The International Public Television Screening Conference (INPUT) was created to promote the exchange of television programs, ideas, and production techniques among broadcasters around the world. This year, ITVS programs CHICAGO 10, by Brett Morgen, and OPERATION FILMMAKER, by Nina Davenport, are Official Selections. Read the Q&A below with ITVS Executive Vice President and CFO Judy Tam to learn more about INPUT and ITVS’s involvement.
What exactly happens at INPUT and why does ITVS participate?
The INPUT conference is a global media screening event showcasing of programs broadcast on public television systems around the world. Unlike festivals and markets, the intention of the conference is to exchange, discuss and share. During the five-day event, there are three screening rooms concurrently running programs. Each year the conference is hosted in a different country. In recent years INPUT has been held in Johannesburg, South Africa; Lugano, Switzerland; Taipei, Taiwan; Barcelona, Spain; and San Francisco, California.
Since INPUT is open to international public broadcasters, how many countries usually submit to it?
There are probably anywhere from 60 to 100 countries each year submitting programs for program selection consideration. The programs cover a variety of genres and must have been broadcast on public television.
How many ITVS films will be at INPUT this year? Does the United States have a strong presence at the conference?
Of the four U.S. programs selected this year, two of them are ITVS programs. This is far less than in past years, when we have sometimes funded six out of seven U.S. programs. I represent ITVS on the International INPUT Board with one other U.S. representative. INPUT has one shop steward from the United States, and there is a national coordinator for U.S. program submission. U.S. presence has waned in the last few years, but because ITVS successfully hosted the 2005 Conference in San Francisco with 1700 delegates in attendance, recognition for the United States is high. There are probably about 20 to 50 U.S. delegates at the conference each year. It has been a little bit of a challenge getting public broadcasters in the United States to participate. But, through an important scholarship fund provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for a number of years, independent producers, station staff and media professionals have been able to attend the conference and sometimes present programs.
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The International Public Television Screening Conference (INPUT)