Tag Archives: welcome to shelbyville

FOCUS ON: Kim Snyder, Director of Welcome to Shelbyville

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By Melody Morgan

FOCUS ON is a regular interview series profiling independent filmmakers and their projects. Up this week is Kim Snyder, whose documentary Welcome to Shelbyville, aired last week on Independent Lens. The documentary is currently streaming free online at PBS.org.

Why did you originally want to become a filmmaker and has that reason changed?

I love film. I’ve always enjoyed storytelling and I felt a compelling drive to express myself in this format.  My entire family was in the arts, and my father is an artist, which also greatly informed me.  With documentary, I’ve observed and experienced the power of the genre to ignite social change, and motivate people to participate in civic dialogue — and that is very rewarding for me.
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Shelbyville Sparks Immigration Discussion in Washington

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By Roseli Ilano, National Community Engagement Coordinator

On the heels of the national broadcast premiere of Welcome to Shebyville on Independent Lens, ITVS partnered with The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration to host a special screening of the award-winning documentary at the George C. Marshall Conference Center in Washington, D.C. The documentary is currently streaming free online at PBS.org.

Patricia Harrison, the president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, provided the opening remarks to the packed auditorium, setting the stage for a unique convening of policy makers, advocates, service providers, and government officials working at the heart of refugee resettlement.
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Welcome to Shelbyville Filmmaker Chats Live with Youth in Nashville

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Join Welcome to Shelbyville director Kim Snyder at 9 AM PDT / 12 PM ET on Thursday, May 26 for a live chat with young people from the Oasis Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1970 to provide community-based care for youth, the Oasis Center has evolved over the past four decades into one of the nation’s leading youth-serving organizations.

The Oasis Center offers safety and support to Nashville’s most vulnerable and disconnected youth, while seeking to also teach young people how to transform the conditions that create problems for them in the first place.

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Interview: Kim Snyder on Welcome to Shelbyville

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Filmmaker Kim Snyder visited ITVS last year to discuss her documentary Welcome to Shelbyville — which airs Tuesday night on Independent Lens. Set on the eve of the 2008 election, the film examines the town of Shelbyville as it grapples with issues of immigration and patriotism.

Filmmaker Weighs in on News in Shelbyville

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Kim Snyder is the director of Welcome to Shelbyville, airing this May on Independent Lens

Filmmaker Kim Snyder responds to some recent news coverage around her upcoming film Welcome to Shelbyville, which airs on Independent Lens this May. The documentary profiles Shelbyville, TN on the eve of the 2008 election and the town’s struggle to come to terms with issues around an influx of Somali immigrants and their own ideals about opportunity and patriotism.

While recently in Dublin on a tour with my documentary, Welcome to Shelbyville, my partners and I received an impassioned plea from some citizens in Corvallis, Oregon for permission to use our film as a means to initiate healing dialogue in that town following a troubling incident.

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