Four ITVS Shorts Featured in PBS Online Film Festival

Beginning Monday, March 4, PBS will launch the second annual Online Film Festival, showcasing 25 short films from independent filmmakers. The festival will last through March 22 and can be accessed via the PBS website and PBS’s YouTube channel.

Watch 2013 | Film Festival Trailer on PBS. See more from PBS Online Film Festival.

PBS announced yesterday that its popular PBS Online Film Festival will return for a second year, beginning Monday, March 4, 2013. Viewers are encouraged to vote for their favorite short film from March 4 through March 22, to help determine the People’s Choice Award. The featured shorts were produced by a number of public media partners, including POV and the National Minority Consortia which comprises Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC), the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC); the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM); Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB); and Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT).

Of the 25 films selected, four are films funded by ITVS: 

“Brionna Williams” Meet Brionna Williams: At 14, she was suffering from health problems and chronic asthma. Now a 17-year-old senior at Kansas City’s Central High School, Brionna has become healthier and has found focus as a highly recruited student athlete. 

“Can’t Hold Me Back” The film follows Fernando Parraz as he becomes the first in his family to earn a high school diploma — his ticket out of the struggles of inner-city poverty and violence. With a mountain of roadblocks stacked against his educational achievement, Fernando finds support from an unlikely figure: his father — a former gangster who has suffered the costs of his own mistakes.  This short is part of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) American Graduate initiative. 

“Injunuity: Buried” “Injunuity” is a unique mix of animation, music and real thoughts from real people exploring our world from the Native-American perspective. “Injunity: Buried” shares Oblone activist and educator Corinna Gould’s reflection on the destruction of sacred shell mounds in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. 

“Story of an Egg” Can learning the meaning of a single term actually help change the food system? David Evans and Alexis Koefoed think so. These poultry farmers explain the real story behind such terms as “cage free,” “free range” and “pasture raised” so that consumers can make informed decisions when they go to their local supermarket. More information can be found at pbs.org/filmfestival. For updates on the festival, follow #PBSolff on Twitter.