … Enjoy and good luck!

FUNDING

Jan Vrijman Fund
DEADLINE: May 15, 2011
The Jan Vrijman Fund is looking for creative documentaries and documentary events in developing countries (PDF). Funding categories include Script and Project Development, Production and Post-Production, and Other activities (including Distribution Initiatives; Documentary Film Festivals; Documentary Workshops). The Jan Vrijman Fund gives financial support twice a year. Application deadlines are January 15 and May 15. Click here for more details.

CAAM Media Fund
DEADLINE: May 19, 2011
The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) seeks provocative and engaging proposals from independent media producers with projects intended for public television broadcast. Offered once a year, this round of funding is for applicants with documentary projects at the production and/or post-production stage. Click here for more details.

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Tags: docs, documentaries, film festivals, film funding, funding, independent film festivals, independent producers, indies

Community Cinema Gears Up for February

Starting next week and throughout the month of February, Community Cinema will hold free preview screenings of  Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story in over 95 cities across the U.S.

The documentary by filmmaker Daniel H. Birman, follows the story of Cyntoia Brown, who is serving a life sentence for murder at the age of 16. Me Facing Life challenges our assumptions about violence and explores how factors such as biology and family history can doom some young people from the start. Watch a preview after the jump.

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Tags: academy awards, cyntoia’s story, docs, education, Independent Lens, ITVS, me facing life, prison, violence, youth

Half-Dozen ITVS Films Selected by American Library Association

The American Library Association (ALA) has published its 2011 list of Notable Videos for Adults, a list of 15 outstanding programs released on video within the past two years and suitable for all libraries serving adults.

Six ITVS films are among the documentaries selected:

• Blacking Up: Hip-Hop’s Remix of Race and Identity

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Tags: american library association, Awards, docs, Independent Lens, indies

Frederick Wiseman Puts the Gloves On

Boxing Gym directed by Frederick Wiseman

The ITVS-funded Boxing Gym by acclaimed filmmaker Frederick Wiseman starts its national theatrical run this Friday, October 22 at the IFC Center in New York. Wiseman’s hypnotic new film is about an Austin, Texas institution: Lord’s Gym, which was founded 16 years ago by professional boxer Richard Lord.

People of all ages, races, ethnicities, and social classes come to Lord’s — doctors, lawyers, judges, businessmen, and kids all learn to spar alongside fellow amateurs and trained professionals. Wiseman depicts the gym as a uniquely American melting pot and a microcosm of our society.

Opening week will feature a Q&A with director Frederick Wiseman, boxing demos, and much more. Click here for additional info and release dates.

Tags: boxing gym, docs, frederick wiseman, IFC, indies, ITVS, itvs funding, New York, PBS, screening, theatrical release

HuffPo Waxes Enthusiastic for IL Premiere

Only days away from the ninth season of Independent Lens and the reviews are already rolling in. Check out what the Huffington Post had to say about our opening film The Parking Lot Movie — airing Tuesday, October 19 at 10 PM. Film critic Jackie K. Cooper writes:

The Parking Lot Movie is the perfect kind of independent film. It is entertaining and somewhat educational. The main thing, however, is it gives insight into a subculture which many of us had never known or cared about in any way. After viewing it you will never look at the parking lot attendants in the same way you did in the past.

Read the complete review from The Huffington Post here.

Tags: docs, Independent Lens, indie films, ITVS, meghan eckman, reviews, the huffington post, the parking lot movie

DOC TALKS Teleseminar to feature Independent Lens Series Producer

Lois Vossen is the series producer of Independent Lens

What does it take to get your doc on Independent Lens? How is the Emmy Award-winning series curated? Don’t ask us, ask Lois Vossen, series producer for Independent Lens and Vice President at ITVS.

Lois will be answering questions by phone via DOC TALKS, a teleseminar hosted by DocuMentors, an online documentary resource and learning center. If you’ve watched our video excerpts featuring Lois  on how the series is produced, the teleseminar will provide an opportunity to get all your burning questions answered on how to get your doc on the series.

The teleseminar is set for Thursday, October 14^th at 5PM Pacific for registered participants (click here for more info). The call will be recorded and available for replay for 24 hours, and  after Friday, October 15th at 6PM Pacific, it will be archived in the DocuMentors members area.

