How did you find out about the Power Writers program?

PEARL QUICK: In 2001, when I was a freshman, they sent around a paper asking everybody what you want as an extracurricular activity and I chose poetry because there wasn’t anything else on the paper that was interesting to me.  I had been writing for a long time and wanted to transfer myself into a space where I could use poetry as a way to get on a stage and do some performing.  I was one of the original 11 that started in the class and did it the entire time I was in high school, and even two years after as a co-teacher.

Where do you think you would be right now without power writers?

PQ: In 2001, before I started power writing, I was practically mute. I was so shy. I had a story to tell but it’s hard to open up to people, especially where I come from and especially when you have the kind of education where you read from a book and take tests and are never asked how you are doing. So I got used to being quiet.  I had to help take care of my siblings and really needed someone to allow me to be a child.

To Be Heard airs on public television starting in January

Power writing gave me a family. It gave me a place I could open my mouth and say what I wanted without fear of criticism that’s not productive. I was given a safe space to speak with conviction and power and have confidence and always feel as if anything is possible. Without power writing, I would not have done half the things I have done.

Do you keep in touch with the other main subjects of the film, Karina and Anthony? And how about your teachers, Roland and Amy?

PQ: Amy is a big part of my heart. Period! She gave me the greatest gift a 14 year old from the Bronx could have gotten: the ability to be a kid and figure out who I was, what I wanted, and what I deserved. She was a strong figure of understanding, love, guidance — and it was constant love, support and realness. I love her for giving me all of who she was, right when I needed something/someone who was an adult to believe in and love! She saved my life at a time where fragility was my everyday existence.

And Roland is like my father. He calls me everyday and asks me what I’m doing. I can’t imagine anytime without either of them. I go to them when I need something, or just need to talk. We can’t get rid of each other even if we tried.

Karina and Anthony are home in the Bronx. Karina has a baby, and Amy and I are actually both godmothers. Anthony also has a child and at this moment is working as a tattoo artist, which is cool. They are pulling it together and I have a lot of faith in them.

I want them to go back to school. Education is forever, while jobs come and go. So for the both of them I hope they can take one step past their circumstance and their fears and see it isn’t as scary as they think.

What do you hope to do after you graduate?

PQ: I definitely want to go to grad school. That’s a given. I also want to get my PhD. Then, I definitely want to start my girls program. I want it to be a small, self-sustainable program for young women of color in the Bronx. I want to build up strong women so they can build up themselves in their own neighborhoods where they need it. I want them to have a program that is geared towards them and uplifts them. I also want to write a memoir about my struggles with weight.

Do you have any advice for teenagers back home who are thinking about doing power poetry or any other creative outlet like that?

PQ: You have to find a safe space and stick with it. Roland always says it takes 1,000 little steps to get to where you need to be. So if you want to find your voice, you have to be OK with 1,000 little steps. It doesn’t happen over night but it does happen if you fight for it. Creative outlets should be a requirement in everyone’s life. It’s a moment where who you can really shine and you can say whatever you want to say.

To Be Heard is airing on public television starting in January. Check local listings. Find out more about the film’s online companion, and the world’s first mobile poetry community for youth, Power Poetry, here. 

In this video extra, teenager Jesse Desrosier gives an intimate look into daily life on the Blackfeet reservation and attending the Nizipuhwahsin School. DesRosier captures the challenges he faces as a young American Indian living in two worlds: modern mid-America and that of his traditional heritage.

SUMMER SUN WINTER MOON airs this November on public television (check local listings).

Learn more about SUMMER SUN WINTER MOON from filmmaker Hugo Perez >>

Stanley and Livingston. Holmes and Watson. Calvin and Hobbes. Who can forget the first time they encountered these dynamic duos? As the director of SUMMER SUN WINTER MOON, I had the fortune to be present for the first fateful meeting of Rob Kapilow and Darrell Kipp––the subjects of my documentary.

