Programming Manager Karim Ahmad.

Matthew Meschery, ITVS director of digital initiatives, discusses FUTURESTATES at the SXSW trade show.

Preparation for a trip to the SXSW film festival usually entails digging through their program guide jam-packed full of screenings and panels and the like, and trying to figure out how to fit it all in. Soon thereafter, you realize that fitting it all in is a Sisyphean exercise –– it’s just plain impossible. This year in particular was a real banner year for ITVS at SXSW because we had the great pleasure and privilege of presenting the theatrical premiere of FUTURESTATES, our new series of short films, at the festival.

The films premiered Sunday evening to a huge crowd and some very animated reactions in the Austin Convention Center’s 500-seat G-Tech Theater. For me, it was a real thrill after over a year of developing these projects with the filmmakers, to finally get to watch these films with an audience and see how people relate to these innovative new stories about life in a future America.

Of course, the hordes of people who attended our opening didn’t get there all on their own. We had our work cut out for us getting people to the screening (see the aforementioned scheduling impossibilities). Luckily, in addition to me pounding the pavement from screening to screening promoting the FUTURESTATES premiere –– a tall order, when one is pre-occupied with reaching out to the next round of prospective FUTURESTATES applicants –– I also helped out our communications team. They manned a booth at the festival trade show, which was decked out to the nines in full FUTURESTATES regalia. At the booth, we screened some of the films; had a “Predict-O-Meter” station, where folks could enter their predictions into the interactive timeline; and of course, a generous supply of FUTURESTATES-branded microwave popcorn (must-have for any trade show booth).

At the screening, we were lucky enough to be joined by three of the filmmakers from the six films premiering: Annie Howell (director of Tia & Marco), Aldo Velasco (director of Tent City), and Garret Williams (director of The Rise). The other three films screened in this special selection of shorts were Tze Chun’s Silver Sling, Greg Pak’s Mister Green, and Ramin Bahrani’s Plastic Bag. The filmmakers explained the geneses of each of their storylines, their approach to visually creating futuristic worlds on an admittedly tight budget, and even their personal views on the future of America –– all in all, a very smart and comprehensive Q&A.

Of course, I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t mention the fantastic slate of ITVS-funded documentaries in the festival also, specifically Laura Poitras’s The Oath, Carol Dysinger’s Camp Victory, Afghanistan, Neil Diamond’s Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian, and Lixin Fan’s Last Train Home, all of which, I’m happy to say, played to truly riveted crowds festival-wide –– a huge congratulations to them all.

All in all, this year’s festival, more than any other year I’ve been, was a truly amazing experience –– and not just for me, but for ITVS, and for the talented group of filmmakers we were lucky to bring in to create the first season of FUTURESTATES. Now go check them out online at futurestates.tv –– I’ve got to get back to work on season 2!

Karim Ahmad
ITVS Programming Manager

Actor Mikel Chase with Aldo Velasco after the FUTURESTATES screening at SXSW.

When I learned that my film Tent City would be screening at SXSW as part of the FUTURESTATES presentation, I was editing a feature film in production in a jungle in India, near the Bhutanese border. I wanted to go to Austin but wasn’t sure if it was worth it; I’d have to leave production a week early, then travel for three and a half days around the globe to make it in time.

It was a crapshoot, because festival screenings are often a bit of a letdown. You arrive full of high hopes, but audiences rarely provide the kind of rapturous response that every filmmaker craves. But I had to see Tent City in front of an audience. This might be my only chance, because the FUTURESTATES shorts were created for Internet broadcast. Would my film’s complex story-within-a-story structure play in front of a crowd? One thing was for sure: I myself would not be able to enjoy my own screening. I’d be too nervous and too hypersensitive to the audience’s mood to relax.

But on Sunday, March 14, I was very pleasantly surprised. My film –– in fact all the films –– looked gorgeous splayed onto that stadium-sized screen at the Austin Convention Center. My previous digital shorts had looked a bit fuzzy when blown up to the silver screen. But Tent City, which was shot on the RED camera by the very talented Mathew Rudenberg, looked breathtaking –– at least to me! A large portion of my film is composed of black and white stills, used to relay a futuristic science-fiction story in the manner of Chris Marker’s La Jetée. With their inky blacks and icy whites, these stark still images surpassed all my expectations for the force of their narrative power.

