Global Voices and the WORLD Channel Celebrate Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month in May
Four Documentaries Feature Stories From China, Japan, and Cambodia
(San Francisco, CA, May 3, 2011)— This May, Global Voices and the WORLD Channel celebrate Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month with four documentaries that highlight voices and stories from across Asia. Starting with Please Vote For Me from China, the month continues on to Japan with 4 and Young Yakuza, and comes to a close with New Year Baby, set in Cambodia. In addition to their exclusive WORLD broadcast on Sunday nights at 10pm, these four episodes will be available for viewing online post broadcast on the PBS Video player at video.pbs.org. A comprehensive overview of the 2011 series and a calendar of online events may be found on the WORLD channel’s website: WORLDcompass.org.
Please Vote For Me, directed by Weijun Chen, features an elementary school in the city of Wuhan in central China, where three eight-year-old students campaign for the coveted position of class monitor. This is the first election for a class leader to be held in China, and the candidates hold debates, campaign tirelessly, and show their intellectual and artistic skills, until one is voted the winner. Please Vote For Me airs on Sunday, May 8, at 10pm.
Airing Sunday, May 15, at 10pm, 4, directed by Tim Slade, chronicles four violinists in four different corners of the globe as they perform one of the world's most beloved pieces: Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons." This musical journey travels from springtime in Tokyo to summer in Australia, winter in Finland and finally autumn in New York, combining stunning visuals and cultural experiences with performances by an international array of musicians.
The following week, on Sunday, May 22, Jean Pierre Limosin's Young Yakuza introduces audiences to the Japanese Mafia’s latest son: a 20-year-old named Naoki, who is part of a surging, decade-long wave of juvenile delinquency in Japan. As Naoki rejects school, jobs, and family, his desperate mother decides to take one last chance to save him — by handing him over to the Mafia for one year and letting him choose his own path.
Rounding out Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month on Sunday, May 29, is Socheata Poeuv's New Year Baby. Born in a Thai refugee camp on Cambodian New Year, filmmaker Socheata Poeuv grew up in the United States never knowing that her family had survived the Khmer Rouge genocide. In New Year Baby, Poeuv embarks on a journey to Cambodia in search of the truth and the reasons why her family's history had been buried in secrecy for so long.
ABOUT GLOBAL VOICES
Produced by ITVS International, Global Voices is a 26-week series bringing internationally themed documentaries made by U.S.-based and international filmmakers to a national audience. This season, the series will feature the U.S. premieres of four documentaries funded by ITVS International, as well as encore broadcasts of other acclaimed ITVS programs. In addition to the WORLD broadcast, select episodes will be available online post broadcast — via iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, and on PBS’s video player through video.pbs.org. For the complete lineup and schedule, visit www.itvs.org/series/global-voices.
ABOUT WORLD
The WORLD public media service includes the WORLD Channel, a 24/7 public television channel dedicated to delivering the best of public television’s nonfiction, news, and documentary programming, and a growing schedule of content from independent producers. The WORLD channel’s website, WORLDcompass.org, expands on broadcast themes and fuels content across social media, providing opportunities for broad and diverse audience interaction. WORLD is produced and distributed by WGBH Boston, WNET New York Public Media, and American Public Television (APT) in association with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA). The WORLD channel is available in markets representing more than 44 percent of US TV households. Funding for WORLD is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
CONTACT Krissy Bailey, ITVS 415-356-8383, ext. 254 krissy_bailey@itvs.org