Join ITVS and the Museum of Tolerance for a Screening of The Calling

ITVS and the New York Museum of Tolerance present a special free screening of  The Calling on Tuesday, March 12th. 

What drives the new younger generation of professional clergy members to take on such an intense level of commitment and leadership? In 2010, director Danny Alpert took on this question in his four hour PBS documentary series The Calling, which follows seven young people of different faiths (Muslim, Christian and Jewish) through their journey of schooling and training.

One March 12th, ITVS is hosting a special free screening of a segment of The Calling together with the New York Museum of Tolerance through our Diverse Muslim Voices project. Supported by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts, Diverse Muslim Voices helps build awareness and understanding in the US of the diverse range of Muslim cultures.

Two of the film’s subject, Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz and Chaplin Tahera Ahmed, will be in attendance at the screening. In the documentary we are introduced to them as young people at the crossroads of their lives, struggling with dating, partners, family, and other challenges of “coming of age.” They are seeking to reconcile the modern world and their faith through community activism; balancing their egos and their desire to serve and blazing new paths to leadership while conserving age-old traditions. The Q&A after the screening will offer an opportunity to hear how these two charismatic leaders have grown over the past few years with more experience and leading congregations of their own.

There is a reception at 6pm followed by the screening at 7pm. The event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is requested. For more information and to RSVP, please click here.

Special Screening of Half the Sky with a Keynote Address by Sheryl WuDunn

Sheryl WuDunn, co-author of Half the Sky is coming to Seattle, Saturday Nov 17! Join us for a special screening of the new PBS documentary based on the book by her and Nicholas Kristof. 

Inspired by the best-selling book by Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide addresses one of the central moral challenges of our time: the oppression of women and girls worldwide. Shot in six different countries, the series follows Kristof and a group of American actresses to some of the places in the world where gender inequality is most extreme, and introduces audiences to the indomitable individuals who are fighting to make a difference. This special screening will feature 45 minutes worth of clips focusing on access to education in Vietnam and human trafficking in Cambodia. View the trailer for the film series.

Following the screening will be a panel discussion featuring WuDunn and representatives from youth serving organizations including The Girl Scouts of Western Washington, International Rescue Committee, One by One, and Room to Read. The panel will be moderated by Lisa Clarke, a Washington Teacher Ambassador Fellow with the Department of Education. Continue reading

Live Streaming of Lives Worth Living

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Diversity Committee and ITVS invites members to attend a special screening and discussion of Lives Worth Living on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 7pm PT in North Hollywood, CA. The discussion will also be streamed via webcast on Emmys.com & Emmys.tv.

Civil rights are taken for granted in the United States. However, for a diverse population of more than 54 million Americans — those with disabilities — it is an ongoing struggle. Lives Worth Living is television’s most comprehensive history of the disability rights movement. It opens a window into the world of citizens with an unwavering determination to live their lives like everyone else. It is also a journey through the past when millions of people lived without access to schools, work, public transportation, and housing. Charismatic leaders of the movement narrate the story of this long, hard, and successful drive for civil rights that brought together a once fragmented population into a powerful coalition that created some of the most far reaching civil rights legislation in our nation’s history … and around the world. Continue reading

Advanced Screening of The Island President in D.C.

U.S. Climate Action Network, 350.org, and ecoAmerica invite you and a guest to advance screenings of the The Island President on April 15th and 16th in Washington, DC. The documentary will premiere on PBS next season on Independent Lens.

These two advanced screenings of The Island President are part of the Washington, DC International Film Festival (FilmfestDC) lineup. While both screenings are open to climate community leaders and the rest of the public, the Monday evening screening will be immediately followed by a special Q&A discussion. Continue reading

Screening of FUTURESTATES at the Tribeca Film Festival

ITVS and the Tribeca Film Institute will be hosting a free screening of FUTURESTATES Season 3 on Saturday, April 21 at 2PM in New York City.

