Independent Lens launched a slate of films on black history at the Winter Press Tour in Los Angeles

Los Angeles Times: Black History Month: A celebration with mixed feelings on PBS
The celebration of Black History Month on PBS’s Independent Lens will include a film that is highly critical of the annual February observance of African American history.

Boston Globe: “Hell and Back Again,” presents war flashbacks from different perspectives
With some documentaries, you can feel the filmmakers hit a wall. They have a great subject – the war in Afghanistan, say – and they have a point to make or an angle to pursue. But, despite the proliferation of talking heads, they can’t find a style or a voice. The heads talk, but the movie doesn’t speak. Danfung Dennis doesn’t appear to have a limit.

The Boston Phoenix: Hell and Back Again
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, Hell and Back Again offers a potent documentary correlative to the narrative of The Hurt Locker.

Deadline Hollywood: PBS Plays “Black Power Mixtape” Doc: TCA
Longtime political and human rights activist Angela Davis stopped by Pasadena and TCA this afternoon to help promote a new edition of the PBS series Independent Lens in which she appears.

RealScreen: Doc screenplay nominees announced for WGA Awards
The films up for the documentary screenplay are: Better This World, written by Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega, Loteria Films; If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, written by Marshall Curry and Matthew Hamachek.

Visit our pressroom to find additional coverage of ITVS programs >>

Set within a century-old travelling circus, Circo is an intimate portrait of a Mexican family struggling to stay together as they travel and perform along the back-roads of Mexico.

Filmmaker Aaron Schock will be on hand at the NYC screening and discussing the film afterwards in a Q&A.

For our West Coast audience, Circo opens at the Landmark Nuart Theater in Los Angeles on April 8th, and in the Bay Area on April 15.

Find a complete screening schedule of Circo here.

The documentary by filmmakers Amanda Pope and Tchavdar Georgiev tells the incredible story about a group of visionary Soviet-era artists and one man who risked his life to rescue their work.

The art exhibited in the film was featured earlier this month in The New York Times.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child is one of the art films on display this weekend at TCA

This weekend, Independent Lens will prominently feature three art-related programs at the Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour in Pasadena, California.

Building on the system-wide arts programming initiative led by PBS, the panel presentation represents three of four films to premiere in April 2011 on Independent Lens as part of Artist Month.

Have a look at the films on display this weekend at TCA below…

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
By filmmaker Tamra Davis
Airs on Independent Lens April 12 at 10 PM

Waste Land
By filmmaker Lucy Walker
Airs on Independent Lens April 19 at 10 PM

Marwencol
By filmmaker Jeff Malmberg
Airs on Independent Lens April 26 at 10 PM

The TCA presentation will feature a Q&A with filmmakers Tamra Davis, Jeff Malmberg, Lucy Walker and with Independent Lens series producer Lois Vossen.

Find more information on Independent Lens here.

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.

Dirt! The Movie tells the story of the underappreciated stuff beneath our feet. Narrated by award-winning actress, author and activist, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dirt!, tells the story of Earth’s most valuable and least valued source of fertility from its miraculous beginning to its current crippling degradation. Inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, the film deftly combines science and humor as it digs into the history and current state of the living organic matter from which we all come and where we will all one-day return. An eclectic group of passionate dirt lovers appear in Dirt! – from world-class biologists to Rikers Island convicts, from community activists to Nobel Laureates – to offer viewers answers to problems while inspiring us to clean up the mess that we have created.

Don’t miss Dirt! The Movie tonight on Independent Lens (check local listings).

Watch an interview with Jamie Lee Curtis, the narrator for Dirt! >>

FUTURESTATES explores possible future scenarios through the prism of today’s global reality. America circa 2010 sits at the crux of competing and paradoxical forces of creation and destruction. Never before have we been capable of such great discovery and accomplishment, and yet our very existence hangs in balance as climate change, weapons of mass destruction, and economic collapse threaten our very existence.

Check out this sneak preview of Fallout, by Ben Rekhi. The War on Terror has escalated drastically, bringing America into conflict with countless enemies. Los Angeles has fallen victim to a nuclear attack from an unknown aggressor. In the aftermath of the bombing, a young man’s search for his girlfriend addresses the human toll of eternal war.

Join the FUTURESTATES Facebook Fan Page and watch other clips >>

Vanessa Gould (producer/director) of BETWEEN THE FOLDS

As we walked into LA’s Pitches Detention Center, the sky was deep blue and a long flock of birds flew calmly with the wind above. The series of heavy gates and barbed wire fences ahead gave me a pit in my stomach. Behind the barriers, I soon saw men of all ages – hundreds in royal blue jumpsuits – working, standing, exercising outside.

I was there with Desiree Gutierrez, the ITVS National Community Cinema Coordinator for the Southern California region, to answer questions about BETWEEN THE FOLDS, which a group was watching as we arrived. I had strong doubts as to whether they’d connect to a film about paperfolding, worrying it was trivial in light of the gravity of their own personal situations. How would the film be relevant to them? What could I possibly say or do that could be genuinely useful?

A stock photo of a typical inmate gathering provided courtesy of the LA County Sheriff's Department

Desiree and I entered the room with Deputy Bates and a few other staff members just as they had finished the film. It was a crowded room with about 200 men seated closely, gathered around a single television.

As soon as the lights went on and I looked up – despite my insecurity – it was quite possibly the most enthusiastic reception the film has ever seen: a room brimming with almost-rowdy excitement and big smiles, a few thumbs up and hands on hearts. Even some paper hats and paper stars made out of the local county newspaper were floating around. Deputy Bates introduced us, and I filled with warmth, relieved that the film had perhaps given them an escape from their daily routine.

There were far more questions and comments than we had time for. One gentleman – probably in his mid 40s or so – wants to use folding principles to design a collapsible shelter for the homeless that fits on to a wheelchair. Another was curious to learn more about the filmmaking process so he could make his own documentary about drugs and gangs. A third was eager to better understand the medical implications of protein folding. And a fourth man who spoke Korean shared with everyone that “origami” in his language means “tying a knot”, a new meaning of the word that we all liked.

Vanessa and Joel Stern (paper folding artist) at the Teatro Frida Kahlo Theater

Their engaging comments so clearly showed that many of them wanted to get on a different track and do something personally meaningful in their lives.

After about 20 questions, we all folded a simple model of a fox. I tried to remind them that if anyone made a mistake it was okay. They could try again. One of the good things about paperfolding is you can start over. More chances are possible.

And, with that small metaphor, I hoped the afternoon was a success.

In just two days in LA – after screening at an arthouse cinema in Santa Monica (the Aero), a small community theater in downtown LA (the Frida Kahlo Theater), and Pitches – I revisited my initial sense of awe towards the medium of paperfolding. Across these audiences – despite their enormous differences – everyone had a common and equitable relationship with the medium of paper.

What a wonderful starting point for an artform.

“CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America, a documentary feature airing tonight on the PBS series Independent Lens, begins with the arresting picture––not a picture of an arrest, although those come soon enough––of downtown Los Angeles hanging upside down in the sky,” Los Angeles Times.

Check out the trailer below:

CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America airs tonight at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings)