ITVS Announces Funding for Eight International Productions through The Global Perspectives Project

Posted on October 24, 2011 by ITVS Staff

ITVS has contracted with eight international documentary projects from its 2011 International Call. The next International Call Deadline is December 9, 2011.

: In the Shadow of the Sun by filmmakers Harry Freeland and Brian Hill are among the eight international projects slated to receive ITVS funding.

ITVS announced that it has contracted with eight international documentary projects from its 2011 International Call as part of the Global Perspective Project. This year’s selections provide extraordinary access and insight into the daily lives and struggles of people who live in Uruguay, Iran, China, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Myanmar, and India.

The productions were selected through a competitive application process, which resulted in 476 submissions from 118 countries representing 72 languages.

All eight documentary projects are slated for eventual broadcast, including primetime slots on the Emmy® Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, P.O.V., and the international series, Global Voices.

Check out the complete list of funded projects after the jump >>
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Deadline for ITVS International Call on Dec. 9, 2011

Posted on October 17, 2011 by ITVS Staff

ITVS International Call promotes the exchange of compelling documentary films between the United States and other nations, going beyond stereotypes and headline news.

ITVS International enables independent producers from outside the United States to create documentaries for U.S. television. Through International Call, global storytellers introduce U.S. audiences to their world, their neighbors, opening a window into unfamiliar lives, experiences and perspectives.

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.

Please note: ITVS International Call 2012 will be an all digital submissions process.

For more information about guidelines, eligibility and how to submit, please visit www.itvs.org/funding/international

Watch Women, War & Peace Tonight on PBS

Posted on October 11, 2011 by ITVS Staff

Women, War & Peace — the first installment from the Women and Girls Lead campaign — is a new five-part series challenging the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain. The program premieres tonight at 10 PM on PBS (check local listings).

The vast majority of today’s conflicts are not fought by nation states and their armies, but rather by informal entities: gangs and warlords using small arms and improvised weapons. Women, War & Peace by Abigail Disney, Gini Reticker, and Pamela Hogan, reveals how the post-Cold War proliferation of small arms has changed the landscape of war, with women becoming primary targets and suffering unprecedented casualties. Yet they are simultaneously emerging as necessary partners in brokering lasting peace and as leaders in forging new international laws governing conflict.

With narration by Matt Damon, Geena Davis, Tilda Swinton and Alfre Woodard; Women, War & Peace spotlights the stories of women in conflict zones from Bosnia to Afghanistan and Colombia to Liberia, placing women at the center of an urgent dialogue about conflict and security, and reframing our understanding of modern warfare. Women, War & Peace premieres Tuesdays, October 11, 18, 25 and November 1 and 8 at 10 PM on PBS (check local listings).

Watch the trailer after the jump >>
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Watch an Exclusive Online Screening of Women, War & Peace on Thursday at 4:30PM PT

Posted on September 28, 2011 by ITVS Staff

On Thursday, September 29, 4:30PM PT / 6:30PM CT / 7:30PM ET— ITVS Community Cinema, Ladies Home Journal, THIRTEEN, and Fork Films will present an exclusive online preview screening of Women War & Peace on ITVS’s Livestream channel in advance of its television premiere on PBS. The film is the first broadcast in ITVS’s Women and Girls Lead initiative.

On Thursday, September 29, 6:30 PM CT, ITVS Community Cinema, Ladies Home Journal, THIRTEEN, and Fork Films will present an exclusive online screening of Women War & Peace on ITVS’s Livestream channel in advance of its television premiere on PBS.

The screening will be followed by an online panel discussion with producer Abigail E. Disney and director Gini Reticker. Online participants will receive an opportunity to ask questions and discuss their reactions to the selected scenes with the filmmakers to learn how women, despite suffering unprecedented casualties, are simultaneously emerging as critical partners in brokering peace and as leaders in forging new international laws governing conflict.

