The POV office has been busy over the past few weeks as we get ready to kick off our 23rd season on June 22, 2010! Here’s a roundup of news about POV films and from around the documentary world.
Getafilm Blog previews the 2010 POV season and says that through the series, “nearly every week you can watch — for free — a critically acclaimed and likely award-winning documentary. Not a bad way to escape the summer blockbuster onslaught.”
Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy by Stephanie Wang-Breal, which will air on POV on August 31, will be screening tonight at the Asia Society in New York City. The filmmaker, as well as subjects Donna and Faith Sadowsky, will answer audience questions after the screening. Check out the event details at the website of the Asia Society.
The Hot Docs film festival presented their Outstanding Achievement Award to filmmaker and POV alum Kim Longinotto. Kim, whose Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go, aired on POV last summer, answered questions at realscreen.com about her body of work, what she’s learned over the course of her career, and what she’s working on now.
Laura Poitras‘ The Oath, which will air on POV this fall, has been receiving lots of awards and rave reviews. The New York Times says that the film “has staying power” and the New Yorker says that “Poirtras’ movie digs deep; it hints at the violently conflicting drives that an intelligent human being may be liable to.” The New York Times also profiles Laura, detailing the numerous time she’s been stopped by security while flying due to being, she believes, on a United States government watch list. The profile goes on to laud her for making “two of the most searching documentaries of the post-9/11 era.”
Finally, this week, documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger was ordered by a U.S. District Court judge to turn over hundreds of hours of raw footage shot for his film, Crude, to Chevron for the corporation to use in defending itself against a lawsuit. Berlinger’s film looked at Chevron’s role in the pollution in the Amazon rainforest and the efforts of locals to sue Chevron over water contamination. The lawsuit was brought against Chevron by Ecuadorian indigenous people, and Chevron argued that the footage may help the company defend itself. Berlinger and many other filmmakers were dismayed and shocked by the ruling, and nearly two hundred doc filmmakers have signed an open letter of support for Joe Berlinger. Read more about the ruling at the New York Times and the About.com Documentaries Blog, and learn more about the open letter at All These Wonderful Things.