More information: www.beyondthebox.org More than 350 million children are enrolled in schools across the vast nation of China. Over the course of a year, CHINESE SCHOOL looks at a small school in the rural town of Anhui where a group of families, teachers and children reveal stories of hardship, joy and success.
WITNESSES TO A SECRET WAR tells the stories of three generations of Hmong refugees as they struggle with their personal and political legacies. The Xiong family, who fought on America's side of the "secret" war in Laos, tries to claim their own piece of the American dream while Hmong American Ka Ying Yang tries to understand her own similar family history. Learn more about Global Voices on PBS WORLD: www.pbs.org
Through a journey that takes her back to her roots in Thailand, a young Mien woman from Sacramento strives to come to terms with her father's death and drug addiction, and her sister's murder. Reunited with her Mien relatives, she begins to grasp the complexity of her father's past and experience the nuances of lost identity. Co-presentation with KVIE/Sacramento and CAAM Find more information: www.pbs.org
Learn more on Beyond the box blog: www.beyondthebox.org In conjunction with Black History Month, Great Performances is airing a special encore presentation of Harlem in Montmartre A Paris Jazz Story (check local listings). In the video extra below, learn more about Louis Mitchell, a young black entrepreneur in 1920 Paris, who brought African American jazz musicians to Montmartre. Mitchell formed a popular quintet, made the first jazz recording in France, and opened all-night lunch counters to cater to inebriated club-goers.
Premiering this month on public television, TATTOOED UNDER FIRE offers an intimate, character-driven portrait of Iraq-bound and returning US soldiers, professing their pride, sharing their secrets and confessing their fears as they go under the needle at a tattoo parlor serving the Fort Hood community. Shot over four years, it has captured the chronological history of the stresses and fear these young men and women experience as they prepare for and return from war. What emerges is an evocative, poignant and highly personal look at the human and cultural cost of war, and the pressures life on Americas largest military base. Get broadcast listings: www.itvs.org
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Learn more on Beyond the Box blog: www.beyondthebox.org On Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 10 PM the documentary P-Star Rising will have its national television premiere on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings). This film is the final installment of Independent Lenss Music Month celebration. Nine-year-old Priscilla wants to become the youngest female rap star ever. With her single father turned manager, Priscilla travels from Harlem street corners to sold out shows around the world eventually landing a record deal and starring role on PBSs The Electric Company. But the road to stardom means figuring out who to trust while hanging around people twice her size and four times her age. Listen as P-Star raps freestyle about rising to fame.
While many in the Western world view Islam as socially repressive, in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, exists a community of biological men who identify as women--the "waria." As three individual waria strive to find romance, intimacy and acceptance, they encounter unique obstacles that force them to make extraordinary sacrifices to keep the ones they love.
In the 1920s and 30s, tens of thousands of children were born on an Israeli kibbutz and raised as part of a social experiment to create a new and improved human. The film traces the "Children of the Sun" from their birth through their growth as members of the Zionist elite and to the crisis that weakened the kibbutz movement. Visit Beyond the Box Blog for more information: www.beyondthebox.org
Garrison Keillor is an author, a highly sought public speaker and is credited with reviving the lost art of live radio. His weekly program, "A Prairie Home Companion," began in 1974 and has more than four million listeners. GARRISON KEILLOR: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes follows a year in his life as he performs in large and small towns across the country, bringing wit, commentary and his unique take on America. Find out more information on Beyond the Box Blog: beyondthebox.org
In the heart of central Texas lies the city of Killeen--home to Fort Hood, America's largest military base. Across the street is River City Tattoo Parlor, a place where many of the war-bound and returning soldiers go under the needle, openly profess their patriotism, share their secrets and confess their deepest fears. TATTOOED UNDER FIRE looks at the unconventional work of tattoo parlor owner Roxanne Willis and gives a highly personal glimpse into the human and cultural cost of war. Visit Beyond the Box blog: www.beyondthebox.org
This is the companion piece to SUMMER SUN WINTER MOON, which airs November 2009 on public television, and tells the story of an unexpected collaboration between a Blackfeet poet and an unconventional classical composer that led to a unique work of art. Watch this video diary by Jesse Desrosier about living on the Blackfeet Reservation, attending the Nizipuhwahsin School and dealing with racism.
