Bhutto Producer Mark Siegel Reflects on Benazir Bhutto

Mark Siegel, co-producer of the documentary Bhutto, discusses his relationship with the former Prime Minister of Pakistan. The film, which aired last season on Independent Lens, earned a Peabody award earlier this month. Siegel and filmmaker Duane Baughman will accept the prestigious award on May 21 in New York.

Tags: Benazir Bhutto, Bhutto, ITVS, mark siegel, Pakistan, PBS, Peabody Awards

Three ITVS Programs Win Peabody Awards

Bhutto, My Perestroika, and Who Killed Chea Vichea were among the ITVS programs to earn the George Foster Peabody Awards this year. Administered by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Peabody is one of the most prestigious honors in electronic media.

Congratulations to the filmmakers on this incredible achievement! This brings the total of Peabody awards for ITVS films to 22.

Bhutto by Duane Baughman, which aired on Independent Lens, takes an intimate look at one of the most fascinating and important world leaders of our time, Benazir Bhutto.
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Tags: Bhutto, journalism, my perestroika, PBS, Peabody Awards, Who Killed Chea Vichea?

Three ITVS programs Win Peabody Awards

The George Foster Peabody Awards, administered by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, is the oldest, and one of the most prestigious honors in electronic media.

Among this year’s winners are three ITVS programs Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers and The Lord Is Not on Trial Here Today.

Congratulations to the filmmakers on this incredible achievement! This brings the total of Peabody awards for ITVS films to 19.

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Tags: journalism, PBS, Peabody Awards

Glee and Independent Lens — Peabodys in a Pod

Lois Vossen, series producer of Independent Lens and Vice President of ITVS, attended the Peabody Awards ceremony Monday night at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, where the films Between the Folds and The Order of Myths won the prestigious award. She talks about the unprecedented evening:

From L to R: Vanessa Gould, Lois Vossen and Margaret Brown at the Peabody Awards Ceremony

The 69th Annual Peabody Awards ceremony, hosted by Diane Sawyer on Monday, marked the third consecutive year that Independent Lens received two Peabody Awards in one year, perhaps the only television series to ever achieve this honor.

Dr. Susan Douglas, the chair of the Peabody Awards Board, said that the 34 honorees were selected from nearly 1,200 finalists, confirming that the Peabody selection process is perhaps the most rigorous of any of the top industry awards.

Vanessa Gould received a Peabody Award for her first film, Between the Folds, a film exploring the intersection of fine art and science embodied in the practice of origami. Margaret Brown received a Peabody Award for The Order of Myths, an examination of the joyous yet still segregated celebration of Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama.

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Tags: craig ferguson, glee, journalism, Peabody Awards

At the Peabody Awards with Vice President and Indie Lens Series Producer Lois Vossen

Winners of the 2009 Peabody Awards.

Maria Finitzo and Justine Nagan, winners for MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH, with Lois Vossen (middle).

Albert Maysles, Peabody Award winner and acclaimed filmmaker, with Lois Vossen.

Yesterday, I attended the 2009 Peabody Awards ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. This year, PBS received six Peabody Awards and I’m proud to say that one-third of those went to Independent Lens.

Taking home awards were Maria Finitzo for MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH: Terra Incognita, which looks at Dr. Jack Kessler, a prominent neurologist, who shifts his diabetes research to stem cell research when his daughter is paralyzed from the waist down. The second Peabody was given to KING CORN, by Aaron Woolf, Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney, which follows two recent college graduates who embark on a mission to see where America’s food comes from––by growing it. In the rural town of Greene, Iowa, the two friends plant a single acre of the nation’s most powerful crop–corn–and then set out to track it from a seed to the dinner plate.

The ceremony was hosted by NBC’s Brian Wiliams. Anyone who has seen him as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart knows he has a good, contagious sense of humor. He was a very good MC for the Peabody ceremony––the perfect mix of sincere recognition for the remarkable work being honored and very funny humor to make the ceremony more entertaining and also sincere and effective. One of my favorite moments was Brian Williams persistent teasing of Wolf Blitzer and CNN.

Other highlights of the Peabody Awards included an honor to Saturday Night Live for their political parody coverage of the 2008 presidential election, Entourage and Breaking Bad.

After the ceremony, I spent time with Albert Maysles (who received a Peabody Award for The Gates) and the staff of The Onion online. I later joined the other winners for the champagne reception at The Paley Center. It was a big day for Independent Lens and the filmmakers!

Lois
- Vice President and Independent Lens Series Producer

Tags: Brian Williams, Peabody Awards

Two Independent Lens Programs Win Peabody Awards

The George Foster Peabody Awards, administered by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, is the oldest, and one of the most prestigious honors in electronic media. Among this year’s winners are two Independent Lens programs:

KING CORN, by Aaron Woolf, Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney, which follows two recent college graduates who embark on a mission to see where America’s food comes from–by growing it. In the rural town of Greene, Iowa, the two friends plant a single acre of the nation’s most powerful crop–corn–and then set out to track it from a seed to the dinner plate.

MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH: Terra Incognita, by Maria Finitzo, looks at Dr. Jack Kessler, a prominent neurologist, who shifts his diabetes research to stem cell research when his daughter is paralyzed from the waist down. MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH brings the stem cell debate to the forefront and examines the constantly evolving interplay between the promise of new discoveries, the controversy of modern science and the courage of people living with devastating disease and injury.

Congratulations to the filmmakers on this incredible achievement! The awards will be presented May 18 at a luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City with NBC’s Brian Williams as host.

Visit the Peabody Award website for a complete list of winners >>

Tags: corn, Peabody Awards, stem cells