The ITVS Indies Roundup

A curated list of indie news and recommendations from ITVS’s Rebecca Huval.

Are you obsessed with GIFs yet? If you’re not, now’s the time to start. PBS Off Book produced an excellent primer into the art of the moving still image, known as the Graphic Interchange Format, from its uncool, corporate beginnings in the 1990s to its current heyday.

Here’s a chuckle-worthy photo of Bill Murray looking twee against a wall of paparazzi at the Cannes Film Festival 2012. The festival featured the premiere of Wes Anderson’s latest whimsical confection, Moonrise Kingdom, in which Murray stars.

Also at Cannes, Saudi Arabia experienced a lot of firsts. The country’s first female director, Haiffa al Mansour, brought Wadjda, the first film ever shot in Saudi Arabia, to the festival. The coming-of-age drama follows an 11-year-old girl in the outskirts of Riyadh. › Continue reading

Tags: documentary, film festivals, indie roundup, ITVS, rebecca huval, Television

The ITVS Indies Roundup

A curated list of indie news and recommendations from ITVS’s Rebecca Huval.

Get your creativity on! Longshot Radio and Radiolab talked about creativity, revision, and failure at the 99% Conference in New York City last week. For your listening pleasure, they compiled their editors’ picks of podcasts from the event.

Behold the TV of the future: using an iPad as a remote, you can control the features that appear on your screen and the overall size, which can stretch the length of your living room wall. Wired claims this is just “what the TV industry needs to stay relevant.”

“I want a man like Putin, who doesn’t drink. I want a man like Putin, who won’t make me sad.” These are the actual lyrics to a Russian pop song. This gem is explained in the new PBS show SOUND TRACKS that will broadcast in Fall 2012. Until then, you can watch their series on the web to learn the political and cultural stories behind music around the world.
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Tags: documentary, film festivals, HBO, hots docs, indie roundup, indiewire, ITVS, PBS, rebecca huval, shorts, Television, Vice

Best Documentaries from PBS are 50% Off on iTunes, Now Until October 17

Find PBS Indies on iTunes and watch award-winning documentary films at half price from now until October 17.

 

For films buffs and documentary lovers out there, we have some good news to share. PBS will be offering the best documentaries on iTunes at 50% off from October 4–17.

Visit iTunes and search for PBS Indies and you’ll find what you’re looking for. From the hilarious film Men Who Swim, to Meghan Eckman’s cult-favorite The Parking Lot Movie, and the latest documentary behind a cultural comic-book phenomenon in Wham! Bam! Islam!

There is more than enough content on PBS Indies to keep you entertained. Visit PBS Indies on iTunes from October 4-17 and be inspired through the power of documentary film.

Tags: apple, documentaries, film festivals, independent, iTunes, PBS, sale

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

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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Tags: documentary, film festivals, funding, international, ITVS, latin america, PBS, uruguay