What will be of America in 5, 25, or even 50 years from today? This series of independent mini-features, short narrative films created by established filmmakers and emerging talents, explores possible future scenarios through the lens of today’s global realities. Immerse yourself in the visions of these independent filmmakers as they inhabit a future of their own imagining.

The screening will take place on Saturday, April 21 at 2PM at the Tribeca Cinemas (54 Varick Street) in New York City, followed by a Q&A with many of the FUTURESTATES filmmakers, including Jennifer Phang (Advantageous), Patrick Stettner (Gunny), and Trevin Matcek (Life Begins at Rewirement).

To attend, please RSVP to rsvp@itvs.org

Special Screening of “Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock” Wednesday in Los Angeles

Community Cinema and The Museum of Tolerance, in association with The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum, will be presenting a special screening of Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock Wednesday, February 1 in Los Angeles.

The film will be followed by a discussion with Sharon La Cruise (filmmaker), Terrence Roberts, Ph.D. (one of the Little Rock Nine), and Larry Earl (Executive Director of The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum). Continue reading

Letters from Washington: Lost Sparrow Director Examines Family History

Lost Sparrow airs Tuesday night on Independent Lens

Filmmaker Chris Billing reflects on a screening of his film Lost Sparrow Monday night in Washington, D.C. The documentary premieres Tuesday night on Independent Lens at 10 PM (check local listings).

Monday night’s screening was a stark reminder of the powerful and emotional response that Lost Sparrow can generate.  The film screened to a full house at D.C.’s Letelier Theater, in an event co-sponsored by the National Children’s Alliance and Docs in Progress, a D.C.-based organization that promotes independent filmmaking.
Continue reading

Waste Land Opens in New York

Artist Vik Muniz in the documentary Waste Land

Lucy Walker’s Waste Land, which is part of this year’s lineup on Independent Lens, opens this Friday, October 29 at the Angelika Film Center in New York.

The documentary tells the extraordinary tale of the Brazilian artist Vik Muniz and his journey to the largest landfill in the world to work with a community of people called catadores — pickers of recyclable materials — to create enormous portraits of them out of the materials they collect.

Amid the rubbish, Muniz encounters a group of inspiring characters that dare to re-imagine their lives through the creation of masterful works of contemporary art. Among many other accolades, Waste Land received Audience Awards at the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals as well as the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.

You can read more about the film and its subject Vic Muniz in last week’s edition of The New York Times.

Click here to reserve a ticket for Waste Land, screening this weekend in New York.

Frederick Wiseman Puts the Gloves On

Boxing Gym directed by Frederick Wiseman

The ITVS-funded Boxing Gym by acclaimed filmmaker Frederick Wiseman starts its national theatrical run this Friday, October 22 at the IFC Center in New York. Wiseman’s hypnotic new film is about an Austin, Texas institution: Lord’s Gym, which was founded 16 years ago by professional boxer Richard Lord.

People of all ages, races, ethnicities, and social classes come to Lord’s — doctors, lawyers, judges, businessmen, and kids all learn to spar alongside fellow amateurs and trained professionals. Wiseman depicts the gym as a uniquely American melting pot and a microcosm of our society.

Opening week will feature a Q&A with director Frederick Wiseman, boxing demos, and much more. Click here for additional info and release dates.

FUTURESTATES Shines at Bioneers Conference

The Bioneers Conference — held this month in San Rafael, CA — is a leading-edge forum that presents breakthrough solutions for people and planet. This year, ITVS’s FUTURESTATES series screened at the event as part of their Moving Image Festival. Media Project Manager Aaron Leventman headed up those efforts and filed this report for BTB.

On October 9 at the Koret Auditorium at the San Francisco Public Library, the entire 11 short films of the FUTURESTATES series was screened in its entirety as part of the Bioneers Film Festival. At this year’s conference, social and scientific innovators focused on solutions inspired by nature and human ingenuity.  Experts including Jane Goodall and James Hansen spoke about the most important issues facing our planet today. Continue reading