online video
FUTURESTATES’s Predict-o-Meter: You’re the Oracle
We’re really excited about FUTURESTATES –– ITVS’s brand new online fictional series. The website (http://www.futurestates.tv) includes 11 fictional mini-features –– available to watch for free –– that explore possible future scenarios through the lens of today’s global realities.
But did you have a chance to check out the “Predict-o-Meter” yet? After watching a few episodes, forecast future events and explore the predictions left by others on the immersive timeline.
When will the ice caps melt? Will our first female president be elected? Will the rainforest rebound, or disappear? Will California sink into the Pacific?
Submit your own prediction and see others about what lies ahead >>
ITVS’s FUTURESTATES Profiled in The New York Times
FUTURESTATES has arrived!
The new online fictional series from ITVS represents a huge innovation for public media. Check out the New York Times story below to learn more about the creative concept behind the series and what makes it so unique.
Also, be sure to watch FUTURESTATES today by visiting http://www.futurestates.tv and tell us what you think!
For Web and Public TV, Brief Films That Dramatize Issues
By Elizabeth Jensen
March 7, 2010
ITVS is best known for its financing of documentaries, many of which appear on PBS’s Independent Lens series. But beginning on Monday, the organization will present a series of brief, fictional films that cast social issues into the future, in the hopes of drawing a younger audience not necessarily interested in public television.
The new films, 11 in all, will appear first on the Web, and later move to broadcast. Their subjects will be familiar to those who watch ITVS-financed documentaries: climate change, immigration and exploitation of the poor, among other social issues. Under the series title FUTURESTATES, the films will give fictional treatments to the same kinds of subjects, some with a science-fiction twist, exploring how those issues can play out in the future.
The films, which run about 15 minutes each, are meant to attract a diverse audience of so-called millennials, young adults in their 20s and 30s, as well as filmmakers in that demographic group, said Sally Jo Fifer, the president and chief executive of ITVS. Fiction is “what they’re working in,” said Ms. Fifer, and online is where to reach them, ITVS executives said. “We wanted to get that demographic in the public media family,” Ms. Fifer added.
FUTURESTATES: A New Online Fictional Series From ITVS
X (Anthony Giangrande) is created as a robot in the story-within-a-story in Tent City by Aldo Velasco.
The wait is finally over!
Today, ITVS launched FUTURESTATES –– a brand new online fictional series that explores many of today’s complex social issues by imagining how they play out in the world of tomorrow.
Each of the 11 episodes are available for free on the series website www.futurestates.tv and will be available on pbs.org in April. FUTURESTATES will also have its theatrical premiere at South by Southwest on Sunday, March 14.
ITVS worked with some of today’s best and emerging indie filmmakers to complete the 11 films for the series. Contributors include acclaimed American director Ramin Bahrani, whose mini-feature entitled Plastic Bag is narrated by the legendary Werner Herzog, Greg Pak’s Mister Green and Tze Chun’s Silver Sling.
What life might look like in America in the decades and centuries to come?
ITVS Launches New Online Fictional Series on Monday
A surrogate (Diana Masi) looks at her new scar in Tze Chun's Silver Sling.
What will life look like in America in the decades and centuries to come?
On Monday, March 8, ITVS will launch FUTURESTATES –– a new online fictional series that represents a huge innovation for public media.
Each of the 11 episodes will be available for free beginning March 8 on the series website www.futurestates.tv with subsequent distribution on pbs.org. FUTURESTATES will also have its theatrical premiere at South by Southwest on Sunday, March 14.
Have your own predictions for the future? Be sure to tell us on the “Predict-o-Meter,” a unique feature on the FUTURESTATES website where you can submit your own predictions about life in the future, and comment on the predictions of others. Think you know when the ice caps will melt? Know when we’ll elect our first female president? Will the rainforest rebound or disappear? Share your predictions with us on Monday.
Are you as excited as we are? Then you won’t want to miss the extended series trailer below!
Sneak Preview of FUTURESTATES episode Fallout
It’s almost here… ITVS’s new fictional online series — FUTURESTATES — launches online March 8 and will have its theatrical world premiere at South by Southwest (SXSW) on March 14.
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 >>
A Sneak Peek at FUTURESTATES: A New Online Fictional Series
What will become of America in five, 25, or even 50 years from today?
