Supreme Courts Upholds Health Care Law

Posted on June 28, 2012 by ITVS Staff

On Thursday, the Supreme Court largely upheld the President’s health care overhaul in a 5-4 ruling. Filmmaker Peter Nicks of The Waiting Room is taking the public’s temperature to the court’s decision on twitter @WaitingStories. Send in your feedback and use the hashtag #1in6.

The Waiting Room (heading to Independent Lens next season) goes behind the doors of an American public hospital struggling to care for a community of largely uninsured patients. See a recent New York Times feature on the film, after the jump.
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Filmmaker Examines History Behind Separation of Church and State

Posted on April 30, 2011 by ITVS Staff

By Chanel Kong

The Lord Is Not On Trial Here Today airs this May on Public Television and tells the compelling story of the woman behind the Supreme Court’s landmark First Amendment case that set the foundation for the separation of church and state in public schools. ITVS’ Chanel Kong caught up with director Jay Rosentein to discuss the film.

What inspired you to make this film?

Initially, it was a reprint series that the local newspaper did of famous front pages and one of them was of the front page from the day Vashti McCollum won her case, with a headline that read “Court Upholds Mrs. McCollum.”

I had heard over the years that there had been a famous Supreme Court case brought by Dan McCollum’s mother — Dan was the mayor of Champaign, IL at the time — but the headline really grabbed my attention.
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