Independent Lens 2010 Winter/Spring Line-Up Kicks Off With Four Acclaimed Music Documentaries on PBS
The Series Turns Up the Volume with A Group of Rocking Seniors in YOUNG@HEART; Provides an Inside Look at the World of Music Sampling with COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS; Follows a 9-Year-Old Rapper's Rise to Fame in P-STAR RISING; and Revisits Byron Hurt’s Seminal
For more information on the Winter/Spring 2010 line up visit Independent Lens
(San Francisco, CA)— The critically acclaimed, Emmy® Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, hosted by Maggie Gyllenhaal, launches the second half of the 2009/2010 season with four weeks of compelling documentaries that explore both the art and business of modern music.
The slate includes the television premieres of Stephen Walker’s critical and box office smash YOUNG@HEART, an inspiring portrait of the indomitable members of a New England senior citizens chorus who cover musicians from The Clash to Prince; Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod’s COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS, which examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law and money; and Gabriel Noble’s P-STAR RISING, a gritty, personal look at Priscilla Diaz, a.k.a P-Star, a determined young Harlem rapper trying to fulfill her family’s dreams of success. Also airing is an encore presentation of Byron Hurt’s HIP HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, one of Independent Lens’s biggest hits, a film that goes beyond the bling to explore gender roles in hip-hop and rap music.
The Winter/Spring season of Independent Lens showcases a powerhouse selection of films covering a wide range of issues. Airing during Black History month is HERSKOVITS AT THE HEART OF BLACKNESS, directed by Llewellyn Smith, which explores the forgotten legacy of Melville Herskovits, the controversial Jewish anthropologist who challenged widely held assumptions about race and culture. Also airing during Black history month is BEHIND THE RAINBOW, directed by Jihan El-Tahri, an untold account of South Africa’s political problems, struggles and realities. Among the other documentaries that make up the 2010 slate of Independent Lens are DIRT! The Movie by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow (Sundance 2009 selection), GARBAGE DREAMS by Mai Iskander (winner of the Al Gore REEL Current Award and shortlisted for an Academy® Award nomination for best documentary feature), and the highly acclaimed drama GOODBYE SOLO by Ramin Bahrani. From education (WHATEVER IT TAKES), to a post-Katrina New Orleans (MINE, A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLE), and developmental disorders, as a family travels to Mongolia in search of answers to combat their son’s autism (THE HORSE BOY, 2009 Sundance Selection), Independent Lens presents unforgettable stories from around the world.
For more information on the Winter/Spring 2010 line up visit: www.pbs.org/independentlens
About Independent Lens
Independent Lens is an Emmy® Award-winning weekly series airing Tuesday nights at 10 PM on PBS. The acclaimed anthology series features documentaries and a limited number of fiction films united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and unflinching visions of their independent producers. Independent Lens features unforgettable stories about a unique individual, community or moment in history. Presented by the Independent Television Service (ITVS), the series is supported by interactive companion websites, national publicity, and community engagement campaigns. Further information about the series is available at www.pbs.org/independentlens. Independent Lens is jointly curated by ITVS and PBS, and is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private corporation funded by the American people, with additional funding provided by PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts. The series producer is Lois Vossen.
CONTACT Voleine Amilcar, ITVS 415-356-8383 Ext. 244 voleine_amilcar@itvs.org
Mary Lugo 770-623-8190 lugo@negia.net
Cara White 843-881-1480 cara.white@mac.com