The half hour online screening will feature Women, War & Peace Episode 3: Peace Unveiled. When the U.S. troop surge was announced in late 2009, women in Afghanistan knew that the ground was being laid for peace talks with the Taliban. Peace Unveiled follows three women who immediately began to organize to make sure that women’s rights don’t get traded away in the deal. Narrated by Tilda Swinton, Peace Unveiled premieres October 25, 2011 at 10 PM ET on PBS.
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World Mourns Passing of Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai

Posted on September 26, 2011 by ITVS Staff

Wangari Maathai, the first environmentalist and African woman to win the Nobel Prize, passed away while having treatment for ovarian cancer on Monday.

Wangari Maathai, the first environmentalist and African woman to win the Nobel Prize, passed away on Monday while having treatment for ovarian cancer. Maathai was the founder of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization encouraging women and families to plant trees.

She was recently the focus of the Independent Lens documentary Taking Root: The Story of Wangari Maathai and was featured in DIRT! The Movie. Maathai will be remembered for her work in women’s rights, democracy, and the environment.

Watch the trailer for Taking Root: The Story of Wangari Maathai >>
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Meridian, ITVS, and CPB Celebrate Global Women’s Empowerment

Posted on September 21, 2011 by ITVS Staff

Last week, ITVS and CPB celebrated the launch of the Council on Women’s Leadership and the Women and Girls Lead initiative at the Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C.

On Thursday, September 15, Meridian, ITVS, and CPB, celebrated the launch of the Council on Women’s Leadership and shared a special preview of the Women and Girls Lead campaign. The focus of the evening was to raise awareness about the role of women and girls around the world, with a particular emphasis on women as leaders and agents of change.
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Celebrate Independence Day with Global Voices

Posted on July 2, 2011 by ITVS Staff

Throughout July, Global Voices will examine the efforts and struggles around the world as people and organizations strive for democracy, independence, and freedom. Global Voices airs Sunday nights at 10PM on the WORLD Channel.

In honor of Independence Day, Global Voices and the WORLD Channel present four international documentaries throughout the month of July that focus on the different, difficult actions people and organizations have taken in the fight for independence.

The month begins with Storm of Emotions (July 3rd at 10 PM), chronicling the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip and the efforts to achieve democracy amidst great social and political turmoil. Read more about the Global Voices line up after the jump >>

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A Working Mom Storms Through Global Voices

Posted on June 15, 2011 by ITVS Staff

Stacy Buchanan of WORLDCompass pinch hits for BTB with a preview of the upcoming broadcast A Working Mom on Global Voices. The documentary airs Sunday, June 19 on the WORLD Channel.

A Working Mom by filmmaker Limor Pinhasov

Being a working mom rocks! We’re the ones chosen to advise policy, lead teams and manage projects. We make our own rules, run our own businesses, and raise our kids. We’re sharp, whip smart, well adjusted, and reliable.

ITVS Introduces Women and Girls Lead, a Public Media Initiative

Posted on May 9, 2011 by ITVS Staff

By Sally Jo Fifer

ITVS President and CEO Sally Jo Fifer announces the Women and Girls Lead campaign — a major public media initiative that uses independent films to focus, educate, and connect audiences in support of women and girl’s leadership and development around the world.

It’s no secret that the competitive sea in which ITVS and independent filmmakers paddle is not getting any calmer. Over the last year, more than 1,000 proposals came to us for funding. The Sundance Film Festival received 841 documentary submissions. Public broadcasting is grappling with marketplace and demographic challenges. New metrics and “theory of change” frameworks have shifted foundations’ approaches to individual films. The public clicks like crazy between 120 television channels and 300 million websites vying for their attention — and that same public flunks miserably at any basic test of civic knowledge.
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Celebrating Women’s History Month in Film

Posted on March 17, 2011 by ITVS Staff

For 20 years ITVS has been responsible for showcasing innovative and eye-opening programming focusing on the shared and unique experiences of women worldwide.

Our documentaries have covered everything from glass-ceiling-shattering female heads of state to the grassroots movements in developing nations led by women who refused to accept no for an answer.

Visit our new Women’s History Month page and explore content that represent a cross-section of our best programming about remarkable women, including some great resources for educators to use in their classrooms.

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