BEYOND THE BOX MONTHLY from ITVS
July 2009
1. FEATURES
THE NEW AMERICANS on Global Voices and iTunes
Producer Profile: Gordon Quinn, THE NEW AMERICANS
Independent Lens Audience Award
Independent Lens Audience Award
New Online Tool: The Filmmakers/Funder Relationship
2. DEPARTMENTS
ITVS Funding Deadlines
Ask Programming
Community Cinema
ITVS in the News
ITVS on the Road
Applause!
3. NEW ONLINE
The Latest ITVS International Films on iTunes
Beyond the Box Blog Highlights
4. THIS MONTH ON TV
July Programs
THE NEW AMERICANS on Global Voices and iTunes
It’s summertime, and for TV viewers everywhere that means the dreaded season of reruns and reality TV. But wait, don’t give up on your television just yet because ITVS is bringing you something actually worth watching.
The acclaimed miniseries THE NEW AMERICANS airs July 5-August 16 in one-hour weekly installments at 10:00 PM on Global Voices on PBS WORLD (check local listings).
This seven-part series looks at the search for the “American dream” through the eyes of recent immigrants and refugees during their first tumultuous years in America. From Nigeria, India, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, each family has come with different hopes: to achieve athletic glory or high-tech riches, to escape poverty and persecution or to simply provide for their families.
Catch THE NEW AMERICANS broadcast on PBS WORLD or download your favorite episodes on iTunes.
Learn more and watch a preview >>
Get THE NEW AMERICANS on iTunes >>
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Producer Profile: Gordon Quinn, THE NEW AMERICANS
Artistic director and founding member of Kartemquin Films, Gordon Quinn has been making documentaries for over 40 years. His first film, Home For Life (1966), was called “an extraordinarily moving documentary” by film critic Roger Ebert and set the direction for Quinn’s filmmaking career—creating cinéma vérité works that investigate and critique society by documenting the unfolding lives of real people.
This month, his ground-breaking seven-part series THE NEW AMERICANS, which first aired on Independent Lens in 2004, will return to public television on Global Voices on PBS WORLD and include updates about the people profiled and the option of Spanish audio narration.
Find out more about the film and its broadcast on Global Voices >>
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The 2009 Independent Lens Audience Award Runoff
We’ve tallied your votes from this past season and the verdict is… too close to call!
Has one of your favorites made the list? Choose from the four most popular films:
ADJUST YOUR COLOR: The Truth of Petey Greene
HELVETICA
STRANDED: The Andes Plane Crash Survivors
TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
You have until Friday, July 17 to cast your vote. The winner of the 2009 Independent Lens Audience Award will be announced Monday, July 27.
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NBPC and ITVS Launch Virtual Screenings Series
The National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) and ITVS recently launched a weekly, web-based “virtual screening" series, which showcases short documentaries exploring the role of masculinity in society. Part of the jointly sponsored Masculinity Project, each screening will be followed by a Q&A and give audience members worldwide the opportunity to engage with the filmmaker.
Be sure to check out filmmaker Rebecca Cerese’s film FEBRUARY ONE: The Story of the Greensboro Four, which will have a virtual screening at 8:00 PM EDT on Thursday, July 2. The film looks at the Greensboro Four—a group of African American men who began a sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter in North Carolina, an event that became one of the pivotal moments in the American Civil Rights Movement.
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New Online Tool: The Filmmakers/Funder Relationship
Why do some funder/maker/advocate relationships thrive, while others have decidedly mixed results?
That’s the question that sparked The Prenups, a new online tool hosted by Active Voice. But how does it work?
Visit Beyond the Box Blog to learn more >>
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OPEN CALL
Deadline: July 31, 2009
Open Call provides finishing funds for single non-fiction or animation public television programs on any subject and from any viewpoint. Projects must have begun production as evidenced by a work-in-progress video.
Find more information about guidelines and how to apply >>
Have additional questions about Open Call? Email Karim_Ahmad@itvs.org or call at 415-356-8383 x259.
