ITVS Media Partnership for CARE’s “Half the Sky Live” National Screening

In honor of International Women’s Day, CARE –– a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty –– is presenting a one-night-only event on Thursday, March 4, at movie theaters nationwide called “Half the Sky Live.” ITVS is a proud media partner of this special presentation.

Inspired by the bestselling book from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the evening will feature musical performances, celebrity commentary, and uplifting stories about women and girls overcoming tremendous obstacles.

The event will be the world premiere of Woineshet, a short film by Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei and Lisa Leone. Appearances will include performers India.Arie, Diane Birch, Angelique Kidjo, and Michael Franti; actresses Maria Bello and Marisa Tomei; president/CEO of CARE Dr. Helene Gayle; New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof; United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women Rachel Mayanja; Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York; New York Times editor Sheryl WuDunn and others.

The goal of the event is to help women and girls around the world turn oppression into opportunity.

Learn more about this event and download a discussion guide >>

Watch the video below to learn more:

Tags: Human Rights, International Women's Day, New York Times, women

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

Independent Lens named by MSN as one of “The Best Shows on TV…”
“Why pay $10 for a movie ticket when you can watch some the finest films the cinema has to offer for free — and from the comfort of your couch. Hosted by Maggie Gyllenhaal, the series focusing heavily on documentaries, and offers up films on a variety of topics including cinematography (No Subtitles Necessary), industrial design (Objectified) and a senior citizen choir (Young@Heart). Upcoming films include P-Star Rising about a 9-year-old with hip-hop dreams, Mine, about homeless pets in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Garbage Dreams, which tells the story of the Zabaleen people, who call Cairo’s massive garbage dump their home. Whether your immediately interested in each week’s film or not, the series has a pretty high quality bar which means you’ll rarely commit to watching something that wasn’t well-made and interesting.”
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“In this Independent Lens presentation, Ms. Pezanoski [director of Mine] tells the story of some pet owners struggling to find their companions and bring them home — like Malvin Cavalier, who had to leave his dog behind when he sought shelter in the Superdome…”
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“It’s hard to imagine that a teenage girl, who performed raps on nightclub stages at 9 years old, would be anxious about showcasing her rhymes among peers.”
Read more about this community screening of P-Star Rising >>

Filmmaker Gabriel Noble and Priscilla (P-Star) Diaz discuss P-Star Rising, which recently aired on Independent Lens.
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Tags: Chicago Tribune, MSN, music, New York Times, pets, WNYC

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

“The gutsy television company ITVS, which has embraced alternative distribution models for years, had three documentaries at Sundance this year. I wasn’t able to see Laura Poitras’s The Oath, about a Yemenite family, Al Qaeda, and Guantanamo Bay. My Perestroika offers fascinatingly differing accounts of how several Russian former high school classmates have fared since the collapse of the Soviet Union…”
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“The Bay Area has long been known as a center for documentary filmmaking. … The area is home to the Independent Television Service, a major financer of documentary films, as well as some of the most respected film schools in the country.”
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“Blacking Up is careful to let people speak for themselves, as Clift efficiently segues from scene to scene: a Long Island meeting of the ossifying Al Jolson Society; a trip on a black-owned New York bus tour of hip-hop landmarks, during which white tourists are urged to wear complimentary bling.”
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Priscilla Diaz, the subject of P-Star Rising, discusses the premiere of her film and her new season on PBS’s The Electric Company on WPIX, the flagship station of The CW Television Network.
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Tags: music, New York Times, NPR, Washington Post

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

Chicago Public Radio gives an in-depth look at the upcoming Independent Lens broadcast of Garbage Dreams, which also screened at the Chicago Cultural Center as part of Community Cinema. For decades, a group of people known as the “Zabaleen”, Arabic for “garbage people”, have been Cairo’s unofficial trash collectors, sorters and recyclers. They survive by recycling some eighty percent of the trash they collect. Compared to American cities, which recycle roughly thirty two percent of their waste, that’s no small feat.
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“Even for someone who cares about the environment, [Jamie Lee] Curtis says Dirt! [The Movie] was an education. ‘I was as astonished as you will be when you see the film, about the earth being alive.’”
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“Sam Cooke: Crossing Over on American Masters: The PBS series takes a respectful look at the life and death of the silky smooth singer, first in gospel and then in pop.”
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“One from the heart, the documentary Mine relates yet one more wrenching, infuriating story about Hurricane Katrina and the devastation wreaked both by the storm and by human error and indifference.”
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“What’s the difference between creative ‘borrowing’ and outright theft? The Independent Lens documentary Copyright Criminals offers a thought-provoking discussion of the subject filtered through a history of hip-hop ‘sampling’ culture.”
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Tags: environmental, Los Angeles Times, music, New York Times, USA Today

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

“An airing of the heartwarming documentary Young@Heart … proves you’re never too old to rock…”
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“Producers Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod [Copyright Criminals] craft a compelling and insightful documentary illuminating both sides of a hotly debated issue: Should the original artists get paid when someone samples their work?”
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The New York Times recognizes Independent Lens for it’s contribution to some of the best television in 2009.
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“Scenes from a Parish by James Rutenbeck on Independent Lens tells a very familiar New England story: the survival of a big urban Catholic church at a time of change.”
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Tags: church, music, New York Times, senior citizens

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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Tags: cinematographer, Los Angeles Times, Military, New York Times, USA Today

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

Correspondent Jeffrey Brown interviews Megum Sasaki, the director and producer of HERB & DOROTHY. [TRT: 7 minutes].
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“Independent Lens begins its eighth season with Megumi Sasaki’s HERB & DOROTHY, about the unlikely art collectors Herb and Dorothy Vogel of New York, which Nathan Lee called a ‘modest, touching documentary’ in The New York Times.”
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Director Bo Boudart discusses his film POWER PATHS on New American Media.
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“…Roberta Grossman’s beautifully made BLESSED IS THE MATCH… Won audience awards at numerous Jewish film festivals and a spot on the shortlist for the Academy Award for best documentary feature (though it ultimately didn’t receive a nomination). It also is slated to air next April on PBS.”
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Tags: art, environmental, Jewish, New York Times, The NewsHour

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

“While the Globes did their best to keep grimmer realities at bay, there was a flash of reality in the victory of WALTZ WITH BASHIR for best foreign film.”
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“Ari Folman’s animated documentary of Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon is perfectly surreal.”
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“In 2007, Alabama officially apologized for slavery and its “after effects.” But those after effects still play out in Mobile’s annual Mardi Gras… The fascinating THE ORDER OF MYTHS, which PBS’s Independent Lens will air on February 24, follows these parallel worlds…”
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“Growing up at the center of the firestorm surrounding the famous civil rights attorney William Kunstler wasn’t easy. According to his daughters Sarah, and Emily, the family often feared for their lives… DISTURBING THE UNIVERSE is a timely reminder about the cost of standing up for justice, regardless of the consequences. ”
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“I could not pull myself away from Stacy Peralta’s riveting, revelatory, exhaustive examination of the 40-year history of gang warfare in South Central L.A.”
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Tags: Los Angeles Times, New York Times, newspaper reviews