Military
In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs
“[NO SUBTITLES NECESSARY is] about a friendship between men who shared certain unusual, difficult experiences, and how those experiences shaped their art.”
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“If you watch/record one thing … I strongly recommend THE WAY WE GET BY, Aron Gaudet’s moving documentary…”
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“NO SUBTITLES NECESSARY is a tale of friendship and survival that has become legend in Hollywood.”
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“[WILLIAM KUNSTLER: Disturbing the Universe is] a refresher course on the history of American left-wing politics in the 1960s and ’70s.”
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Returning Home: Interactive Website to Honor American Soldiers
“It’s really a personal story not a political one. That goes for the greeters themselves as well. They have different views on the war, but their
main goal is to support the troops.”
— Aron Gaudet, director, THE WAY WE GET BY
On call for the past six years, a group of senior citizens have made history by greeting nearly one million U.S. troops at a tiny airport in Maine. THE WAY WE GET BY, an ITVS-funded documentary that aired last night on P.O.V., tells their uplifting and emotional journey and demonstrates the meaning of community at a time when America needs it most.
Inspired by the film, Returning Home is a new interactive website that seeks to ensure that American soldiers, both newly returned and those whose service ended many years ago, are not forgotten. Returning Home provides a place to share thoughts, photos, video or audio and to find support. Like the Maine troop greeters featured in the film, the site will honor American soldiers as they return from duty, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Visit Returning Home and learn more >>
Missed last night’s broadcast? The program is now available online in its entirety until December 12 on PBS’s video portal. Watch now >>
Learn more about the online project in this video interview with filmmakers Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly and others involved in the project.
THE WAY WE GET BY Premiering Tonight on P.O.V.
“If you watch/record one thing this evening, I strongly recommend THE WAY WE GET BY, Aron Gaudet’s moving documentary…”
- USA Today
On call 24/7 for the past six years, three senior citizens have made history by greeting nearly one million U.S. troops at a tiny airport in Maine. Filled with unexpected turns, THE WAY WE GET BY tells their uplifting and emotional journey and demonstrates the meaning of community at a time when America needs it most.
THE WAY WE GET BY premieres tonight at 9:00 PM on P.O.V. on PBS (check local listings).
A co-production of ITVS in association with WGBH and Maine Public Broadcasting Network
Get the latest updates about the film and talk with others by using #wegetby on Twitter. Follow the film >>
The program will also stream online in its entirety starting tomorrow to December 12 on PBS’s video portal. Learn more >>
TATTOOED UNDER FIRE Filmmaker Discusses Fort Hood Shootings
TATTOOED UNDER FIRE, airing this month on public television (check local listings), looks at the River City Tattoo Parlor in Killeen, Texas–home to Fort Hood, America’s largest military base–where war-bound and returning soldiers go under the needle and confess their deepest secrets and fears. Watch video clips from the film and read filmmaker Nancy Schiesari’s thoughts about the recent shooting at Fort Hood, which left 13 dead and 30 injured.
Nancy Schiesari, filmmaker of TATTOOED UNDER FIRE
The massacre at Food Hood was a terrible reminder of the vulnerability and mental fragility of our forces currently engaged on two war fronts with the prospect of multiple tours. One could only imagine last week’s fatal event––young men and women recruits waiting for flu shots and filling out paperwork, nervous and anxious about their eminent deployment, when suddenly they are being shot at with an automatic weapon. They had no means to escape or defend themselves.
Perhaps only families who have lost a son or daughter can understand the enormous grief that has befallen the parents and loved ones of those killed on November 5. The rest of us stand bewildered and distraught looking in from the outside at the impenetrable façade of Fort Hood.
Revealing Documentary About Fort Hood: America’s Largest Military Base
As the nation continues to grapple with the causes and the effects of the recent tragedy at Fort Hood, ITVS and Austin PBS affiliate KLRU present TATTOOED UNDER FIRE, a new documentary shot on location in and around Fort Hood and Killeen, Texas.
Premiering this month on public television (check local listings), the film offers an intimate, character-driven portrait of Iraq-bound and returning U.S. soldiers, professing their pride, sharing their secrets and confessing their fears as they go under the needle at a tattoo parlor serving the Fort Hood community. Shot over four years TATTOOED UNDER FIRE has captured the chronological history of the stress and anguish of military duty experienced by these young men and women as they prepare and return from war. What emerges is an evocative, poignant and highly personal look at the human and cultural cost of war, and the pressures of life on America’s largest military base.
“When a tragedy like this occurs at a place like Fort Hood, it is very unusual that public television can respond immediately with a national premiere of a new program so deeply connected to these difficult events,” said Sally Jo Fifer, CEO and president of ITVS.
As we struggle to understand the meaning and impact of the horrific incident at Fort Hood that left 13 dead and 30 injured, we hope this very timely and important film will help shed some light on the lives and challenges of our soldiers, and of life in the Fort Hood community.