Beginning March 8, ITVS will launch a new online fictional series called FUTURESTATES, which will explore many of today’s complex social issues by imagining how they play out in the world of tomorrow.
The series will be accessible exclusively online and be available for free. ITVS worked with over 20 of today’s best and emerging indie filmmakers to complete the 11 films for the series. Contributors include acclaimed director Ramin Bahrani, whose mini-feature entitled Plastic Bag is narrated by the legendary Werner Herzog, Greg Pak’s Mister Green and Tze Chun’s Silver Sling.
Can’t wait until March 8? Watch the video preview below. Also be sure to join the brand new FUTURESTATES Facebook Fan Page to watch more video previews and to get the latest news on the series.
Join the FUTURESTATES Facebook Fan Page and watch other clips >>
New Films Available on the PBS Video Player
ITVS programs regularly explore the rich and vibrant history and cultural contributions of African Americans. In fact, three ITVS films –– Brother to Brother, Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, and Life and Debt –– were recently recognized by The Grio’s “Ten Most Important Black Films of the Decade.”
In celebration of Black History Month, ITVS and PBS are offering a special slate of new and encore programs throughout February. Select programs are also available on the PBS video player. Be sure to check out the Independent Lens documentary February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four, which looks at the pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movement when four college students staged a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960. Also, be sure to check out last year’s Independent Lens Audience Award winner Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Greene, which tells the unlikely story of America’s original shock-jock, Petey Greene, who battled the system and his own demons during a time of civil unrest in the nation’s capital.
Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes and P-Star Rising, both Independent Lens documentaries, will be available online February 10.
ITVS Partners With telegraph21
ITVS is proud to announce a new promotional partnership with telegraph21 (t21), a curated website that features and promotes documentaries and art videos from around the world as well as films from Independent Lens, Community Cinema, and other ITVS initiatives.
Part-gallery and part-video magazine, t21 will launch January 11 and offer short (10 minutes or less), interactive video package three times a week that provide viewers access to hard-to-find videos, and the ability to get involved and contribute their own ideas.
The site will feature works from award-winning journalists, filmmakers, and artists and provide an ongoing platform for media producers and film festivals to promote their work and interact with viewers –– providing an invaluable resource to those in the independent film community.
Ultimately, t21 plans to offer it’s viewers a new kind of “cinematic” experience –– online and offline –– using qualities of the digital space (mobility, flexibility, engagement and social interaction) to personalize the experience of watching full-length documentaries.
Currently two Independent Lens broadcasts Between the Folds and Young@Heart are featured on t21 with exclusive interviews from the directors and interactive features. P Star Rising by Gabriel Nobel will be featured in the coming month.
Scenes From a Parish Premiering Tonight on Independent Lens
“[Scenes From a Parish] unfolds in a series of incredibly diverse personal stories as both O’Brien and his fractious flock struggle to hold fast to their faith in the face of dire circumstances.”
- Chicago Tribune
When a young, irreverent priest arrives at Saint Patrick Parish in Lawrence, Massachusetts, he discovers the unexpected––boiling ethnic tensions in a changing working-class community. Filmed over four years, the film follows the diverse personal stories of Father Paul O’Brien and his unruly flock as they struggle to hold onto faith in the face of desperate circumstances.
Scenes From a Parish premieres tonight, December 29, at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).
Rent Independent Lens and Global Voices Episodes on iTunes
Looking to watch something from the comfort of your home over the holidays?
Check out the PBS Indies page on iTunes where you’ll find more than 20 indie films from Independent Lens, Global Voices and other public television series and broadcasts.
Each film is now available for rent for $2.99 or for purchase at $9.99.
A selection of films include: ADJUST YOUR COLOR: The Truth of Petey Green, THE ATOM SMASHERS, BANISHED, the Oscar-nominated DAUGHTER FROM DANANG, A DREAM IN DOUBT, LAKSHMI AND ME, THE LOSS OF NAMELESS THINGS, MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH: TERRA INCOGNITA, MARCH POINT, MILKING THE RHINO, OPERATION FILMMAKER, POWER TRIP, RED WHITE BLACK & BLUE, A SON’S SACRIFICE, STRANDED: The Andes Plane Crash Survivors and ESTILO HIP HOP.
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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