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 >>

Better This World 
By Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega
Aired on POV this past September
Two childhood friends from Midland, Texas fall under the sway of a charismatic revolutionary who leads them down a path that changes their lives forever.

The Woodmans
By C. Scott Willis
Airing on Independent Lens on December 22, 2011 (check local listings)
The Woodmans is an inspiring portrait of one family’s fall and redemption in the often brutal world of art.

Hell and Back Again
by Danfung Dennis
Coming to Independent Lens in Spring 2012
What does it mean to lead men in war? What does it mean to come home — injured physically and psychologically — and build a life anew?

The Interrupters
By Steve James
Coming to PBS
A look at a group of men and women — most of them former gang leaders and ex-cons — that are trying to “interrupt” shootings and protect their communities from the violence they once employed.

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.

Get your questions ready and log on to ask Cynthia about the International Call process. (The blog page will be live a few hours before the chat.)

About the International Call: International Call provides production and/or post-production funds for single non-fiction television documentaries that bring international perspectives, ideas, stories and people to a U.S. audience. This initiative is for non-U.S. producers and filmmakers who live outside the U.S.

Find out how to apply and join our International Filmmaker Networking Group on Facebook.

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.

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?

Yeah! The parking lot is a representation of a lot of aspects of American culture and car culture and when you watch the movie this becomes apparent. Issues that come up include class struggle, a certain expectation of convenience, entitlement. These are some of the larger themes.

What’s exciting to me about this film is that it’s not just getting a lot of attention in the U.S. but it’s also receiving a lot of international recognition. It’s appealed to all different cultures. Really anyone who has a car and parks a car can relate to this movie.

The parking lot attendants are really armchair philosophers. They have this particular vantage point where they observe society at large from their position. It helps that a lot of them are anthropologists, philosophers, and sociologists, and that they have this background that allows them to interpret the behavior around them.

All kinds of people mix in a parking lot. You have people in service-sector jobs, more elite professionals, etc., so there are these culture clashes of people that really gives the parking lot an interesting social dynamic.

Are you saying that if I arrived in a beat-up Saab vs. an automatic sports car, I might be treated differently?

It’s not that superficial.  The attendants don’t just judge people based purely on their cars, but how people conduct themselves in the parking lot. They harp not just on the Hummers but the Prius drivers as well.

But of course there are times when car stereotyping does occur….

We’re delighted to have the film on Independent Lens this year and even more delighted to be showing it off at the launch party this Friday night in San Francisco, on Park(ing) Day no less. Can you tell viewers why they should attend, other than the fact that it’s free?

I think this is a film you walk away from and find yourself talking about it days later and you don’t know why. It’s a film that’s very unique. There really aren’t a lot of other movies on the subject and it’s really funny. I think funny documentaries are a rarity these days.

Most of all, I love the characters. These parking lot attendants, this motley crew of personalities, were a joy to get to know and see how they see the world. As a director, I learned a lot from they guys while making this movie.

Do you think the subjects of The Parking Lot Movie would attend this screening? In other words, would they spend time in a parking lot off the clock?

Hell yeah! If they were on the West Coast, I mean. These guys hung around the lot anyway. They don’t need to be on the clock to hang out somewhere. I really think this is going to be quite an event for you guys in San Francisco!

What do you tell young filmmakers who come to you for advice?

Well, you’ve got to make a movie about something you really love because you’re going to be spending a lot of time and effort on it, so find something that inspires you. Then, do it!

I picked up a video camera and hit record. Some people advise you to plan a budget and plan ahead but these days, you can do it on a low budget and all you really need is a camera and some editing gear.

That’s my approach. Go with it. Do it. And then it kind of has a snowball effect where it kind of becomes what it needs to be on its own.

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.

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 supposedly from Kazakhstan. Carmen’s grandfather even has a role in the film, unwittingly portrayed as an abortion expert who poses for the camera with a welding apparatus.

The villagers don’t understand a word of English and laugh in good faith for the camera. When the film is released, the world press descends on the village and suddenly the townspeople are transformed by humiliation, jealousy and suspicion.

The chaos is made complete when an American lawyer holds out the prospect of a $30 million insurance claim to the villagers. For Carmen, it becomes increasingly difficult to realize her dreams of a better life somewhere else.

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 >>

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?

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).

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.

The event was especially exciting for me –– by coincidence Independent Lens scheduled the film to air on March 2, otherwise known around these parts as Texas Independence Day. Patrick Floyd, my producing partner had the great idea to celebrate Texas Independence Day as Texas Independents’ Day due to the fact that this season, Indie Lens has chosen three Austin-based independent films: The Eyes of Me, Karen Skloss’ Sunshine and The Horse Boy by Michel Scott.

As the crowd assembled in the historic room, Bill Baird of the Austin band Sunset, kicked off the night with a short set of his distinctively beautiful songs –– many of which are on the soundtrack of my film.

KLRU set the stage for an incomparable filmmaker’s round table led by the award-winning filmmaker and professor, Paul Stekler. Paul was effusive in his description of all three films and probing in his line of questions for me, Karen, and Michel. It was a rare pleasure for me to share the stage with these filmmakers and to give our assembled audience a view into the other great Austin films that Independent Lens will present this season. Each filmmaker gave their own perspective on what goals they have for the impact of their film on the audience and I was really pleased to hear both Karen and Michel express sentiments similar to my own –– we make independent films so that audiences can connect with our subjects and in effect, understand themselves and each other that much better. It’s a simple goal that takes years of work to accomplish.

During the screening I experienced a mixture of feelings: happiness, pride, and relief. It’s been a long road to get to Independent Lens. There have been a lot of folks who have contributed to the effort and without them all, last night could never have happened.

To everyone at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the hundreds of individual donors, All Blind Children of Texas, The Meadows Foundation, Austin Film Society, ITVS, Independent Lens, PBS, and, of course, to the audience who let us into their living room last night, on Texas Independents’ Day, I can’t think of anything more fitting to say than: Thanks Y’all.

-Keith Maitland
Filmmaker, The Eyes of Me