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ITVS programming staff answer questions from filmmakers about the funding process:
Q. My film has already screened in festivals but needs additional post work to meet the requirements for television broadcast distribution. Should I apply to ITVS for funding?
Q. Can I send you a few proposals to get your opinion on which one to submit for funding?
Visit the Blog for the answers >>
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Community Cinema recently wrapped up yet another record-breaking season with more than 40,000 people attending 400 events in 55 communities across the country.
Working behind the scenes were Community Cinema’s Regional Outreach Coordinators and Producing Partners who organized the events and worked with over 1,000 local and national organizations, including American Legion Auxiliary, Disabled American Veterans, California Newsreel, Women Make Movies, the Green Belt Movement, the Nature Conservancy, 350.org and many more.
Check out some of the highlights from last season >>
TAKING ROOT Screens at Whole Foods Market
On Thursday, July 2, at 8:00 PM at Whole Foods Market Briarcliff in Atlanta, GA, there will be a special screening of TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, the story of the Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate whose simple act of planting trees grew into a global movement.
Amy Wheeler of Whole Foods Market recently blogged about her interest in Community Cinema and the impact of working with ITVS.
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Media coverage of current, past and upcoming broadcasts:
Los Angeles Times: ASK NOT
"ASK NOT presents a strong argument, with compelling interviews with gay veterans booted out of the military after running afoul of the ‘don't ask, don't tell’ policy that allows gays to serve as long as they remain, in a phrase from a gay Coast Guard retired admiral, ‘silent and celibate.’”
NPR: Fresh Air
“Alex Nicholson—a former Army human intelligence collector proficient in several foreign languages, including Arabic—was honorably discharged in 2002 under the ’don’t ask, don’t tell‘ policy, which bars the
Newsweek: ASK NOT
"[In the] PBS documentary ASK NOT, we meet 'Perry,' a young gay man from San Francisco who has enlisted in the Army and is bound for Iraq. His face is blurred to protect his identity, but his friends' faces are clear. They look scared-and perplexed..."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: PBS Doc Puts DADT in Context
“Tonight's episode of PBS's Independent Lens [ASK NOT] chips away at the excuses for banning gays in the military and shows just how damaging and pointless the military's ‘don't ask, don't tell’ policy truly is.”
CNN: SEOUL TRAIN: Global Voices
SEOUL TRAIN director Jim Butterworth talks to Anderson Cooper about his experiences filming on the North Korean border.
GenevaLunch.com: Geneva Forum on Social Change makes debut with films, dialogue
Geneva Forum on Social Change Chair Patrick Huber discusses ITVS’s involvement with this ground-breaking international forum.
Screen Africa: SEA POINT DAYS Continues Successful Festival Circuit
“[SEA POINT DAYS] paints a deeply reflective picture of old white South Africa in transition and the frictions of a society in flux.”
Join ITVS staff here, there and everywhere.
Documentary in Europe
Bardonecchia, Italy
July 7-12
ITVS International Programming Manager Cynthia Kane will be the commissioning editor at the pitching forum, hold one-on-one meetings with producers and give a presentation on ITVS International. She will also attend master classes, screenings and scout for new projects.
BOLINAO 52, by Duc Nguyen, which follows a group of Vietnamese survivors of a tragic boat accident struggling to find peace, won the Northern California Emmy Award for Best Documentary and Best Musical Composition/Arrangement.
BI-RACIAL HAIR, a short film by Lisa Russell, which takes a satirical look at the racial tension young African Americans of mixed ethnic backgrounds experience, won the Boston/New England Regional Emmy Award for Outstanding Advanced Media Interactivity.
UNMISTAKEN CHILD, by Nati Baratz, Ilil Alexander and Arik Bernstein, which follows Tenzin Zopa, a shy and gifted disciple of a great Tibetan mediator who is unexpectedly appointed to lead the search for the reincarnation of his late master, won the Gold Horn Award for Best Documentary at the Krakow Film Festival in Poland.
HERSKOVITS AT THE HEART OF BLACKNESS, by Llewellyn Smith, Christine Herbes-Sommers and Vincent Brown, which examines the life and work of the Jewish anthropologist Melville Herskovits, whose writings challenged prevailing notions of race and culture, won First Place in the Documentary Category at the Hollywood Black Film Festival.
