Current (https://current.org/tag/documentaries/)
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.
“The best stories are universal. It doesn’t matter where they’re set,” said Arkansas PBS CEO Courtney Pledger.
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.
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.
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.
Two public media stations and 13 independent projects received nearly $4.3 million supporting films, podcasts and archival preservation.
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.”
ITVS, Firelight Media, the Sundance Institute and Appalshop Inc. received $5.5 million for filmmaking initiatives and other projects.
Speaking during the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Burns said he supported PBS’ new initiatives to increase programming diversity.
Filmmakers who search high and low for production money say public media must find ways to increase support for their work.
Members of Beyond Inclusion say they will keep advocating for issues they raised in a March letter to PBS CEO Paula Kerger.
“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.
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America had pointed out inaccuracies in a quote from a 2020 press conference.
A documentary debuting March 24 follows millennials and their boomer parents as they navigate an “aging boot camp.”
“Ellis Haizlip ensured that the revolution would be televised, and the revolution was ‘Soul!’”
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.”
In an excerpt from the new book “Story Movements: How Documentaries Empower People and Inspire Social Change,” Caty Borum Chattoo considers how the expanding documentary marketplace might affect the stories served up to audiences.
The initiative includes programs from “PBS NewsHour,” “Frontline,” “POV” and “Independent Lens.”
Citing concerns over its funding, PBS removed “Voices from the Frontline: China’s War on Poverty” from PBS.org, Passport and the PBS Video App.
Premiering on PBS Sept. 15, the documentarian’s latest film follows the evolution of country music from 1923 to the mid-1990s.