Programs/Content
How Kartemquin Films and public broadcasting built a legacy of democratic storytelling
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Since Kartemquin’s founding in 1966, public broadcasting came to be the production company’s most dependable ally, and sometimes its savior.
People
Marcia Smith, president of Firelight Media, plans to step down
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Smith co-founded Firelight Media with filmmaker Stanley Nelson.
Programs/Content
WTTW brings first-person perspectives to yearlong coverage of homelessness
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The multimedia platform initiative Firsthand responds to a “critical moment” in efforts to address housing insecurity in Chicago.
Programs/Content
Film recounts first movement to advocate for full civil rights for Black Americans
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APT will distribute “The Niagara Movement,” a one-hour documentary from Lawrence Hott and WNED, for national broadcast.
Programs/Content
Documentary on buffalo soldiers leads slate of PBS-backed projects by emerging filmmakers
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Seattle-based filmmaker Dru Holley produced and directed an hourlong film on the complex history of all-Black Army regiments who came to be known as buffalo soldiers.
Programs/Content
Storytelling series unites Southern stations with regional collaboration
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“The best stories are universal. It doesn’t matter where they’re set,” said Arkansas PBS CEO Courtney Pledger.
Programs/Content
Documentary tells story of Fanny, an unsung all-girl band that’s still rocking after 50 years
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Airing Monday on PBS, “Fanny: The Right to Rock” examines what it meant to be women — some of whom were queer and/or Filipino-American — struggling for respect at a time when a girl with a guitar was still considered a novelty.
Programs/Content
Study finds greater racial diversity in public TV documentaries, both on screen and behind the scenes
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Commercial media outlets are “much more likely” than their public media counterparts to distribute documentaries directed by men and white filmmakers, according to a study by the Center for Media & Social Impact at American University’s School of Communication.
Programs/Content
NJ PBS series highlights inspiring figures from each of the state’s 21 counties
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Producers of the documentary shorts series say the concept could be adapted for other public media organizations, particularly state networks with vast geographic areas to serve.
Programs/Content
NEH backs public media projects, independent productions in the humanities
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Two public media stations and 13 independent projects received nearly $4.3 million supporting films, podcasts and archival preservation.
Programs/Content
How serendipity, the 1986 World Series and believing in possibilities changed my filmmaking career
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When Henry Hampton called, “I was unemployed and living in New Orleans with no money for another film, no prospects at all. Everything changed after that.”
Programs/Content
NEH pandemic relief grants boost indie filmmakers
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ITVS, Firelight Media, the Sundance Institute and Appalshop Inc. received $5.5 million for filmmaking initiatives and other projects.
Documentaries
Ken Burns: ‘I do not accept that only people of a particular background can tell certain stories’
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Speaking during the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Burns said he supported PBS’ new initiatives to increase programming diversity.
Development
Why independent documentary filmmakers want new and improved funding models
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Filmmakers who search high and low for production money say public media must find ways to increase support for their work.
Programs/Content
Filmmakers who challenged PBS on diversity continue push for transparency
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Members of Beyond Inclusion say they will keep advocating for issues they raised in a March letter to PBS CEO Paula Kerger.
Programs/Content
‘Eyes on the Prize’ producer Henry Hampton reflects on how to serve ‘a nation immersed in turmoil’
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“We must help rebuild … the faith that most Americans have always had in their future and their ability to share in the American dream,” the filmmaker said in a 1992 keynote at the PBS Annual Meeting.
Programs/Content
PBS, ITVS delay documentary broadcast after Trump quote draws scrutiny
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The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America had pointed out inaccuracies in a quote from a 2020 press conference.
Programs/Content
‘Fast-Forward’ challenges viewers to have tough conversations about aging
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A documentary debuting March 24 follows millennials and their boomer parents as they navigate an “aging boot camp.”
Programs/Content
Film explores ‘quiet revolutionary’ behind groundbreaking TV show of Black culture
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“Ellis Haizlip ensured that the revolution would be televised, and the revolution was ‘Soul!’”
Programs/Content
How documentaries can help communities navigate difficult conversations
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A new study from the Center for Media & Social Impact finds that by hosting screenings of documentary films, public TV stations can guide participants to “breakthrough moments.”