SEA POINT DAYS, by Francois Verster, a fresh, quirky and ultimately joyful record of one summer at Sea Point Promenade and Municipal Pools in Cape Town, South Africa, received a Special Jury Mention at the Tarifa Festival of African Cinema.
Congratulations to all the filmmakers!
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The Latest ITVS International Films on iTunes
Selected ITVS International films are now available on iTunes for download to rent ($2.99) or to own ($9.99).
Check out the latest films now available:
SEEDS OF SUMMER: At an army base in the heart of Israel’s southern desert, two young female military recruits make the transformation from fragile, vulnerable young girls to confident soldiers and fierce fighters.
IRANIAN KIDNEY BARGAIN SALE: An inside look at the growing organ industry in Iran where every 10 minutes, a young person wishing to sell his or her kidney appears at the entrance of a kidney referral agency.
Download IRANIAN KIDNEY BARGAIN SALE >>
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Beyond the Box Blog Highlights
From an international conference attracting over 1,000 people to a live streaming discussion on global media to a workshop for young and emerging LGBT filmmakers––check out the latest news highlights from ITVS.
The Geneva Forum on Social Change: ITVS and the University of Geneva’s International Organizations MBA Program, in collaboration with the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and the U.S. Mission to Geneva, recently presented the Geneva Forum on Social Change in Geneva, Switzerland. Read about the event’s impact and keynote speaker Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Webcast Panel Discussion: On June 5, Beyond the Box Blog hosted a live streaming discussion about global media strategies from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication.
Missed the discussion? Watch the video recording >>
ITVS Queer X-Change: As part of ongoing efforts to bring young and emerging talent to public television, ITVS recently hosted an invitation-only event for four filmmakers from the LGBT community. They were nominated by veteran producers who had attended 2007’s LGBT Filmmaker Summit, a meeting that addressed issues related to that community.
Read about Andy Blubaugh’s experience >>
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TIP: Visit itvs.org/shows to get a listing of all ITVS programming airing in the next few weeks. Don't miss these ITVS presentations in July.
GARRISON KEILLOR: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes
By Peter Rosen
July 1 at 8:00 PM on American Masters on PBS
Garrison Keillor, author and highly sought after public speaker, is credited with reviving the lost art of live radio. His weekly program, A Prairie Home Companion, began in 1974 and has more than four million listeners. GARRISON KEILLOR: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes follows a year in his life as he performs in large and small towns across the country, bringing wit, commentary and his unique take on America.
THE NEW AMERICANS
By Gordon Quinn, Gita Saedi and Steve James
July 5 – Episode 1
July 12 – Episode 2
July 19 – Episode 3
July 26 – Episode 4
August 2 – Episode 5
August 9 – Episode 6
August 16 – Episode 7
Airing at 10:00 PM on Global Voices on PBS WORLD
What does the "American dream" look like through the eyes of today's immigrants and refugees? From Nigeria, India, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, they come with different dreams: to achieve athletic glory or high-tech riches, to escape poverty and persecution, to provide for their families. This seven-part series follows these newcomers from their homelands through their first tumultuous years in America.
CHILDREN OF THE SUN
By Ran Tal and Amir Harel
July 20 at 9:00 PM on the Sundance Channel
In the 1920s and 30s, tens of thousands of children were born on an Israeli kibbutz and raised as part of a social experiment to create a new and improved human. The film traces the "Children of the Sun" from their birth through their growth as members of the Zionist elite and to the crisis that weakened the kibbutz movement.
INDIAN SCHOOL
By Max Baring, Sarah Howitt, Alison Pinkney, Nicki Stoker and Chris Webster
July 28 at 7:30 PM on Link TV
India is one of the fastest growing and most culturally diverse countries in the world, where new technologies form an increasingly vital part of the economy alongside simple farming, religion and cricket. INDIAN SCHOOL follows a remarkable year at two very different private schools and takes a look at the world of India’s rising generation.
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