I had begun my film journey following the story of maverick (have we rehabilitated that term yet?) composer Rob Kapilow on his quest to compose a symphony inspired by the Lewis and Clark expedition. Where else could this lead us but to the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission Convention in Great Falls, Montana where a certain Blackfeet writer and educator named Darrell Kipp was the keynote speaker? I have to admit that the groggy encounter between Darrell and Rob by the indoor pool at the Best Western––where we were all staying––lacked a certain electricity. However, it ended with an invitation from Darrell to come and visit him on the Blackfeet reservation. And we did come back to Montana and had a wonderful visit with Darrell at the Nizipuhwasin Blackfeet Language Immersion School.

That second trip to Montana resulted in a murky understanding that Darrell would collaborate with Rob on a libretto for his symphony and another invitation for us to visit him at his cabin in St. Mary’s, Montana on the Blackfeet Reservation. Darrell was expecting us but had neglected to email his exact address in St. Mary’s. Although, he kept saying that anyone we asked would be able to point us in the right direction. Rob and I flew back to Great Falls, and made the scenic drive up to the edge of Glacier National Park to the village of St.Mary’s and proceeded to ask anyone we could pull over where Darrell Kipp lived. No one seemed to know, and everyone refused to acknowledge that anyone named Darrell Kipp even existed. Eventually we stopped in at a diner, and one of the waitresses took pity on us and revealed how to find Darrell’s cabin just a half-mile down the road. We rolled into the driveway of the cabin, walked up to the porch and knocked on the front door. A loud groaning sound could be heard inside, and few moments later Darrell Kipp opened the door in his boxers. That moment was truly where it all began, the beginning of a great collaboration and a great friendship which plays out in SUMMER SUN WINTER MOON. Darrell told us later that he had been alerted to our presence earlier by neighbors concerned that some men who looked like federal agents were asking how to find him.

On that trip we spent four days sitting with Darrell on his porch and visiting with his friends and learning about his family history and Blackfeet history. Rob and I, neophytes from the East Coast, realized how little we knew or understood about American Indian culture, and the seeds for what would become the libretto for Rob’s symphony were planted.

I guess the lesson to be learned is that sometimes you have to make the extra effort to find who you are looking for even when people think you are federal agents and won’t tell you how to find the person you are looking for.

- Hugo Perez
Filmmaker, SUMMER SUN WINTER MOON

POWER PATHS, airing November 3 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS

SUMMER SUN WINTER MOON, airing in November 2009 on public television

As the nation observes Native American Heritage Month throughout November, PBS will air programs that examine and celebrate the many aspects of Native American life and history. Be sure to check out these two new compelling ITVS documentaries:

POWER PATHS, airing November 3 at 10:00 on Independent Lens (check local listings), looks at how Native American tribes are turning to solar and wind sources to provide clean sustainable energy for cities across the west. Their traditional values regarding conservation and the earth offer real solutions to America’s energy crisis. A co-production of NAPT.

SUMMER SUN WINTER MOON, airing in November 2009 on public television (check local listings), tells the story of an unexpected collaboration between a Blackfeet poet and an unconventional classical composer that led to a unique work of art from the perspective of American Indians today.

Encore presentations of ITVS programs this month also include:  TRUE WHISPERS: The Story of the Navajo Code Talkers, MISS NAVAJO and MARCH POINT.

Get broadcast listings and more information about upcoming ITVS programs >>

OFF THE CHARTS: The Song-Poem Story exposes the strange underworld of the song-poem industry. Like a warped fun-house mirror, the song-poem industry has run parallel to the mainstream music business for close to a century; it’s estimated that over 200,000 song-poems have been recorded since 1900.

Originally airing several years ago on Independent Lens, Jamie Meltzer sees multiple opportunities online by reaching a new digitally engaged audience. He also is excited by the idea of encouraging viewership through social networking sites and providing a space for debates and exchanges.