TATTOOED UNDER FIRE airs this month on public television (check local listings).
A co-production of ITVS in association with KLRU/Austin
New Flickr Group: TATTOOED UNDER FIRE
Tattoo artists spend countless hours creating and designing their work.
Next month, TATTOOED UNDER FIRE airs on public television and follows war-bound and returning U.S. soldiers as they go under the needle––openly professing their pride, sharing their secrets and confessing their fears.
Check out the new Flickr group inspired by the film. Are you a solider with tattoos? Share your photos with us.
In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs
“Like numerous makers of nonfiction film, [Bill] Benenson believes the critical platform for documentaries is television. Regardless of what happens to DIRT! The Movie in theaters, the film will be a part of next year’s Earth Day programming presented by PBS and ITVS, the Independent Television Service.”
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“SCARRED JUSTICE: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968 explores an inexplicably forgotten incident when black student protestors were killed by police. It’s an important work of historical reportage.”
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“Even atheists may find their world rocked by Nati Baratz’s UNMISTAKEN CHILD, a simple documentary about a Buddhist monk’s search for the reincarnated soul of his beloved teacher.”
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“I saw a good–no, a very good–movie the other day… It’s called THE ENGLISH SURGEON, and it’s about a brain surgeon who does pro bono work in Ukraine.”
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In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs
“Aron Gaudet’s simple, moving documentary captures these homespun folks as they make the phone calls to wake each other up, put on their ‘Maine Troop Greeters’ hats and buttons… Hardened soldiers’ eyes mist over at their reception in Bangor. Yours will to in this sweet little film.”
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“If Ripley’s Believe It or Not! were still around, Herb and Dorothy Vogel would surely be in it for amassing a world-class art collection on the most ordinary of working-class salaries.”
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“UNMISTAKEN CHILD stands as a window on a beautiful and mysterious world… A moving coming-of-age story in which a shy student matures into a teacher.”
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“LIONESS shows how a documentary positioned at the centerpiece of a strategic outreach campaign can put an issue on the public agenda and have a direct impact on public policy.”
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“Yun Suh’s documentary [CITY OF BORDERS] opens on a literal evocation of its title, as young Palestinian Boody and his friends make their way through a break in the West Bank wall… They’re going to Shushan, an openly gay club owned and run by Sa’ar, also the city’s first openly gay council member. Lively and precise, the movie notes the club’s status as a cultural haven…”
Read more >>
Recent Talkback About Independent Lens This Month
It’s hard to believe another season of Independent Lens has come to an end. Check out some of the recent Talkback from viewers about films airing this month. Share your own thoughts and stay tuned for the latest updates about the upcoming season.
ASK NOT
“Thank you for educating me about ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.’ I am a teenager, and if I understand the need for ALL Americans to have equal opportunities, why doesn’t congress?”
Posted by: Monique on June 18, 2009
“I am not gay but when I was in Vietnam and they were shooting at me, I did not care if the guy beside me helping shoot back was gay, green yellow or whatever. Get rid of DADT. The war took years from my life and now the taxes I pay are being wasted by putting highly trained people out of the military.”
Posted by: Kenneth Mostella on June 17, 2009
“I am a lifelong military dependant, married to a career Army Officer. Both my husband and I support the full inclusion of every eligible person willing to serve… The only point of contention I had was with the Right to Serve Campaign, which in my mind will do a disservice to the advancement of equal rights… These recruiters are legally bound by the limits of this ridiculous policy. Lets continue with the discourse, it’s only a matter of time.”
Posted by: Molly on June 17, 2009
In the News: ASK NOT Featured on NPR’s Fresh Air
From today’s broadcast of Fresh Air on NPR: Alex Nicholson—a former Army human intelligence collector proficient in several foreign languages, including Arabic—was honorably discharged in 2002 under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which bars the estimated 65,000 gay Americans serving in the U.S. military from acknowledging their relationships and living their lives openly.
Listen to Alex discuss his story and ASK NOT, airing tonight on Independent Lens>>
Upcoming Screenings
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Community Cinema selections are screened in over 50 locations throughout the United States. In March, Community Cinema presents Dirt! The Movie, directed by Bill Benenson and Eugene Rosow.
It’s under our feet and under our fingernails, but what is it? And how did it get there? Inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, find out how industrial farming, mining, and urban development have led us toward cataclysmic droughts, starvation, floods, and climate change. Dirt is a part of everything we eat, drink, and breathe. Which is why we should stop treating it like, well … dirt.
Check out the schedule and find Community Cinema in your neighborhood >>Recent Posts
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- FUTURESTATES Theatrical World Premiere at SXSW
- Inspiring Stories of People Living With MS
- Live Webinar Tomorrow Night: Copyright and Fair Use in the Art World and Classroom
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