Watch the FUTURESTATES series trailer:

The objective of the series is to reimagine the problems of today in a slightly futuristic setting. Greg Pak’s Mister Green envisions a future in which bio-terrorists might be the best thing for mankind. Tze Chun’s film Silver Sling is about a world in which surrogate mothers can perform accelerated pregnancies for paying customers –– at tremendous personal cost. And Tent City follows the current housing crisis to its logical conclusion and projects a future in which almost all families have lost their homes and must live in improvised tent cities.

If there were any doubts about the audience’s interest in the films, the question and answer session swept them away. People seemed fascinated not only with the films and their themes but how the entire series was created. Somebody asked about the dystopian quality of the films, how all of them projected a bleak future. This took me by surprise; I don’t feel I have a particularly pessimistic worldview. My response to the question was that by necessity any film about the future had to be dystopian, at least to a small degree. Narrative structure demanded it; otherwise there would be no tension in the story. And I realize now that for the most part the FUTURESTATES films are optimistic about humankind’s ability to stay humane even under adverse conditions.

Later that night PBS and ITVS threw a raucous party on the set of Austin City Limits that took all of us by surprise for its bacchanalian ferocity. Who knew that public television folks could be such relentless hedonists?

Aldo Velasco
Filmmaker of Tent City on FUTURESTATES

Join us on Sunday, March 14 at 5:00 PM, where we’ll be screening the following FUTURESTATES mini-features:

Mister Green, directed by Greg Pak
Plastic Bag, directed by Ramin Bahrani
The Rise, directed by Garret Williams
Silver Sling, directed by Tze Chun
Tent City, directed by Aldo Velasco
Tia & Marco, directed by Annie Howell

This is a unique opportunity to see these groundbreaking new films on the big screen at the one-of-a-kind SXSW Film Festival in high definition. Filmmakers Greg Pak, Annie Howell, Aldo Velasco, and Garret Williams will also be in attendance for a Q&A session, in addition to members of the ITVS staff.

This is your chance to ask all your pressing questions and learn more about this innovative project that’s unlike anything you’ve seen in public media.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Learn more about the FUTURESTATES screening at SXSW >>

Filmmaker Keith Maitland with film subjects of The Eyes of Me.

Panel moderator Paul Stekler leads a round table discussion with Keith Maitland, filmmaker of The Eyes of Me; Karen Skloss, filmmaker of Sunshine; Michel Scott, filmmaker of The Horse Boy.

Last night, nearly 200 people gathered in a dark room to share an hour-long look into the lives of four blind teenagers. With the twinkling lights of the Austin City Limits stage as a backdrop, I couldn’t ask for a more fitting place to experience the incredible communal experience of watching the live Independent Lens broadcast of The Eyes of Me.

The Eyes of Me follows four blind teens over the course of one dynamic year. It’s about watching these teens growing up before our eyes. As they discover who they are, it is my hope that you will discover something about yourself –– it’s about challenging your own perception and seeing yourself in a new way… at least that’s what it’s always been about for me.

The entire process of creating this film, from a nascent idea, through 250 hours of rolling cameras, and two and half years of editing, has been both rewarding and challenging in degrees that I’m still not sure I can register. Along the way, I have learned many lessons about my creative processes, and my own humanity.

The event was especially exciting for me –– by coincidence Independent Lens scheduled the film to air on March 2, otherwise known around these parts as Texas Independence Day. Patrick Floyd, my producing partner had the great idea to celebrate Texas Independence Day as Texas Independents’ Day due to the fact that this season, Indie Lens has chosen three Austin-based independent films: The Eyes of Me, Karen Skloss’ Sunshine and The Horse Boy by Michel Scott.

As the crowd assembled in the historic room, Bill Baird of the Austin band Sunset, kicked off the night with a short set of his distinctively beautiful songs –– many of which are on the soundtrack of my film.

KLRU set the stage for an incomparable filmmaker’s round table led by the award-winning filmmaker and professor, Paul Stekler. Paul was effusive in his description of all three films and probing in his line of questions for me, Karen, and Michel. It was a rare pleasure for me to share the stage with these filmmakers and to give our assembled audience a view into the other great Austin films that Independent Lens will present this season. Each filmmaker gave their own perspective on what goals they have for the impact of their film on the audience and I was really pleased to hear both Karen and Michel express sentiments similar to my own –– we make independent films so that audiences can connect with our subjects and in effect, understand themselves and each other that much better. It’s a simple goal that takes years of work to accomplish.

