Remembering Filmmaker Gail Dolgin

Filmmaker Gail Dolgin

ITVS is mourning last week’s loss of an exceptional filmmaker and esteemed colleague, Gail Dolgin. Senior Programming Manager Richard Saiz pays tribute.

The passing of Gail Dolgin on Thursday, October 7 is a huge loss for all of us who care about the art and craft of the documentary. Gail was a member of the Bay Area’s tightly knit community of independents. Not only was she one of the most talented, she was a tireless mentor and friend to many in that group.

For us, she has the distinction (along with her co-producer, Vicente Franco) of creating one of the outstanding documentaries ever funded by ITVS, Daughter from Danang (1997).  Not only was it one of only a handful of documentaries to receive an Oscar nomination, Daughter was the first ITVS program to air on PBS’s primetime series American Experience. › Continue reading

Tags: daughter from danang, gail dolgin, indie films, PBS, public television, richard saiz

Sea Point Days Airing on Sundance

Monday night on the Sundance Channel catch the ITVS-funded Sea Point Days by filmmaker Francois Verster. The film takes place in the Sea Point Promenade in Cape Town, which was once a bastion of apartheid exclusivity.

Today a colorful mix of locals gather at the promenade. Rich, poor, old, young, black, white, Christian, Jew, Muslim, homeless, rent boys, sports players, and petty criminals all meet in this extraordinary public space: one that offers the possibilities of happiness and belonging and gives voice to some of the contradictions of what it means to be South African.

Director Francois Verster offered BTB some insight behind the documentary:

Director Francois Verster

“I have tried to use the medium of film itself to give voice more deeply to the contradictions of being South African than I would be able to in a more discursive film or other medium. The film tries, with little direct interference from the director, to use apparently everyday material in a more abstract, indeterminate philosophical meditation, one in which the real is transfigured into something else. It is both far more personal than any other film I have made and one in which meanings are consciously indeterminate, albeit located in a broadly humanist framework.”

Tags: cape town, indie films, PBS, public tv, South Africa

Made in L.A. Arrives on Global Voices

Made in L.A. airs this Sunday on Global Voices

Follow the remarkable story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles sweatshops as they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from a trendy clothing retailer. Catch Made in L.A. this Sunday, September 26^th on Global Voices on PBS WORLD (check local listings).

In intimate observational style, filmmakers Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar tell a story about immigration, the power of unity, and the courage it takes to find one’s voice. The film was a regular in our Women’s Empowerment screenings last month and we’re delighted to bring it to you on Global Voices this Sunday.

Tags: Global Voices, immigration, Independent Lens, indie films, ITVS, l.a., Latino, Los Angeles, PBS

Pitching at IFP this week?

IFP kicks off this week, and if you’re already en route to New York’s premiere indie filmmaker gathering, you’ve probably been working on your pitch for weeks. While you may already have your iPad loaded with a bevy of digital delights to wow whichever executive you’re pursuing, there’s still much to be said for the old-fashioned approach to pitching.

In the video below, Richard Saiz, senior programming manager for ITVS, lays out his dos and don’ts for effective pitching.

Founded as a satellite program › Continue reading

Tags: IFP, independent films, indie films, ITVS, PBS, pitching, public television

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?
› Continue reading

Tags: hipster, independent film, indie films, ITVS, Park(ing) Day, PBS, San Francisco, slacker, the parking lot movie, uva

Ferrera Waxes Enthusiastic about New IL Season

America Ferrera

America Ferrera, the host of the upcoming season of Independent Lens did us proud in Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch column today. In it she hinted that she might like to get involved in a documentary project in the near future, and also revealed which two films coming up in this Independent Lens season are her personal favorites (we’re not telling, go see for yourself!).

Here’s an excerpt from the interview to whet your appetite, then click through for the whole article:

Ferrera: I have been a part of many independent projects, and I feel kinship with independent filmmakers, and I love documentaries. I feel that this is a really wonderful thing, that PBS › Continue reading

Tags: america ferrera, docs, documentaries, entertainment weekly, Independent Lens, indie docs, indie films, ITVS, PBS, ugly betty

Adoption Stories Continue on P.O.V.

In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee Directed by Deann Borshay Liem

P.O.V. continues its focus on adoption stories this month with In The Matter of Cha Jung Hee, Tuesday night (check local listings).

In the 1960s, the Sun Duck Orphanage in South Korea switched the identities of two orphans when an American family adopted one of them.

Filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem goes on a quest to search for her “double” — a girl named Cha Jung Hee — in an attempt to resolve a case of mistaken identity and in the process explores the complexities of international transracial adoptions.

Last Tuesday, P.O.V. aired another ITVS-funded film on adoption, Off and Running.

Tags: adoption, in the matter of cha jung hee, indie films, ITVS, off and running, P.O.V., PBS, public television

Adoption Stories Front and Center on P.O.V.

Off and Running, directed by Nicole Opper

This month, P.O.V. presents two ITVS-funded documentaries about adoption including Off and Running and In The Matter of Cha Jung Hee.

Off and Running airs tonight on P.O.V. (check local listings) and follows Avery, an African American teenager and the adopted daughter of two Jewish lesbian moms in Brooklyn. On a quest to meet her birth mother in Texas, Avery begins to uncover the missing pieces of her identity.

Watch the trailer for Off and Running:

Check out some behind-the-scenes › Continue reading

Tags: adoption, Brooklyn, China, docs, indie films, ITVS, New York, P.O.V., PBS, prop 8, same sex marriage

We Know Something You Don’t Know!

Last week we rolled out some clues on Facebook as to who the next host of Independent Lens will be. Lots of names were bounced around. Flavor Flav? Unlikely. Edie Falco? It’s been done! So, sort through the list of clues below and see if you can figure this one out. And if you’re having trouble, relax, we’ll make the official announcement tomorrow.

This Year’s Host of Independent Lens….

…has earned an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award

…starred in a popular ABC comedy series

…attended High School in Los Angeles

…was included in Time Magazine’s 2007 Top 100 Most Influential People in the World issue

Tags: host, Independent Lens, indie films, PBS, public television

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

Following Workers’ Trails of Tears in China
“Lixin is not from the foreign-influenced cultural centers,” said Daniel Cross, president of EyesteelFilm company in Montreal, which produced Up the Yangtze and co-produced Last Train Home with the ITVS …
Read more >>>

Camp Victory Afghanistan
Filmmaker Carol Dysinger talks about her new documentary that premieres tonight…
Listen to the Podcast >>>

Plugging the Arts - PBS launches interactive portal making visual arts programming more accessible than ever
Within a year, PBS plans to expand its arts initiative to broadcast, with a dedicated night of programming each week. In anticipation, some PBS series have already increased arts-related content. Next April, the documentary series “Independent Lens” will focus solely on the visual arts, with four films in four weeks, according to the series producer Lois Vossen. In addition, the first documentary film on the life of William S. Burroughs, which will appear in US cinemas this autumn, has been slated to air on PBS in May.
Read more >>>

Carmen Meets Borat Coming To Global Voices Series On PBS World Channel
With all the strange, interesting, and bad press that followed in the wake of Sasha Baron Cohen’s Borat film, you’re about to get a new look behind the scenes of the production, from the perspective of yet another group duped by the film. While many of the stories that came out the film didn’t evoke a great deal of sympathy, the curious bamboozling of the village of Glod in Romania might deliver a different picture.
Read more >>>

Tags: CPB, in the news, Independent Lens, indie films, ITVS, PBS, press, public television