ITVS Series and Films Receive Nominations for 31st Annual International Documentary Association Awards
Winners to be announced on December 5 in Los Angeles
SAN FRANCISCO – Today, ITVS announced that its series, Independent Lens, and three of its films are among the nominees for the 2015 International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards, including the ITVS-funded film, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, for Best Feature. The other two ITVS films nominated are (T)ERROR, and Best of Enemies, for the ABC News VideoSource Award. Additionally, the ITVS series Independent Lens has the potential to continue their winning record for a third year in the category of Best Curated Series.
ITVS is honored to have its diverse work recognized by the prestigious IDA Documentary Awards, which celebrate the best nonfiction films, programs and filmmakers of the year dedicated solely to the documentary genre. ITVS champions independent filmmakers who tell the world’s untold stories. These filmmakers capture the lives of underrepresented people on film, then make their stories accessible to everyone through public media.
“ITVS is thrilled to see the work that we believe in so deeply, be recognized by the IDA, and we are proud to have played a role in their success. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, (T)ERROR and Best of Enemies all show the changing face of America – on camera and off. Our award-winning series Independent Lens continues this tradition and we are thrilled for it to be nominated again this year. Through IDA we can help make these films and the visionary creators behind them more accessible to more audiences. It is an honor to call our films IDA nominees and we look forward to getting to call them IDA winners,” said ITVS President and CEO Sally Jo Fifer.
Airing weekly on the PBS primetime schedule, Independent Lens is television’s largest showcase of independent documentary film. Each week we bring you another original documentary film, made by one of the best independent filmmakers working today. Independent Lens has received 10 News & Documentary Emmy Awards, two Primetime Emmys, 15 George Foster Peabody Awards, five Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism Awards, and seven Academy Award nominations. In addition, Independent Lens was the winner of the 2013 International Documentary Association Best Continuing Series Award and the 2014 International Documentary Association Best Curated Series Award.
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is the first feature length documentary to explore the Black Panther Party, its significance to the broader American culture, its cultural and political awakening for African Americans, and the painful lessons wrought when a movement derails. Master documentarian Stanley Nelson goes straight to the source, weaving a treasure trove of rare archival footage with the voices of the people who were there. Featuring Kathleen Cleaver, Jamal Joseph, and many others, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is an essential history and a vibrant chronicle of this pivotal movement that birthed a new revolutionary culture in America.
(T)ERROR: Saeed "Shariff" Torres, a counterterrorism informant for more than two decades, takes on what he swears is his last job for the FBI and invites filmmakers to follow his covert efforts to befriend a suspected jihadist - without informing his superiors. As surprising revelations emerge, not only about Torres’ past, but also about the increasingly murky ethical grounds of his present mission, (T)ERROR explores just how far we are going to prevent terror and exactly what liberties we are sacrificing in the process.
Best of Enemies: In the summer of 1968, television news changed forever. Dead last in the ratings, ABC hired two towering public intellectuals to debate each other during the Democratic and Republican national conventions: William F. Buckley, Jr. the leading light of the new conservative movement and Gore Vidal, a leftist novelist and polemicist. Like rounds in a heavyweight battle, they pummeled out policy and personal insult—cementing their opposing political positions. Viewers were riveted watching their explosive, live, exchanges because it was unlike anything TV had ever broadcast. ABC News' ratings skyrocketed. And a new era in public discourse was born.
The Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens on PBS returns, with a new slate of acclaimed, original documentaries, made by award-winning independent filmmakers. The new season takes viewers around the globe to communities they wouldn't otherwise get to know, to explore fascinating human stories. Independent Lens airs Monday nights at 10/9c (check local listings).
The 31st Annual IDA Documentary Awards will take place on December 5th at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles. For more information about ITVS projects, visit itvs.org or follow on Twitter @ITVSIndies.
About Independent Lens
Independent Lens is an Emmy® Award-winning weekly series airing on PBS Monday nights at 10 pm. The acclaimed series features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers. Presented by Independent Television Service, the series is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, with additional funding from PBS and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. For more visit pbs.org/independentlens. Join the conversation at facebook.com/independentlens and on Twitter.