This month, Community Cinema presents the Independent Lens film BETWEEN THE FOLDS, which chronicles the stories of fine artists and intrepid theoretical scientists who have abandoned careers and scoffed at hard-earned graduate degreesall to forge unconventional lives as modern-day paper-folders. In this video, director Vanessa Gould talks about what it was like to make the film, how it was like working with artists behind-the-scenes and a variety of other topics related to independent filmmaking. Learn more by visiting: www.beyondthebox.org
Out of all the Hawaiian manufacturers that were crafting instruments at the dawn of the twentieth century, only Kamaka Hawaii remains in business today. HEART STRINGS is the story of four generations of one family that has carried on its namesake business and commitment towards craft, culture and heritage, maintaining age-old values with a distinctly Hawaiian point of view. This film will air this month on Public Television. For more information visit the ITVS Blog: beyondthebox.org.
They dreamed of a revolution that would transform Argentina. But what exactly happened to this hopeful generation who suddenly disappeared? Thirty years after leaving his native country of Argentina, Director Juan Mandelbaum discovers that a former college girlfriend was among the thousands abducted, tortured and disappeared during the countrys military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983 . His personal journey, along with others who lost loved ones, tells the story behind the brutal events that still haunts Argentina today.
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Learn more on Beyond the Box blog: www.beyondthebox.org It was the only successful slave insurrection in history. Vaguely remembered today, it was a hurricane at the turn of the nineteenth century traumatizing Southern planters and inspiring slaves and abolitionists worldwide. EGALITÉ FOR ALL Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution tells the story of a movement that's been called the true birth moment of universal human rights.
Filmed by the first-ever team of women video journalists trained in Afghanistan, this uncompromising film reveals the effects on Afghan women of the Taliban's repressive rule and of the US-sponsored bombing campaign. Leaving Kabul for the first time and traveling to rural regions of the country, the filmmakers present footage of women whose lives have been decimated by recent events. 2005 EMMY AWARD nominee. Watch Sunday, May 10 on Global Voices on PBS WORLD. Find more information on this broadcast: www.pbs.org
Community Cinema selections are screened in over 50 locations throughout the United States. In February, Community Cinema presents ARUSI PERSIAN WEDDING. Set against the turbulent relationship between the United States and Iran, Iranian-American filmmaker Marjan Tehrani captures the struggle and excitement of Alex and Heather as they plan a Persian Islamic wedding in Iran. But when Alex's Iranian-born parents and Heather's conservative American father meet for the first time, cultures clash and test the couple to their limits.
On May 12 at 10:00 PM (check local listings), Independent Lens will present CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America, which examines the conditions that have lead to the devastating gang violence among young African Americans growing up in South Los Angeles. Following the broadcast, be sure to watch The Tavis Smiley Show with CRIPS AND BLOODS Producer Baron Davis, Director Stacy Peralta and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Learn more about the film as well as the latest efforts to stop gang violence in Los Angeles and around the country.
Learn more on Beyond the Box: www.beyondthebox.org This is the companion piece to Girls on the Wall, which airs in January 2010 on public television, and looks at a group of incarcerated teenage girls who are given a shot at redemption in a most unlikely form a musical. Go behind-the-scenes of Warrenville Prison with filmmaker Heather Ross as she attempts to gain the trust of the film subjects and documents their journeys as they write, rap and rehearse the harrowing events leading up to their crimes.
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Premiering this month on public television, TATTOOED UNDER FIRE offers an intimate, character-driven portrait of Iraq-bound and returning US soldiers, professing their pride, sharing their secrets and confessing their fears as they go under the needle at a tattoo parlor serving the Fort Hood community. Shot over four years, it has captured the chronological history of the stresses and fear these young men and women experience as they prepare for and return from war. What emerges is an evocative, poignant and highly personal look at the human and cultural cost of war, and the pressures life on Americas largest military base. Check local listings: www.itvs.org
Fort Hood Military soldiers tattoo parlor tattoos Texas itvsvideos
In 1965, Patsy Mink became the first Asian American woman and woman of color in the United States Congress. PATSY MINK: Ahead of the Majority looks at Mink's remarkable political journey, while often lonely and tumultuous, as she fought for the most disenfranchised and forgotten in society. Visit the ITVS Blog for more information: beyondthebox.org
GOING ON 13 follows four urban girls of color over the span of four years from their uncomplicated elementary school lives to the crowded halls of middle school. Find out more on Beyond the Box Blog: www.beyondthebox.org
Read more on Beyond the Box blog: www.beyondthebox.org In 1968, police opened fire on the campus of South Carolina State University, leaving three young African American men dead and 27 wounded. Unlike a similar incident at Kent State, the incident did not make national headlines and there has never been an official investigation into what occurred that night. SCARRED JUSTICE investigates the continued cover-up of the tragedy and follows ongoing efforts to seek justice.
