Three films selected for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival will have their national broadcast premieres on the POV, it was announced by Simon Kilmurry, Executive Director, American Documentary | POV Patti Smith: Dream of Life, NERAKHOON (The Betrayal) and Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North (all in the Sundance Documentary Competition) will air on POV. in 2008/2009. Sundance takes place Jan. 17-27, 2008 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
POV is also unveiling the POV Blog, the latest addition to POV’s award-winning Web site. The POV Blog provides many points-of-view on the world of contemporary documentaries, and will be a gathering place for documentary fans to discuss and debate their favorite films. It features exclusive interviews with filmmakers, journalists and experts; columns by filmmakers, guest bloggers and POV staffers; sneak peaks of films-in-progress; recommendations for documentary/video diary offerings in theaters, on DVD and on YouTube, MySpace and other user-generated video sites; and documentary news.
During the Sundance Film Festival, the POV Blog will report from the festival, featuring exclusive interviews, video and images of the filmmakers and fans converging on Park City. The Blog will also provide roundups of the best Sundance coverage around the Web.
Honored with a 2007 Special Emmy Award for Excellence in Television Documentary Filmmaking, POV is American television’s longest-running independent documentary series. POV is broadcast Tuesdays on PBS from June through September, with primetime specials during the year. POV broadcasts are accompanied by companion Web sites, community screenings, panel discussions and other outreach activities, enabling audiences to dig deeper and engage with one another about the issues the films present.
FILM DESCRIPTIONS
Patti Smith: Dream of Life (Director: Steven Sebring) is an intimate portrait of legendary rocker Patti Smith that mirrors the fortitude and essence of the artist herself. Shot over an 11-year period by renowned fashion photographer Steven Sebring, the film looks at her various works, the artists who have inspired her, and her friendships with William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Mapplethorpe, Michael Stipe and others that create a bridge between the Beats, the punk movement and musicians of today. Smith narrates her story of surviving tragedy, raising children and the journey of finding herself through poetry, art and music.
Smith and her band will perform live at Sundance, at the festival’s Music Cafe, produced by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and at A Celebration of Music in Film, which highlights the connection between music and film with performances by musicians and composers.
NERAKHOON (The Betrayal) (Director: Ellen Kuras; Co-Director: Thavisouk Phrasavath; Writers: Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath) is the epic story of a family forced to emigrate from Laos after the chaos of the secret air war waged by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Kuras has spent the last 23 years chronicling the family’s extraordinary journey in this deeply personal, poetic and emotional film. The film is a Diverse Voices Project co-production, made possible through major funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and is funded in part by the Center for Asian American Media.
Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North (Director: Katrina Browne; Co-Directors: Alla Kovgan, Jude Ray; Writers: Katrina Browne, Alla Kovgan) — As 2008 marks the Bicentennial of the U.S. Abolition of the Slave Trade, this personal documentary tells the story of first-time filmmaker Katrina Browne’s New England ancestors, the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. At Browne’s urging, nine descendants of her family agree to journey with her from Rhode Island to Ghana to Cuba to retrace the steps of the Triangle Trade. At each stop, the family grapples with the contemporary legacy of slavery, not only for black Americans, but also for themselves as white Americans.
2008 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL SCREENINGS AND EVENTS
Patti Smith: Dream of Life
Attending Sundance: Patti Smith and her band, Director/Producer Steven Sebring, Thirteen/ WNET New York Producer Margaret Smilow. American Documentary | POV: Executive Director Simon Kilmurry, Vice President Cynthia Lopez.
Screening Times
- Sunday, Jan. 20, 6:15 p.m., Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City
- Monday, Jan. 21, 3:15 p.m., Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City
- Monday, Jan. 21, 10:30 p.m., Holiday Village Cinema I (Press & Industry)
- Tuesday, Jan. 22, Noon, Screening Room, Sundance Resort
- Friday, Jan. 25, 11:30 p.m., Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
- Friday, Jan. 25, 9:00 p.m., Tower Theatre, Salt Lake City
- Saturday, Jan. 26, 9:15 p.m., Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City
A Celebration of Music in Film Concert
- Sunday, January 20, 8:00 p.m., Sundance House at The Kimball Art Center
This year’s lineup features Patti Smith, The Everyothers (The Guitar), Michel Gondry and Jean-Michel Bernard (Be Kind Rewind).
Music Cafe
- Monday, Jan. 21, 6:00 p.m., The Star Bar
NERAKHOON (The Betrayal)
Attending Sundance: Director Ellen Kuras, Co-Director Thavisouk Phrasavath, Producer Flora Fernandez-Marengo. American Documentary | POV: Executive Director Simon Kilmurry, Vice President Cynthia Lopez.
Screening Times
- Monday, Jan. 21, 2:30 p.m., Library Center Theatre, Park City
- Tuesday, Jan. 22, 5:30 p.m., Holiday Village Cinema II, Park City
- Wednesday, Jan. 23, Noon, Screening Room, Sundance Resort
- Wednesday, Jan. 23, 10:30 p.m., Holiday Village Cinema I (Press & Industry)
- Thursday, Jan. 24, 9:30 p.m., Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
- Friday, Jan. 25, 9:15 a.m., Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City
Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North
Attending Sundance: Director/Producer Katrina Browne, Co-Directors Alla Kovgan and Jude Ray; Co-Producers Juanita Brown and Elizabeth Delude-Dix. American Documentary | POV: Executive Director Simon Kilmurry, Vice President Cynthia Lopez.
Screening Times
- Friday, Jan. 18, 2:00 p.m., Yarrow Hotel Theatre 2, Park City (Press & Industry)
- Monday, Jan. 21, 6:15 p.m., Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City
- Tuesday, Jan. 22, 4:00 p.m., Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
- Thursday, Jan. 24, 11:30 a.m., Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
- Thursday, Jan. 24, 9:00 p.m., Broadway Centre Cinemas IV, Salt Lake City
- Friday, Jan. 25, 3:00 p.m., Screening Room, Sundance Resort
- Saturday, Jan. 26, 8:30 a.m., Holiday Village Cinema II, Park City
Traces of the Trade Panel: A Martin Luther King Day Discussion: The Legacy of the Slave Trade 200 Years After Its Abolition
- Monday, Jan. 21, 10:30-11:30 a.m., Yarrow Hotel, Sundance Press Conference Pavilion
Keynote speaker: U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Chair, House Judiciary Committee. With filmmakers Orlando Bagwell and Katrina Browne and Dedrick Muhammad (Institute for Policy Studies).
Panel: Black in America
- Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2:00 p.m., Filmmaker Lodge, Elks Building, Park City
Host: film critic Elvis Mitchell. Panelists: actor/producer Danny Glover (Be Kind Rewind, Trouble the Water), filmmaker Katrina Browne (Traces of the Trade) and screenwriter Paris Qualles (A Raisin in the Sun).