If you missed the video excerpts on how Independent Lens is produced and the services provided by ITVS in support of the broadcasts,  check out the video below.

Tags: doc films, doc talks, docs, independent films, Independent Lens, live chat, lois vossen, PBS, producing, public television

Emmy Winner Geoffrey Smith on The English Surgeon

Filmmaker Geoffrey Smith won an Emmy Monday night for The English Surgeon

Filmmaker Geoffrey Smith has made more than 22 films throughout his career and has collected numerous awards for his work. On Monday night, he picked up an Emmy for The English Surgeon, his film about a British neurosurgeon who confronts the dilemmas of the doctor-patient relationship on his latest mission to Ukraine. The documentary was supported by ITVS International (speaking of, the deadline for our 2011 International Call has been changed to December 10, 2010). Smith spoke to BTB about the Emmy, the film, and the ITVS funding that helped from the start.

First off, congratulations on the Emmy! What can you tell us about Monday night’s event in NYC?

Thanks! It was very wet in New York City. Central Park looked very British and so I felt right at home. It was great to see all of my colleagues.
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Tags: docs, Emmy, film funding, funding, Independent Lens, indie, international, ITVS, New York, PBS, the english surgeon

Pushing the Elephant Goes to DC

Rose Mapendo, Congressman Ted Poe, Ritu Sharma, Ambassador (Ret.) George Ward, Samantha Mathis

This past Wednesday and Thursday, September 15^th and 16^th, the filmmakers of Pushing the Elephant (PTE), Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel, and their main subject, Rose Mapendo, traveled to Washington DC  — in cooperation with ITVS — to raise awareness around violence against women and girls internationally. Also along were Rose’s brother, Kigabo, and outreach coordinator, Kim Borba. Filmmakers Davenport and Mandel filed this report for BTB.

Our first stop was the World Bank. In an event hosted jointly by the Bank’s Social Development Department and the World Bank Institute Fragile States Program, we generated concrete dialogue among fifty World Bank staff and partners on the role of leadership and reconciliation in response to violence in fragile and post-conflict countries. A panel that included Fragile States staff, Rose and the filmmakers followed the screening. The discussion focused on ways Rose’s experience could help Bank staffers better understand the communities in which they are working. Tamara Gould (vice president, ITVS International) introduced the program, contextualizing the value of social-issue media in inspiring action. Our advisory council member Kury Cobham, an operations officer in the Social Development Civil Society Fund, at the World Bank, organized the event and supported its success within the Bank. › Continue reading

Tags: Africa, congo, d.c, docs, documentary, drc, Independent Lens, international film, ITVS, kerger, PBS, pushing the elphant, rose mapendo, washington

Ferrera Waxes Enthusiastic about New IL Season

America Ferrera

America Ferrera, the host of the upcoming season of Independent Lens did us proud in Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch column today. In it she hinted that she might like to get involved in a documentary project in the near future, and also revealed which two films coming up in this Independent Lens season are her personal favorites (we’re not telling, go see for yourself!).

Here’s an excerpt from the interview to whet your appetite, then click through for the whole article:

Ferrera: I have been a part of many independent projects, and I feel kinship with independent filmmakers, and I love documentaries. I feel that this is a really wonderful thing, that PBS › Continue reading

Tags: america ferrera, docs, documentaries, entertainment weekly, Independent Lens, indie docs, indie films, ITVS, PBS, ugly betty

Adoption Stories Front and Center on P.O.V.

Off and Running, directed by Nicole Opper

This month, P.O.V. presents two ITVS-funded documentaries about adoption including Off and Running and In The Matter of Cha Jung Hee.

Off and Running airs tonight on P.O.V. (check local listings) and follows Avery, an African American teenager and the adopted daughter of two Jewish lesbian moms in Brooklyn. On a quest to meet her birth mother in Texas, Avery begins to uncover the missing pieces of her identity.

Watch the trailer for Off and Running:

Check out some behind-the-scenes › Continue reading

Tags: adoption, Brooklyn, China, docs, indie films, ITVS, New York, P.O.V., PBS, prop 8, same sex marriage