Joint Task Force Working to Boost Audience for Indies on PBS

ITVS, POV, and PBS Leadership Meet Weekly to Develop New Indies Strategy

During most of the past decade, Independent Lens and POV together have provided a year-round broadcast slot of independent documentary films, airing on Tuesday nights at 10 PM, with POV running June to October with special presentations in other months and Independent Lens airing October through June.

In May 2011, changes in PBS’s prime-time schedule moved Independent Lens and POV to 10 PM on Thursdays, a night traditionally reserved for stations’ local and syndicated programming. For Independent Lens, the move has resulted in a significant decline in both station carriage and viewership.
› Continue reading

Tags: current, Independent Lens, indie film, ITVS, P.O.V., PBS, public media

Reel Injun Stirs Debate in Portland

Pat Kruis, Oregon Public Broadcasting

Pat Kruis, from Oregon Public Broadcasting, reports on a recent Community Cinema screening of Reel Injun in Portland, OR. The event was hosted by OPB and the University of Oregon School of Journalism. Find upcoming Community Cinema events near you and join the conversation on our Facebook page.

Community Cinema reminds me of how much I miss watching films in the company of others. I’ve fallen prey to the isolation of Netflix, Red Box, and the DVR.

When I watched Reel Injun: On the Train of the Hollywood Indian alone, I had a mild-mannered reaction, thanking the filmmaker for his light touch when he could have been angry.

Watching it again in a room full of eighty people sprinkled with Native Americans, put me closer to the sting as the film slapped their heritage with insult after insult. › Continue reading

Tags: aboriginal, indie film, Native American, OPB, PBS, portland, reel injun, university of oregon

Daniel Ellsberg Up Close on P.O.V.

In 1971, Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, a top war planner, leaked top-secret documents to The New York Times that led to what many consider the toppling of President Nixon and the end of the Vietnam War.

THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers — airing Tuesday night on P.O.V. (check local listings) — looks at how one man risked it all and transformed the American political landscape.

Get a behind the scenes look at the ITVS-funded documentary from filmmakers Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith.

Watch the full episode. See more POV.

› Continue reading

Tags: Daniel Ellsberg, indie film, most dangerous man, P.O.V., PBS, richard nixcon

Independent Lens on PBS Announces Maggie Gyllenhaal as New Host

The secret is out! A brand new season of Independent Lens begins on Tuesday, October 13, and we’re thrilled to have acclaimed actress Maggie Gyllenhaal as this season’s host.

No stranger to the indie film world, Gyllenhaal has starred in a wide-range of films including Secretary (2002), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination playing opposite James Spader, Donnie Darko (2001) and Sherrybaby (2006), where she received her second Golden Globe nomination.

Most recently Gyllenhaal played Rachel Dawes in the Warner Bros. box office hit The Dark Knight (2008) directed by Chris Nolan and in 2009 she appeared in Sam Mendes’s Away We Go. Upcoming, she’ll star in the dramatic film Crazy Heart, alongside Jeff Bridges and Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang with Emma Thompson.

› Continue reading

Tags: indie film, Maggie Gyllenhaal