This week, we check out the reaction to recent POV broadcasts and look ahead to upcoming POV broadcasts.
Award winning photographer Murray Fredericks and filmmaker Michael Angus, two Aussies, collaborated on the stunningly beautiful SALT, which aired this past Tuesday on POV. The film is an extension of Fredericks’ work at Lake Eyre, a remote site in South Australia whose lake bed forms a salt flat. The Green Blog at the New York Times calls the film a “meditation on solitude, nature, time and mankind’s struggle against the elements,” and PopMatters says that SALT “ask viewers to rethink their own frameworks.” Our viewers also raved about the film on the SALT website, calling it “outstanding” and “amazing.” You can see some of Murray Fredericks’ incredible photos in our Photo Gallery feature (we recommend that you hit the “full screen” button at the bottom right hand corner), and you can watch SALT online in its entirety from now through September 17, 2010.
In addition to SALT, we aired a few short films this week, including the moving Danny and Annie, Parts I and II. The short film uses audio recordings from StoryCorps, which preserves the voices of everyday people, and is animated by Mike and Tim Rauch. Although it’s just 7 minutes, Danny and Annie witnesses true love and braves the finality of loss. Time Magazine says, “if Danny and Annie don’t touch your heart, seek immediate medical attention, because you might not have one.” USA Today says it will make you cry. Take 7 minutes out of your day and be moved. Watch Danny and Annie online.
Coming up next on POV is filmmaker Amy Hardie‘s The Edge of Dreaming, which explores dreams, death and the human subconscious. When Hardie dreamt that she would die at age 48 — only one year away, and then got ill, she starts to investigate death to keep her dream from coming true. Her journey takes her to meet neuroscientists, and eventually to meet with a shaman. Hardie says that she eventually went on a shamanic journey because she wanted to go back into her dream and change it. Find out more about the film in this filmmaker interview and watch Amy’s journey next Tuesday, August 24.
After The Edge of Dreaming, POV will broadcast three films about adoption — Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy by Stephanie Wang-Breal (airing August 31); Off and Running by Nicole Opper (airing September 7); and In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee by Deann Borshay Liem (airing September 14) — and launch a national public awareness campaign to examine issues facing adoptees and families who choose to adopt. Watch a trailer for all three stories, and stayed tuned for the broadcasts and other activities from POV.