CPB backs R&D for 14 more films on post-9/11 issues

Originally published in Current, March 14, 2005

CPB’s major public TV program initiative, America at a Crossroads, is backing research and development for 14 more diverse public TV projects looking every which way at the Middle East, terrorism and America.

Ten projects were named in a first batch (story below), and further announcements are likely. CPB expects to support development of 35 projects altogether this year and choose which will get production money, resulting in about 20 hours of TV programming.

Most of the grantees named March 10 are independent producers working on documentary projects. They include Stanley Nelson, cinema verite pioneers Alan and Susan Raymond, and former CPB President Richard Carlson, now vice chairman of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Carlson is collaborating with Barbara Newman, a journalist and FDD senior fellow, on a two-part program on intelligence and special operations efforts to combat terrorism.

Three grants went to proposals involving major producing stations. The Frontline unit at WGBH in Boston, namely David Fanning, Martin Smith and Marcela Gavrina, want to follow two Middle East travelers — one who is optimistic about the possibilities for democracy there and one who is not — as they visit places where reform succeeded or proved impossible. WGBH’s Zvi Dor Ner and Mark Davis propose to probe what has stifled long-term economic growth in the Middle East. A co-production of Washington’s WETA and London’s 3BM Productions would join Atlantic Monthly correspondent Robert Kaplan as he travels with U.S. troops fighting small-scale, low-intensity conflicts that go largely unreported.

Other grantees and topics include: Martyn Burke, Frank Gaffney and Alex Alexiev, how Islamic extremists are at war with their own faith and how their ambitions and policies affect the socioeconomic potential of the Muslim world; Ginny Durrin, the growing allure of religion in U.S. prisons since 9/11; Diana Frank and Michelle Genece, how journalists from an Arab news channel and a U.S. media company cover the same event in the Middle East; Aviva Kempner, the pro-democracy movement in Iran and the efforts of Iranians living in the United States to support it.

Also: Philip Marlow, Phil Craig and Jeffrey Gedmin, the aftermath of the Madrid train bombings a year ago, commonly referred to as “Spain’s 9/11”; Stanley Nelson, photography’s power to influence public opinion and foreign policy in wartime as well as long-term memory of conflicts; Alan and Susan Raymond, teenagers from a large Arab-American community; Timothy Smith and Brian Berger with Granada America and the Washington Post Co., the art and strategy of military invasion and occupation; Charles Stuart and WNPT in Nashville, the intriguing world of formerly militant Islamic extremists; Andrew Walworth, David C. Taylor, Phil Day and Joshua Muravchik, democratic activists and advocates working in the Arab world.

R&D begins on CPB’s first Crossroads projects

Originally published in Current, Jan. 31, 2005

The first round of grants in CPB’s $20 million America at a Crossroads initiative went to programs of various genres that will reflect life in post-9/11 America.

Ten research and development projects funded in this round will vie for production money later this year.

The first batch of grantees includes PBS veterans such as Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker of the Center for New American Media and Nova Executive Producer Paula Apsell as well as such pubTV newcomers as Miles Copeland, who will develop plans for a performance special featuring popular Arab and American musicians.

CPB will award 25 more R&D grants in two pending rounds, said Michael Pack, senior v.p. of television programming. Proposals from experienced producers were the easiest to assess, he said.

The corporation received 440 applications for Crossroads funding and sent out the most interesting ones for review by outside specialists, Pack said. Staff programmers then vetted the narrowed slate of projects with prominent advisors from think tanks and academia and separately with station reps.

Pack expects CPB will give production money for 15 to 20 hours of programming for broadcast in 2006-07.

R&D grantees include: Alvarez and Kolker, for a program about Europeans’ anti-American sentiments; Apsell, a drama examining decisions Americans would face during a terrorist attack with weapons of mass destruction; William Cran and Clive Syddal, a history of Islamist radicalism; Steve Hewlett, an undercover investigation of the Muslim Brotherhood; Brittany Huckabee, a verite-style doc about the Muslim community in a small Appalachian town; Richard Robbins of Peter Jennings’ production firm, working with WETA in Washington, a program drawn from the writings of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan; Jennifer Lawson and Lisa Zeff, a program examining trade-offs between security and liberty; Gordon Henderson, a program featuring author Irshad Manji, a self-proclaimed “Muslim Refusenik”; Copeland and Jonathan Brandeis, a program following a group of popular Arab musicians on tour in America; and Daniel Polin and Kenneth Mandel, a behind-the-scenes account of preparations for the trial of Saddam Hussein.