Four ITVS Shorts Featured in PBS Online Film Festival

Beginning Monday February 27, PBS will launch its first Online Film Festival to showcase 20 short films from independent filmmakers. The festival will last until March 30 and can be accessed via the PBS website and PBS’s YouTube channel.

This is the first time PBS has produced a film festival exclusively for online content and with a focus on independent films. Of the 20 films selected, four are films funded by ITVS and three have been previously released online. They are: Bullet Proof Vest by May Lin Au Yong (Grand Jury Prize Winner of the Independent Lens Online Film Festival), Play by David Kaplan and Eric Zimmerman, Sunshine: Single Dads by Karen Skloss; and Women and Girls Lead: Meet Beverly by Carl and Betsy Crum.

Each Monday, the festival will showcase a new group of short films under a common theme, and a People’s Choice Award will be given to the film with the most votes. So, throughout the month-long festival, ITVS will be promoting and encouraging fans to vote for their favorite films by “liking” it either on PBS.org or the PBS YouTube channel. The overall winner will receive top placement on the PBS.org homepage, video portal, and YouTube page, promotion on PBS’s social media channels, and an official badge for their site. 

The PBS Online Film Festival is an exciting partnership with PBS and will feature short films produced by a number of public broadcasting organizations, including POV and the National Minority Consortia which comprises Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC), the National Black Programming Consortium (NPBC); the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM); Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB); and Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT).