March 27, 2017 | POV’s list of essential reading for the documentary and independent filmmaking community.

Documentary Explores How Climate Change Is Impacting Yosemite
PBS’s Nature series will premiere Yosemite, a sublime look at one of our nation’s most stunning national parks. It’s also a sobering one, as the park’s ecosystem is threatened by climate change.
Read more | CBS News »

Indie Theaters Get Ready for ‘1984’ Trump Protest Screenings
On April 4, independent theaters across the country will screen 1984, the dystopian drama based on the best-selling 1949 novel by British author George Orwell.
Read more | Hollywood Reporter »

A Devastating Budget
And yet, critical funding that makes FRONTLINE possible is in jeopardy. The federal funding for public broadcasting represents less than 1/100th of one percent of the federal budget, while PBS is watched by 82 percent of U.S. households. It’s one of America’s best investments, costing only $1.35 per citizen each year. This investment is critical to providing every American with free access to public media —award-winning educational children’s programming, critical stories about science, history, and culture and, yes, a proven, reliable source of in-depth and informative journalism.
Read more | FRONTLINE »

The Casting JonBenet Trailer Hints at a Hybrid Approach to a Decades-Long Mystery
Netflix is gearing up for the release of Casting JonBenet, a hybrid documentary from Kitty Green that revisits the infamous 1996 murder of JonBenét Ramsey in Boulder, Colorado. In the genre-bending film, Green returns to Boulder and enlists local residents to audition for key roles in the Ramsey family, capturing their attempts to get into character—and their passing thoughts on the long-passed case—while also filming reenactments of pivotal moments from before and after Ramsey’s death. The result looks like an engrossing reconstruction of events that mixes commentary with performance, investigation with interpretation.
Read more | Slate »

Jay Z, Weinstein Company to Make Trayvon Martin Film and Documentary Series
Shawn “Jay Z” Carter and the Weinstein Company are partnering on an ambitious series of film and television projects about Trayvon Martin, Variety has learned.
Read more | Variety »

Upcoming Festivals and Deadlines

This Week

  • Cinéma du Réel Mar 24 – Apr 2

Next Week

  • Cinéma du Réel Mar 24 – Apr 2
  • Deadline: American Documentary Film Fund Apr 3
  • Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Apr 6 – 9

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POV Staff
POV (a cinema term for "point of view") is television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films. POV premieres 14-16 of the best, boldest and most innovative programs every year on PBS. Since 1988, POV has presented over 400 films to public television audiences across the country. POV films are known for their intimacy, their unforgettable storytelling and their timeliness, putting a human face on contemporary social issues.