During the screening I experienced a mixture of feelings: happiness, pride, and relief. It’s been a long road to get to Independent Lens. There have been a lot of folks who have contributed to the effort and without them all, last night could never have happened.

To everyone at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the hundreds of individual donors, All Blind Children of Texas, The Meadows Foundation, Austin Film Society, ITVS, Independent Lens, PBS, and, of course, to the audience who let us into their living room last night, on Texas Independents’ Day, I can’t think of anything more fitting to say than: Thanks Y’all.

-Keith Maitland
Filmmaker, The Eyes of Me

How do you see yourself, when you can’t see at all? At the Texas School for the Blind students juggle all the usual pressures of high school along with the added struggles of growing up blind. Spend a dynamic year with four blind teens learning how to fit in and live independently. Forced to confront the world without sight, they share their inner visions of the outer world. Ultimately, you cannot understand their perceptions without challenging your own.

Check out a preview of tonight’s broadcast below:

The Eyes of Me premieres tonight, March 2, at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).

Busboys and Poets owner Andy Shallal holds up both the Braille and printed versions of the restaurant menus.

Community Cinema DC and Busboys and Poets decided The Eyes of Me event would be the perfect time to introduce braille menus. Busboys and Poets is a restaurant/performance space located in the historic U Street corridor of Washington, DC and named for the famous Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes’ who was discovered in the capital city while working as a busboy at a hotel.

Owner Andy Shallal said he attended The Eyes of Me event to get a better understanding of the perspectives of blind and visually impaired persons in social interactions.

Busboys and Poets has been hosting Community Cinema in the Langston Room for nearly five seasons. The introduction of Braille menus is yet another effort to bring more communities to Busboys and Poets and our Community Cinema events.

Read more about these screenings on the Community Cinema blog >>

We’re really excited about this year’s festival! You won’t want to miss the world premiere of six episodes of our new online fictional series FUTURESTATES on March 14. These narrative mini-features explore many of today’s complex social issues by imagining how they play out in the world of tomorrow.

Learn more about FUTURESTATES on Beyond the Box >>

Also be sure to check out these four other compelling ITVS films at SXSW this year.

Camp Victory, Afghanistan
By Carol Dysinger
Camp Victory, Afghanistan follows several soldiers — Afghan and American — across the divide of language, culture, and religion as they attempt to accomplish a near impossible task: crafting a modern army to serve a struggling nation.

Last Train Home
By Lixin Fan and Mila Aung-Thwin
China experiences the largest internal migration in the world as rural workers travel to cities looking for employment. In Last Train Home, filmmaker Lixin Fan follows the Zhang family who save all year to travel home for Chinese New Year, along with over 100 million other migrant workers, hoping to salvage the relationship with their teenage daughter.

The Oath
By Laura Poitras
Filmed in Yemen, The Oath is a family drama about Al Qaeda and Guantanamo Bay Prison. This documentary is the second in a trilogy about America post 9/11. The first film, My Country, My Country, documented the U.S. occupation of Iraq from the perspective of an Iraqi family. The third film will focus on domestic surveillance.

Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian
By Neil Diamond
Reel Injun is an exciting, insightful and entertaining feature length documentary about the evolution of the image of North American Native people (The Indians) in famous Hollywood movies, from the silent era to today.
Visit Beyond the Box blog later this month to watch video and get updates on the festival.

Learn more about SXSW >>

The panel –– organized to represent an intergenerational view on being blind –– shared personal experiences as compared to those in the film.

The lobby of the Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia was bustling with activity, as volunteers gathered for the Community Cinema screening of
The Eyes of Me.

Fran Fulton, a staff person with Liberty Resources, Inc. (a partner in presenting the event) was busy training a Villanova University sorority on how to serve as sighted guides. Fulton, who is blind, reminded the volunteers that some of the most basic things that sighted people take for granted are important to remember when assisting blind people, such as telling them which direction the seat is facing, and placing the hand of the blind person on the seat in front of them as a way to guide them into an available chair, which may be four or five seats down the row.

Audio describers from Amaryllis Theatre Company were setting up equipment for live audio description, and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters from the Deaf-Hearing Communication Center were getting acquainted with the space and ready to provide sign language interpretation for the panel discussion taking place after the film.

