The Dense Web of Connections that Led to Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo

Filmmaker Jessica Oreck dropped by ITVS last summer and walked us through her inspiration for making a documentary about insects in Tokyo. The documentary Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo airs Tuesday night on Independent Lens.

Tags: beetle queen conquers tokyo, documentary, filmmaker, Independent Lens, insects, ITVS, Japan, jessica oreck, PBS, tokyo

Filmmaker Donating 100% of DVD Proceeds to Japan Relief Today Only

Director Vanessa Gould announced today her plans to donate 100 percent of DVD sales from her Award-winning film, Between the Folds, to disaster relief in Japan.

The filmmaker is running the benefit for today only, March 17, 2011 so you’ll have to move fast. Click here to buy the film and help Japan in its time of need.

The proceeds of every $20 DVD sale will be donated to the Red Cross for Earthquake & Pacific Tsunami Disaster Relief within the next 24 hours. Purchase one, and she will donate $20; buy two, she will donate $40; buy three, she will donate $60; etc.

Independent Lens broadcast Between the Folds twice in the past year and the audience feedback has been overwhelming. Thanks to Vanessa and Green Fuse Films for letting all of us help in a creative way.

Tags: donate, Japan, paper folding, red cross, Relief, tusnami

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

Stacy Peralta, director of CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America, answers questions on the PBS Engage Blog.
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“African-American students protesting a segregated bowling alley on Feb. 8, 1968, in Orangeburg, S.C. would be fired on by police, leaving more than 27 students wounded and three dead. Many Americans don’t recall the incident, but a powerful documentary called SCARRED JUSTICE: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968 recounts this little known piece of history…”
Read full review >>

“Before the curtain comes down on this daunting documentary, expect to well up while watching emotional tableaus of grieving mothers burying their babies at funerals and simply staring blankly into the camera with tears streaming down their pained faces.”
Read full review >>

Dr. Wilmer Leon discusses CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America on Independent Lens with Director Stacy Peralta and ex-Slauson gang member Kumasi.
Listen to the interview >>

Tags: Add new tag, Africa, gangs, Japan

Watch WINGS OF DEFEAT Tonight on Independent Lens

What were the Japanese Kamikazes thinking just before crashing into their targets? When Risa Morimoto discovered that her beloved uncle trained as a Kamikaze pilot in his youth, she wondered the same thing. Through rare interviews with surviving Kamikaze pilots, Morimoto retraces their journeys from teenagers to doomed pilots and reveals a complex history of brutal training and ambivalent sacrifice.

“WINGS OF DEFEAT… examines the frantic, desperate nationalism that engulfed Japan toward the end of the war,” NPR’s Morning Edition.

Check out the trailer below:

WINGS OF DEFEAT airs tonight at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings)

Tags: Japan, kamikaze, online video

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

Seattle NBC affiliate reports on the Community Cinema screening of CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America, hosted by KCTS, and the impact of gang violence in the community.
Watch the full report >>

“WINGS OF DEFEAT combines interview footage and visits to Japanese war museums with rarely screened propaganda movies and posters as well as original animation.”
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“CRIPS AND BLOODS provides an in-depth historical exploration of gang violence, with plenty of smart sociology on the side. The eye-opening film, directed by Stacy Peralta and narrated by Forest Whitaker, premieres Tuesday, May 12, as part of PBS’ Independent Lens.”
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Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai of the Independent Lens film TAKING ROOT discusses her time in the U.S. during the civil rights era, the negative media attention on Africa and challenges for the African citizenry.
Watch the full report >>

Isha Sesay sits down with Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai to discuss TAKING ROOT on Independent Lens and her life’s work. Watch the clip below:

Tags: Africa, gangs, Japan

Watch ABDUCTION Tonight on Independent Lens

Tonight at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings), a special encore presentation of the 2009 du-Pont Columbia Award-winning film ABDUCTION: The Megumi Yokota Story. The film looks at the true story of a 13-year-old Japanese girl kidnapped by North Korean spies in 1977, and her parents’ 30-year battle to bring her home. Told through the eyes of Megumi’s parents, ABDUCTION follows their incredible journey full of bizarre twists, and a life they never imagined.

The Washington Post: “Critic’s Pick: It sounds like something out of a Robert Ludlum novel, but it’s heartbreakingly true, as the documentary makes clear by looking at the phenomenon not from the top down or the outside in, but from the bottom up and the inside out.”

Check out a preview below:

ABDUCTION: The Megumi Yokota Story airs tonight at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings)

Tags: Japan, kidnapping, Megumi Yokota