independent film
ITVS Garners Four Nominations for IFP Gotham Awards
ITVS films received four out of five nominations in the Best Documentary category for the 2011 Gotham Awards. The award ceremony will take place on November 28th at Cipriani Wall Street in New York.
ITVS nearly got a clean sweep in the Best Documentary category of the IFP Gotham Awards with ITVS films receiving four out of the five nominations. Check out the list of ITVS Best Documentary nominees along with their trailers after the jump >>
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Next on BTB Live: All About International Call
The new International Call deadline is December 10, 2010
ATTENTION all non-U.S. filmmakers, the new International Call deadline of December 10, 2010 is quickly approaching.
Join us this Wednesday November 24 for a live chat here at 5 AM Pacific Standard Time. ITVS Programming Manager Cynthia Kane will be taking your questions so be sure and find out what time the chat is for you.
All questions are welcome on the application process; tips on writing a compelling treatment; what ITVS staff is looking for; what we want in a work-in-progress; what happens if you’re funded; and so forth.
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Live Chat with Karim Ahmad on DDF Funding
The DDF deadline is Friday, November 12
With the Diversity Development Fund (DDF) deadline approaching this Friday, ITVS Programming Manager Karim Ahmad will be taking your DDF questions today from NOON to 1:00pm PST in a live chat.
All questions are welcome on the application process; tips on writing a compelling treatment; what ITVS staff is looking for; what happens if you’re funded, etc, etc.
ITVS' Karim Ahmad
Get your questions ready and log on below to ask Karim about the DDF funding process.
About the DDF: The DDF provides up to $15,000 in research and development funding to independent producers of color to develop single documentary programs for public television. Projects should speak to the ITVS mission to serve under-served audiences with programs that take creative risks, explore complex issues, inspire dialogue and express points of view seldom seen on commercial or public television.
Find more information on guidelines and how to apply.
The Parking Lot Movie: Filmmaker Interview
Filmmaker Meghan Eckman
Filmmaker Meghan Eckman spoke to BTB this week about her film The Parking Lot Movie, which premieres on Independent Lens Tuesday, October 19th. The film will also be screened tonight in San Francisco at the parking lot across from The Good Hotel at 7 PM.
Congratulations on your film. Give us a little background on the movie and what inspired you to make it.
One of my friends was a parking lot attendant at this lot and he suggested that someone make a movie about it. I volunteered, and showed up the next day with my video camera.
Once we started filming, it became immediately apparent to me that this parking lot was very film-worthy. And once I started doing interviews with former parking attendants, I realized it needed to be a feature.
The parking lot has great myths and lore attached to it. It’s legendary in Charlottesville. Once I started filming, I got to uncover why it was legendary and what made it so special.
Is this little parking lot in Charlottesville really a microcosm of America or, shall I say, humanity?
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The Making of Independent Lens
Lois Vossen, VP of ITVS & Series Producer of Independent Lens
With the September 24 deadline for Independent Lens approaching, and the new season premiering next month, BTB has decided to give you an intimate, inside look at how the Emmy Award-wining series gets made.
Lois Vossen is the show’s series producer and vice president of ITVS. We sat down with her recently to learn about the curating process behind the program, and what she looks for in an Independent Lens film.
Revisiting Borat Territory
What happened to the villagers who were misled into appearing as backward and ignorant Kazakhs in the film Borat?
We find out in Carmen Meets Borat, airing Sunday, September 5 on Global Voices on PBS WORLD. Director Mercedes Stalenhoef follows the life of 17-year-old Carmen, who dreams of skipping town for a better life in Spain.
Her plans to emigrate are spoiled, however, when an American film crew arrives to shoot Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
The village is used in the movie to show where the main character comes from, and Borat depicts the villagers as primitive caricatures › Continue reading
Hey Filmmakers – The LINCS Deadline is on June 18th
Hey filmmakers — the LINCS deadline is on June 18, so if you haven’t already contacted a potential station partner, now is the time to do so.
Do you have questions about LINCS funding and how to successfully partner with a public television station? Recently ITVS Director of Programming Erica Deiparine-Sugars and LINCS Production Manager Robby Fahey joined DocuMentors for their ongoing expert interview series Doc Talks. The ITVS team revealed strategies for a successful LINCS application and station partnership.
Also joining the conversation was filmmaker Monika Navarro, whose film Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas) was funded by LINCS and was produced in association with WGBH-Boston. Lost Souls aired this season on Independent Lens.
Listen to the LINCS Doc Talks interview here >>
Looking for Film Funding? The New ITVS.org is for You!
If you’re a filmmaker, we’d like to thank you — you’re the reason we exist.
After all, ITVS was created by indie filmmakers.
The biggest hurdle for any independent filmmaker, as you well know, is financing your project. If you’re looking for funding, the current state of the world can seem bleak and confusing.
But fear not! The funding section on our new ITVS.org site is designed make it easier to understand our application process, and is designed to demonstrate more clearly what kinds of projects we’re looking for. We’ve made the process more transparent, and have made it much easier to find the right person to contact to discuss your application. We’re also improving and enhancing our online resources to help you construct a more successful proposal.
Also, we’ve made it simpler to discover where you can find ITVS’s Programming staff in person. Right next to the funding information you will now be able to see upcoming events, conferences, festivals, and workshops that we will be attending or hosting. You will find it here first. What better way to get the edge you need for a successful application?
Encore Presentation of Between the Folds Tonight on Independent Lens on PBS
“For folks interested in the intersection of arts and science, the PBS series Independent Lens is presenting a fascinating in-depth look into origami titled Between the Folds.”
- Make Magazine
It’s National Youth Art Month, and tonight Independent Lens is celebrating with a special encore presentation of Between the Folds –– a film that will make you look at paper folding in a whole other way. Do you think origami is just paper planes and cranes? Meet a determined group of theoretical scientists and fine artists who have abandoned careers and scoffed at graduate degrees to forge new lives as modern-day paper folders. Together they reinterpret the world in paper, creating a wild mix of sensibilities towards art, science, creativity and meaning.
Watch this special encore presentation of Between the Folds, tonight, March 9, at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).
Keith Maitland at KLRU’s Texas Independents’ Day
Earlier this week, PBS affiliate KLRU in Austin, Texas, commemorated Texas Independents’ Day by celebrating the work of three local filmmakers whose work will appear on this season of Independent Lens. Learn more about the event from Keith Maitland, filmmaker of The Eyes of Me.
Filmmaker Keith Maitland with film subjects of The Eyes of Me.
Panel moderator Paul Stekler leads a round table discussion with Keith Maitland, filmmaker of The Eyes of Me; Karen Skloss, filmmaker of Sunshine; Michel Scott, filmmaker of The Horse Boy.
Last night, nearly 200 people gathered in a dark room to share an hour-long look into the lives of four blind teenagers. With the twinkling lights of the Austin City Limits stage as a backdrop, I couldn’t ask for a more fitting place to experience the incredible communal experience of watching the live Independent Lens broadcast of The Eyes of Me.
The Eyes of Me follows four blind teens over the course of one dynamic year. It’s about watching these teens growing up before our eyes. As they discover who they are, it is my hope that you will discover something about yourself –– it’s about challenging your own perception and seeing yourself in a new way… at least that’s what it’s always been about for me.
The entire process of creating this film, from a nascent idea, through 250 hours of rolling cameras, and two and half years of editing, has been both rewarding and challenging in degrees that I’m still not sure I can register. Along the way, I have learned many lessons about my creative processes, and my own humanity.
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