“I’m now looking at ways to change my approach to filmmaking and storytelling as people turn to the Internet,” he said. “There are so many possibilities. I recently started a website with a few friends that comes up with filmmaking challenges. Each month, we take a set of technical, formal or thematic limitations and then make a short film according to whatever rules are set.”

Meltzer explained it’s an effective tool to gauge how people approach different problems and interpret rules in their own way. Check out the site and submit a film >>

As more people get their content online, Meltzer has been turning to sites like Hulu and SnagFilms.

“It’s a whole new way of getting a film seen and fulfills the need of instant gratification to watch a film in its entirety right away. At the same time, it also encourages people to buy downloads or DVDs.”

Meltzer is currently working on LA CAMINATA, which looks at a small town in central Mexico decimated by the effects of migration to the United States. He is already thinking about distribution opportunities on SnagFilms as well as educational DVD and TV broadcast distributions.

OFF THE CHARTS and other full-length Independent Lens programs are available on our digital partners.

Watch OFF THE CHARTS on Hulu >>

Stream it on YouTube >>

WGBH Lab Director Chris Hastings and Filmmaker Lisa Russell.

A scene from BI-RACIAL HAIR.

When Lois Vossen, the series producer for Independent Lens, first informed me that the national broadcast of my short film, BI-RACIAL HAIR would be rescheduled because it conflicted with the President’s first State of the Union address, I joked that it would be an honor to be bumped by Obama. Little did I know at the time, the biggest honor I would receive for my film would come on May 30, when I would walk across the stage of the 32nd Annual Boston/New England Emmy Awards to accept my first Emmy Award in the “Outstanding Advanced Media Interactivity” category.

BI-RACIAL HAIR is a film of the WGBH Lab Open Call initiative. Produced for the “Eviction Notice” call with the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC), it explores how slavery and racism still reverberate in the 20th century. The film profiles 13-year old Zora Howard, a spoken word artist from Harlem, as she reenacts scenes from her poem of the same name. Along with four other films, my project was made with a $2,000 production fund, had an online pitch and review process and then had a rough cut dialogue with various members of the PBS community. The film is online on both the WGBH Lab site and the NPBC Black Public Media site and will be having an encore presentation tonight.

Because BI-RACIAL HAIR was produced as an online, short format piece, I was surprised that it would get recognized in an arena as prestigious as the Emmy Awards. I produced it to spark dialogue, confront stereotypes, reach youth…never expecting to win awards or gold statues. Short “social issue” films that premiere online seem to constantly vie for credibility in the mainstream television world, an idea reinforced by the fact that the “Outstanding Advanced Media Interactivity” category is one of the last listed on the 32nd Annual Boston/New England Emmy Award nominee list. So, sitting in a room filled with anchors, weatherman and daytime celebrities on Emmy night was a very surreal experience for me. I was honored to be nominated but a bit skeptical.

Luckily, I shared the honor of winning the Emmy Award that night with the WGBH Lab Director Chris Hastings by my side. He recognizes and supports emerging voices in independent film by providing them with the resources and guidance to produce films for the Open Call. I believe that night we both recognized the significance an award like this could be in legitimizing the work of social issue filmmakers who are covering rather difficult issues while embracing new media outlets. That significance extends to groundbreaking PBS online initiatives like the WGBH Lab and the NBPC’s New Media Institute (which I partook in 2008) and to series like Independent Lens that bridges the gap between the PBS broadcast and online distribution worlds.

It is very exciting that a little over a week after I won the Emmy Award, 13-year old Zora and other young poets affiliated with the non-profit, Urban Word NYC, will have a television spotlight, delivering an incredibly sophisticated poem that segues from the challenges of stylizing bi-racial hair to contemporary lessons about slavery and racism in America. While it was an honor to be bumped by Obama, and an incredible honor to win an Emmy Award, it is equally an honor to share the incredible talent and passion of these young voices with a nationwide audience.

- Lisa Russell, filmmaker