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Can you own a sound? As hip-hop rose from the streets of New York to become a multibillion-dollar industry, artists such as Public Enemy and De La Soul began reusing parts of previously recorded music for their songs. But when record company lawyers got involved everything changed. Years before people started downloading and remixing music, hip-hop sampling sparked a debate about copyright, creativity and technological change that still rages today. Visit Beyond the Box to learn more: www.beyondthebox.org
Shukree Hassan Tilghman, a 29-year-old African American filmmaker, is on a cross-country campaign to end Black History Month. Through this tongue-in-cheek journey, MORE THAN A MONTH investigates what the treatment of history tells us about race and equality in a "post-racial" America. Learn more on Beyond the Box Blog: www.beyondthebox.org
After debuting with a program in the 1979 New York Film Festival, the nonprofit IFP has evolved into the nation's oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, and also the premier advocate for them. Richard Saiz, senior programming manager at the Independent Television Service (ITVS) offers tips for those who are attending the IFP market happening this week.
THE ENGLISH SURGEON, an ITVS International film airing September 8 at 10:00 PM on POV on PBS (check local listings), tells the story of acclaimed British neurosurgeon Henry Marsh who confronts the dilemmas of the doctor-patient relationship on his latest mission to Ukraine.
YOUNG BLACK VOTER traces the personal journey of aspiring Kentucky filmmaker Lavel White from a disengaged youth—who occasionally committed petty crimes—to a hopeful young adult, actively involved in the political process and community issues. A production of KET and Making Connections Louisville, made possible with support from the ITVS Vote Democracy! public television station grant initiative.
Learn more at Beyond the Box blog: www.beyondthebox.org Bob Cilman, the director of the Young@Heart Chorus, and Steve Martin, a chorus member, stopped by the ITVS offices on the day of the television premiere of Young@Heart on Independent Lens on PBS. In this video, they talk about what it was like to screen the film across the United States as part Community Cinema and what they hope people will take away from the broadcast.
Living in poverty with their mother in the mountains of Bolivia, 14-year-old Basilio and his 12-year-old brother, Bernardino, brave deadly conditions while working long shifts in the Cerro Rico silver mines to earn enough money to attend school. THE DEVIL'S MINER follows the brothers into the underground mining tunnels where they tempt fate to gain a better life. Watch THE DEVIL'S MINER on Sunday, May 3 at 10:00 PM on PBS WORLD (check local listings)
Visit www.beyondthebox.org for more information TThis is the companion piece to CASH & MARRY, which airs November 30, 2009, on The Documentary Channel, and looks into the lives of young men from the Balkans who seek out wives in order to obtain an Austrian passport. In this clip, hear from the films director Atanas Georgiev and the film subjects about the struggles immigrants face when seeking permanent residence.
ADOPT ME, MICHAEL JORDAN looks at the story of a young girl in Ethiopia who gets adopted by an American family and the challenges associated of adopting across race and culture. Learn more about their film and the universal themes explored such as being an adolescent and searching for what it means to belong to somewhere. Visit Beyond the Box Blog: www.beyondthebox.org
On a stormy night in July 1997, two young girls disappear without a trace. Simultaneously a murder-mystery and an expose; of endemic corruption in the post-Marcos Philippines, GIVE UP TOMORROW looks intimately at the case of Paco Larraaga, a young Spanish mestizo sentenced to death for the abduction, rape and murder of two Chinese-Filipino sisters on the island of Cebu.
The Ponce family's hardscrabble circus has lived and performed on the back roads of Mexico since the 19th century. But can their way of life survive into the 21st century? CIRCO ("Circus") intimately portrays the Ponce family circus as it struggles to make a living off its artistry, sweat and wit against the backdrop of Mexico's collapsing rural economy.
Learn more on Beyond the Box Blog: www.beyondthebox.org Community Cinema recently held a special screening of the Independent Lens film P-Star Rising in Chicago. The film, which airs Feb. 9 at 10 PM on Independent Lens on PBS, looks at nine-year-old Pricilla who wants to be the youngest female rap star ever and her single father who is determined to help her make it big.