Daddy & Papa explores the personal, cultural, and political impact of gay men who are making a decision that is at once traditional and revolutionary: to raise children themselves. Taking us inside four gay male families, Daddy & Papa traces the day-to-day challenges and the larger, critical issues that inevitably intersect their private lives – the ambiguous place of interracial families in America, the wonder and precariousness of surrogacy and adoption, the complexities of marriage and divorce within the gay community, and the legality of their own parenthood.

Watch Daddy & Papa now on ITVS’s Indies Showcase >>

Filmmaker Yun Jong Suh

Filmmaker Yun Jong Suh discusses how she came to make a film about the only gay bar in Jerusalem. Her film, City of Borders, airs on public television this month. Check listings in your area here.

As a Buddhist Korean American, I am frequently asked why I am interested in the Middle East and how I discovered Shushan, Jerusalem’s only gay bar. I’m not the most obvious candidate to tell this story. But I believe my outsider status proved to be instrumental in making City of Borders.

I’m drawn to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because I intimately relate to both sides of the war. Like the Israelis, I grew up in constant fear of my neighboring country, North Korea, attacking my small village in South Korea. I did not see North Koreans as humans but as demons determined to kill us if they had the chance. My childhood playtime often involved devising escape routes and places to hide in my home if North Koreans ever invaded.

Like the Palestinians, I understand the horrors and hardships of living under occupation through my parents who survived the Japanese colonization of Korea. Being on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza, I also witnessed the impact of the Israeli occupation.

The concept for my documentary began in 2002 while I was producing a series of radio reports in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip on the clashes during the Second Intifada. During the height of the clashes in 2002, I heard about a bar that hosted gay nights where Israelis and Palestinians took great risks to meet and connect as human beings amid all the distrust, death, and violence. This gathering was beyond my imagination and renewed my faith in our shared humanity and desire to connect.

The story stayed with me as news coverage increasingly focused on fundamentalists on both sides of the conflict, thereby providing no hope for a peaceful resolution and coexistence in the future. In 2006, I contacted the bar owner, Sa’ar Netanel, who is considered the Harvey Milk of Jerusalem in that he is the first openly gay elected politician in the Holy City. He was easy to find since his phone numbers were printed in posters all over the religious district in Jerusalem, claiming that Sa’ar was responsible for AIDS, earthquakes, and other natural disasters hitting Israel so everyone should call him. So I called him to understand his great powers to cause such chaos. He invited me to come to Jerusalem and see with my own eyes the people who gathered at his bar nightly: A gay Israeli soldier sitting next to a Palestinian man, who would be sitting next to an ultra-Orthodox woman, who may be dancing next to a straight couple.

Sa’ar’s vision for his bar where people from different worlds can find common ground and be accepted, mirrors my purpose for working in the media. Therefore, I chose this community, whom we rarely hear from in the region, as the topic of my first feature-length documentary despite daunting barriers of budget, bombs, language, and culture.

Whenever I would hit an obstacle in making City of Borders, I would think about Sa’ar receiving more than 300 death threats and draw on his courage. After three adventurous years of production, I’m very excited to share the vibrant, inspiring and courageous community at Shushan with the world.

— Yun Jong Suh

“If Ripley’s Believe It or Not! were still around, Herb and Dorothy Vogel would surely be in it for amassing a world-class art collection on the most ordinary of working-class salaries.”
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“UNMISTAKEN CHILD stands as a window on a beautiful and mysterious world… A moving coming-of-age story in which a shy student matures into a teacher.”
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“LIONESS shows how a documentary positioned at the centerpiece of a strategic outreach campaign can put an issue on the public agenda and have a direct impact on public policy.”
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“Yun Suh’s documentary [CITY OF BORDERS] opens on a literal evocation of its title, as young Palestinian Boody and his friends make their way through a break in the West Bank wall… They’re going to Shushan, an openly gay club owned and run by Sa’ar, also the city’s first openly gay council member. Lively and precise, the movie notes the club’s status as a cultural haven…”
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Andy Blubaugh discusses his film THE ADULTS IN THE ROOM at the ITVS Queer X-Change.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical when I was invited to the Queer X-Change, an event aimed at encouraging emerging LGBT directors to produce for public television. My own film, THE ADULTS IN THE ROOM, seemed like a stretch for public television, both in its content and its execution. Worse, I had become wary of the effort that’s required to even be considered for ITVS funding. The Open Call process, while rewarding for the films that make it through, is arduous and time consuming. I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to try again.

