Independent Lens and ITVS Receive Eight News and Documentary Emmy Nominations

The News and Documentary Emmy nominations are in and several Independent Lens docs and ITVS-funded films have been recognized by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Danfung Dennis' Hell and Back Again — which had previously been nominated for an Oscar — was nominated for a Best Documentary Emmy. The film intimately traces a Marine's rough re-landing back Stateside after a stint in Afghanistan. Brad Lichtenstein's film As Goes Janesville, about how the recession hit a Wisconsin town and what it says about the American Dream, is nominated in the Outstanding Investigative Journalism Long Form category. David Weissman's We Were Here, which movingly looked back at how the AIDS epidemic both ravaged San Francisco but also brought it together in inspiring ways, was nominated for Outstanding Historical Programming Long Form. Aaron Schock's Circo, which follows a Mexican circus family struggling to maintain their way of life in a rough economy, was nominated in the Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming category. "We congratulate all the filmmakers nominated today," said Lois Vossen, Independent Lens Senior Series Producer. "The extraordinary quality of their work demonstrates again the unique and vital role that independent documentarians play as journalists, going behind the headlines to delve deeper into the most important issues of our time." We're also proud that ITVS-funded documentaries for PBS's POV series, including Give Up Tomorrow (directed by Michael Collins) and Granito: How to Nail a Dictator (directed by Pamela Yates), received Emmy recognition as well, nominated in the Outstanding Investigative Journalism Long Form category; while the ITVS-funded Frontline film The Interrupters (directed by Hoop Dreams filmmaker Steve James) was nominated for Outstanding Informational Programming and Outstanding Editing. 

Click here for the entire list of nominations for the 34th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards.