The Oath by Laura Poitras
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival concluded last weekend, and several upcoming POV films won awards. The Grand Jury Award and the Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award went to Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath‘s Enemies of the People (POV 2011), and The Oath
by Laura Poitras won a Special Jury Prize. Robin Hessman‘s My Perestroika (POV 2011) won the Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award.
In addition, POV alums Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (The Boys of Baraka, POV 2006) won the Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights for 12th and Delaware, and fellow alums Lynn True and Nelson Walker (Lumo, POV 2007) received an honorable mention in the Full Frame Inspiration Award category for their film, Summer Pasture. Check out the full list of Full Frame winners and read about the festival from our own series producer Yance Ford, who reported on the happenings in Durham last week and yesterday.
Several upcoming POV films and filmmakers have been in the news this week, too. The aforementioned My Perestroika received a thoughtful review at the Chutry Experiment. Blogger Chuck Tryon says that the film, which tells the stories of Russian citizens as their country transitions from communism to capitalism, “offers a quiet, subtle meditation on historical change and how that change is felt in individual lives.” My Perestroika will air on POV in 2011.
The Huffington Post wrote about Amy Hardie‘s The Edge of Dreaming, in which the filmmaker dreamed that she would die at age 48 (she was 47 at the time of her dream), and then decided to investigate the human subconscious. The article explores why we dream, and talks to Amy about whether dreams are premonitions, and how her dreams led to her awareness of the fragility of the eco-system. The Edge of Dreaming airs on POV on August 24, 2010.
SF360 interviews filmmaker Deanne Borshay Liem. In 2000, Deanne’s film First Person Plural, about being an orphaned Korean adoptee raised by a white family, aired on POV. A decade later, Deanne returns to POV with her new film, In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee, in which Deanne revisits her adoption, and searches for her identity. In the interview, Deanne talks about making a second film that revisits the same general subject as an earlier film. She also talks about how she found the right narration for the film, and the challenges and emotions of making a film about herself and her past. In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee airs on September 14, 2010 on POV.
We also heard a couple of updates about POV film subjects. Sharpe James, the former mayor of Newark whom we saw in the Oscar-nominated Street Fight (POV 2005) by Marshall Curry, was released from prison after an 18-month sentence for fraud. A fascinating New York Times article provides a glimpse into James’ time in prison and the Greyhound bus ride he took back to Newark.
On Beyond the Box, the ITVS blog, POV subject Joan Gaudet of The Way We Get By (POV 2009) writes about being a Maine Troop Greeter. The Greeters have made history by greeting over one million troops at the Bangor International Airport. Joan and her fellow greeters, including Bill and Jerry from The Way We Get By, deserve all our thanks for their service.