ITVS Honored with Four Peabody Awards

We are pleased to announce that of the eight winners in the Documentary category of the prestigious Peabody Awards, ITVS-funded filmmakers were honored with four awards. The 2018 Peabody Award recipients were Minding the Gap, Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart,  Dolores, and The Judge. Honoring the “most powerful, enlightening and invigorating stories in television, radio and digital media,” the 78th Annual Peabody Awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 18, 2019 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, hosted by Ronan Farrow.

"A Peabody Award is unlike any other in its validation of bold filmmaking, and ITVS stands in awe of the risk-taking storytellers who win this honor,” said Sally Jo Fifer, president and CEO of ITVS. "Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart and Minding the Gap exemplify the work we've been doing for 28 years, with unwavering support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, to help Americans learn about and listen to each other. We're beyond proud to join our partners at American Masters and POV in bringing these empowering stories to millions of viewers."

"We’re exceptionally proud that Dolores and The Judge will receive Peabody Awards, as they honor female pioneers who imagined a world that didn't exist and helped to manifest change," said Lois Vossen, Executive Producer of Independent Lens. "In Dolores, Peter Bratt masterfully captures the indefatigable architect of social change Dolores Huerta, who at age 89 is still an important leader of the Latinx equality movement. Erika Cohn's documentary The Judge demonstrates the empowerment of Arab women, counters Islamophobia, and offers an intelligent portrait of a changing society. Like the icons they present, these films will inspire millions of people for generations to come."

 ITVS Peabody Award winners:

Minding the Gap by Bing Liu and Diane Quon (ITVS Open Call-funded)

Bing, a Chinese American 25-year-old, returns to his hometown and reconnects with two skateboarders: Keire, an African American 17-year-old, and Zack, a white 23-year-old. Bing’s investigation of trauma in their homes culminates in him confronting his own estranged family, and over the next three years, Bing and his friends’ freewheeling lives unravel as they struggle with a rocky transition from adolescence into manhood.

Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart: Lorraine Hansberry by Tracy Heather Strain and Randall MacLowry (ITVS Diversity Development Fund-funded)

At a time when women, people of color, and homosexuals were confined to the margins of society, Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965), best known for A Raisin in the Sun, boldly challenged U.S. society to live up to its ideals. Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart tells the dramatic story of the young, gifted and black woman who chose words to fight injustice—on stage and off.

Dolores by Peter Bratt (Independent Lens)

Dolores Huerta is among the most important, yet least-known, activists in American history. An equal partner in co-founding the first farmworkers union with Cesar Chavez, her enormous contributions have gone largely unrecognized. Dolores tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice alongside Chavez, becoming one of the most defiant feminists of the 20th century — and she continues the fight to this day, at the age of 87. With intimate and unprecedented access to this intensely private mother of 11, the film reveals the raw, personal stakes involved in committing one’s life to social change.

The Judge by Erika Cohn (ITVS Open Call-funded, Independent Lens)

When she was a young lawyer, Kholoud Al-Faqih walked into the office of Palestine’s Chief Justice and announced she wanted to join the bench. He laughed at her. But just a few years later, Kholoud became the first woman judge to be appointed to the Middle East’s Shari’a (Islamic law) courts. The Judge offers a unique portrait of Judge Kholoud—her brave journey as a lawyer, her tireless fight for justice for women, and her drop-in visits with clients, friends, and family. With unparalleled access to the courts, The Judge presents an unfolding vérité legal drama, with rare insight into both Islamic law and gendered justice. In the process, the film illuminates some of the universal conflicts in the domestic life of Palestine—custody of children, divorce, abuse—while offering an unvarnished look at life for women and Shari’a.

The Peabody Award ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 18, 2019, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.