The crowd was welcomed by Gerry Kitzhoffer, principal of Overbrook School for the Blind (OSB), who also introduced the panel afterwards, which included OSB senior Traniece Johnson and alumni Donal Buie; independent living services supervisor at Liberty Resources, Inc. Cecelia Ramatsingh and moderator, Bill Chrisner from the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania. The panel –– organized to represent an intergenerational view on being blind –– shared personal experiences as compared to those in the film. Comments touched on the importance of private education for the blind to support social development, but also the hope that one day the public school system might offer a more well rounded curriculum for people living with disabilities so that success with integration and mainstreaming might be achieved.

Audience questions further engaged the panelists around these issues, and also extended to inquiries about how the community at large might find opportunities to engage with the school.

In closing the panel, Cecelia Ramatsingh offered these words “Let us continue to strive for justice for all (especially people with disabilities) and independent living for all.” And Bill Chrisner followed up by impressing upon the crowd to “Be proud of who you are. We who have disabilities do not overcome them, we succeed with our differences and they are a part of who we are. It’s the prejudice and discrimination we run into that we overcome.”

Last night’s event was a coordinated effort on the part of all the event partners to bring the public together with people living with disabilities to increase awareness and also to provide broader access to cultural events for guests with disabilities –– an endeavor that we at Community Cinema hope to continue to offer in the future.

Cindy Burstein
Regional Outreach Coordinator

In this video extra, a new student at the school, Denise, explores a brand new store in the neighborhood and learns to navigate on her own, with the help of a coach.

The Eyes of Me airs next Tuesday, March 2, at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).

Learn more about The Eyes of Me >>

Patrick Floyd (left), the producer of The Eyes of Me, and Keith Maitland (right), the director, at the HoustonPBS Community Cinema Screening of their film.

Bernice Klepac, with the Houston Council for the Blind, talks about her experience as a student at Texas School for the Blind back in the 1950s.

With more than 125 audience members in attendance –– many of them blind or visually-impaired –– HoustonPBS hosted a wonderful Community Cinema screening of The Eyes of Me. It’s always exciting for me to be able to sit in a crowded theater and share the film with a new audience but there was something very special about this particular screening. Along with producer Patrick Floyd, I was happy to travel to Houston from Austin, Texas, to experience Community Cinema firsthand. Meagan McComic (one of the main characters from the film) and Bill Daugherty, superintendent of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI), joined Patrick and I on the panel after the film, to share their reflections and perspectives with the Houston community –– many of whom had ties to TTSBVI directly.

Two of the audience members were alumni of TSBVI –– Michael Garrett, class of ’69, and Bernice Klepak, class of ’55. It was exciting to hear Michael and Bernice’s response to the film, and the contrasts between their days at the school and the stories of Chas, Meagan, Denise, and Isaac represented in the film. Bernice was impressed with how honest and natural today’s students were compared to her days when she feels that they were all “pretty straight-laced.”

Meagan McComic (right), one of the subjects of The Eyes of Me, with her mom at the HoustonPBS Community Cinema screening.

At this screening, as we have done at all of our festival screenings before this, we were able to offer live audio description through the use of wireless receivers and transmitters. This system (provided by a grant from the Austin Film Society) gives blind and visually-impaired audience members the opportunity to hear an additional audio track that offers visual information, and reads onscreen text, so that users can experience the film as fully as any audience member. Use of this technology offers accessibility and also educates sighted audience members about accessibility. It’s not surprising that most people have never heard of or considered audio description, we didn’t know about it before making the film either, but I’m happy to be an advocate for accessible media and accessible websites too! (Our website, http://EyesofMe.com, is fully accessible via use of screen reading software, and we offer a fully accessible trailer that is both audio described, and open captioned for the hearing impaired.)

What made Community Cinema such a great screening event was that the audience was so active and engaged. The Q&A following the film was a mixture of questions and comments about the film, the specific characters and stories, as well as how themes within the film affected the local community. It was exactly what we’ve hoped Community Cinema would be –– it was wonderful.

Thanks so much HoustonPBS, Independent Lens, ITVS, and all the great volunteers that are making these events possible!

Keith Maitland
Filmmaker of The Eyes of Me

Learn more about upcoming Community Cinema screenings near you >>

Find local broadcast listings of Independent Lens >>