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

Tags: Fort Hood, Military, soldiers, tattoo parlor, tattoos, Texas

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.

Visit the Flickr group >>

Tags: Flickr, Military, soldiers, tattoo parlor, tattoos, Texas

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.”
Read full review >>

“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.”
Read full review >>

“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.”
Read full review >>

“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.”
Read full review >>

Tags: African American, environmental, Los Angeles Times, Military

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.”
Read full review >>

“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.”
Read full review >>

“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.”
Read full review >>

“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.”
Read more >>

“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 >>

Tags: art, gay, Military

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

View more Talkback and submit your own for ASK NOT >>

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Tags: African American, gay, Military, women

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>>

Learn more about ASK NOT >>

Tags: gay, Military

Watch ASK NOT Tonight on Independent Lens

As wars rage in the Middle East, the U.S. military is eager for more recruits––unless they happen to be openly gay. ASK NOT explores the tangled political battles that led to the infamous “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and reveals the personal stories of gay Americans who serve in combat under a veil of secrecy.

“[In the] PBS documentary ASK NOT, we meet ‘Perry,’ a young gay man from San Francisco who has enlisted in the Army and is bound for Iraq. His face is blurred to protect his identity, but his friends’ faces are clear. They look scared-and perplexed…”
- Newsweek

Check out a preview below:

ASK NOT airs tonight at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings)

Tags: gay, Military

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

“[In the] PBS documentary ASK NOT, we meet ‘Perry,’ a young gay man from San Francisco who has enlisted in the Army and is bound for Iraq. His face is blurred to protect his identity, but his friends’ faces are clear. They look scared—and perplexed: why is Perry risking his life for an Army that doesn’t want him as he is?”
Read full review >>

“ASK NOT looks at the history of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and examines its ramifications for gay and lesbian individuals and for the military itself.”
Read more [PDF] >>

“We have a special place in our heart for Independent Lens, so when they included us on their interactive Art House Theater Map, we were gushing with pride! And then we read the accompanying article, and I have to honestly say, it hit home so hard that I was a wee bit emotional by the end…”
Read more >>

Forum on Social Change Chair and IOMBA degree candidate Patrick Huber discusses ITVS’s involvement with the Geneva Forum on Social Change (GFSC).
Read more >>

“[SEA POINT DAYS] paints a deeply reflective picture of old white South Africa in transition and the frictions of a society in flux.”
Read full review >>

Tags: Art House Theater, gay, Geneva, Military

ASK NOT Filmmaker Contest: Enter to Win an Apple iMac Computer

Who doesn’t like a contest? From now through June 30, WHYY-Philadelphia invites you to create a short film and share your views about the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the first-ever ASK NOT Amateur Filmmaker Contest.

The winner will receive a 20-inch Apple iMac computer and will be featured on the Independent Lens Community Voices webpage. Film submissions must be less than ten minutes and have an underlying theme and relevancy to “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

All submissions must be accompanied by a signed contest entry form.

Read more about contest details, guidelines and contact information >>

The ASK NOT Film Contest is a project of WHYY with support from ITVS, in connection with the national broadcast on June 16 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).

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Tags: contest, gay, iMac, Military

Watch LIONESS Tonight on Independent Lens

Tonight at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings), a special encore presentation of LIONESS: How did five female Army support soldiers–mechanics, supply clerks and engineers–end up fighting alongside the Marines in some of the bloodiest counterinsurgency battles of the Iraq War? Directors Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers give an intimate look at war through the eyes of the first women in U.S. history sent into direct ground combat, despite a policy that bans them from doing so. Through harrowing personal stories, these women candidly share their experiences in Iraq as well as from their lives back home to form a portrait of the emotional and psychological effects of war.

“If you have only …90 minutes: Meet female combat veterans of the war in Iraq (like captain Anastasia Breslow) in LIONESS, just one of the far-ranging films in the superb series Independent Lens,”
O, The Oprah Magazine [PDF download]

Check out a preview below:

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

Interested in finding out more about the impact of this film on Capitol Hill?

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Tags: Military, women