But when you get an invitation to attend something like this, you don’t hesitate. You pack your bags, burn a ton of DVDs, and get excited.

As we gathered at the ITVS headquarters in San Francisco, I started to get nervous. Was I even ready to show my project in front of these people? These were, after all, the most important decision makers in public television that I’ve ever been in a room with. I felt outgunned.

It didn’t help that the first presenter was Keith Wilson, whose project IN THE FAMILY seems like a slam dunk. His premise: return to his home in the south as an openly gay man, and investigate the day to day life of his brother-in-law, a practicing member of the Ku Klux Klan. This movie could be shot on VHS and it would still be among the most amazing films you’ll ever see.

Next up was David Barclay Moore, pitching his film HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE BLACK CHURCH. Moore was elegant in his description of the connections between homophobia and faith, as well as the sacrifices made by queer people of color who feel that the church has no room for them. This isn’t a subject that I know a lot about, and Moore had me hooked.

After lunch we heard from Christie Herring, whose film THE CAMPAIGN looks at the front lines of the fight against Proposition 8. Now, despite being a gay man, gay marriage is not an issue that I’m passionate about. So when a preview for a film about this issue actually brings me to tears, you know that the director has done something special.

As for my own presentation, I think I did okay. It’ hard to gauge when all you can hear is the blood pounding in your ears.

After each presentation, ITVS staff offered guidance and pointed out what each project needed to to do to succeed. Senior Production Manager Annelise Wunderlich gave insight into what it takes to satisfy the objectives of public television. Her explanation of the ways that ITVS works with the various streams of PBS programming helped me to look at the organization in a new way. That application process—labyrinthine as it had seemed to me as an outsider—isn’t a roadblock thrown up to keep independent directors from reaching their goals. To the contrary, it’s one of many ways that ITVS acts as a bridge between us indies and the audiences we want to reach.

Am I still skeptical? Maybe a little. But what the Queer X-Change made clear was that if a film like mine (or Keith’s or David’s, or Christie’s) can make it onto public television, it will be due to the efforts of ITVS.

- Andy Blubaugh
Filmmaker of THE ADULTS IN THE ROOM

ASK NOT

“Thank you for educating me about ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.’ I am a teenager, and if I understand the need for ALL Americans to have equal opportunities, why doesn’t congress?”
Posted by: Monique on June 18, 2009

“I am not gay but when I was in Vietnam and they were shooting at me, I did not care if the guy beside me helping shoot back was gay, green yellow or whatever. Get rid of DADT. The war took years from my life and now the taxes I pay are being wasted by putting highly trained people out of the military.”
Posted by: Kenneth Mostella on June 17, 2009

“I am a lifelong military dependant, married to a career Army Officer. Both my husband and I support the full inclusion of every eligible person willing to serve… The only point of contention I had was with the Right to Serve Campaign, which in my mind will do a disservice to the advancement of equal rights… These recruiters are legally bound by the limits of this ridiculous policy. Lets continue with the discourse, it’s only a matter of time.”
Posted by: Molly on June 17, 2009

View more Talkback and submit your own for ASK NOT >>

THE ORDER OF MYTHS

“I am so glad the film was produced because this way my children and grandchildren can see parts of Mobile’s history good and bad…”
Posted by: Shirley Phelps-Pollard on June 17, 2009

“I am a middle class woman living in the south. These older organizations are more about class than anything else… New money without the right lineage will not get you in. The race aspect is tough. It’s two different cultures. Why do we have to be the same? I would have liked to attend both parties. Some like it that way and others do not. I do have to mention that because of the past, our present is rich and if we integrate all of our traditions will the cultures and customs become somehow less colorful?”
Posted by: Brigette Towler on June 10, 2009

View more Talkback and submit your own for THE ORDER OF MYTHS >>

LIONESS

“Women are the unsung heroes of our armed forces. Thank you for this moving documentary, which brought to the forefront these brave women who sacrificed a part of themselves in a combat theatre. Your courage and strength is something my 11 year old daughter can be proud of and look up to.”
Posted by: Donald Sanchez on June 10, 2009

“I watched this film yesterday evening and was amazed. I would like to thank all the ladies for their honesty during the documentary, something we see all too little of nowadays. Specialist Shannon Morgan to me was the highlight of the film. Thanks to everyone in the making of the film we need to see more like this…”
Posted by: Legionnaire on June 4, 2009

View more Talkback and submit your own for LIONESS >>

From today’s broadcast of Fresh Air on NPR: Alex Nicholson—a former Army human intelligence collector proficient in several foreign languages, including Arabic—was honorably discharged in 2002 under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which bars the estimated 65,000 gay Americans serving in the U.S. military from acknowledging their relationships and living their lives openly.

Listen to Alex discuss his story and ASK NOT, airing tonight on Independent Lens>>

Learn more about ASK NOT >>

“[In the] PBS documentary ASK NOT, we meet ‘Perry,’ a young gay man from San Francisco who has enlisted in the Army and is bound for Iraq. His face is blurred to protect his identity, but his friends’ faces are clear. They look scared-and perplexed…”
- Newsweek

Check out a preview below:

ASK NOT airs tonight at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings)

“ASK NOT looks at the history of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and examines its ramifications for gay and lesbian individuals and for the military itself.”
Read more [PDF] >>

“We have a special place in our heart for Independent Lens, so when they included us on their interactive Art House Theater Map, we were gushing with pride! And then we read the accompanying article, and I have to honestly say, it hit home so hard that I was a wee bit emotional by the end…”
Read more >>

Forum on Social Change Chair and IOMBA degree candidate Patrick Huber discusses ITVS’s involvement with the Geneva Forum on Social Change (GFSC).
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“[SEA POINT DAYS] paints a deeply reflective picture of old white South Africa in transition and the frictions of a society in flux.”
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In this audio excerpt of an interview from earlier this year, Vice President and Independent Lens Series Producer Lois Vossen explains how ITVS works with PBS stations to support our mission to take creative risks, tackle complex issues and express points of view seldom explored in the media. She also discusses what types of viewers are drawn to the series.

Download the interview on iTunes for free (TRT: 13:00) >>

Listen to all the podcast audio excerpts >>

The winner will receive a 20-inch Apple iMac computer and will be featured on the Independent Lens Community Voices webpage. Film submissions must be less than ten minutes and have an underlying theme and relevancy to “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

All submissions must be accompanied by a signed contest entry form.

Read more about contest details, guidelines and contact information >>

The ASK NOT Film Contest is a project of WHYY with support from ITVS, in connection with the national broadcast on June 16 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).

As wars rage in the Middle East, the U.S. military is eager for more recruits––unless they happen to be openly gay. In a film by Johnny Symons, ASK NOT explores the tangled political battles that led to the infamous “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and reveals the personal stories of gay Americans who serve in combat under a veil of secrecy.

Interested in learning more about “don’t ask, don’t tell?” WHYY recently spoke with veteran linguists Alex Nicholson and Jarrod Chlapowski and Nathaniel Frank, author of Unfriendly Fire.
Listen to their interview >>

Visit the Independent Lens ASK NOT Web site >>