Downloads: Press Release
“El Velador (The Night Watchman),” “Girl Model,” “Give Up Tomorrow,” “I’m Caroline Parker” Are Official Selections; “An American Promise” Selected for the FORUM
Five films slated for the 2012 and 2013 seasons of POV (Point of View) will screen at the 24th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), which takes place from Nov. 16-27, 2011. The films are: An American Promise, El Velador (The Night Watchman), Girl Model, Give Up Tomorrow and I’m Caroline Parker: The Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful. POV Executive Producer Simon Kilmurry has been selected as a commissioning editor and will present An American Promise at IDFA’s international co-finance market the FORUM, which will take place from Nov. 21-23.
About the films:
An American Promise by Michele Stephenson and Joe Brewster
(FORUM)
In 1999, two African-American boys from Brooklyn entered kindergarten at the Dalton School, an
elite prep school on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. An American Promise follows the boys through
their high school graduation in 2012, providing a rare glimpse into the social and emotional
experiences that shape these boys into men. (USA, 2011, in post-production).
About the FORUM: At this market, filmmakers and producers present their documentary projects to commissioning editors from international television stations and other financiers, with the aim of completing the financing for their films. A total of 57 projects have been selected for the upcoming FORUM.
Girl Model by Ashley Sabin by David Redmon
(Reflecting Images: Best of Fests / DOC U)
Girl Model follows American and Russian model scouts who travel through remote Siberian villages looking for teen girls suitable for modeling jobs in Japan. This poetic film brings viewers into a modeling industry rife with mirrors, images, facades and uncertainty. (USA, 2011, 78 min.)
Give Up Tomorrow by Michael Collins
(Reflecting Images: Best of Fests)
In 1997, two sisters vanished without a trace on the island of Cebu in the Philippines. Paco Larrañaga, a 19-year-old culinary student, was sentenced to death for their rape and murder despite overwhelming evidence to support his innocence. Spanning more than a decade, the film chronicles the shocking corruption within the Philippine judicial system and one of the most sensational cases in the country’s history. Audience Award winner, 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. (USA, 2011, 95 min.) The film was pitched at the FORUM in 2009.
I’m Carolyn Parker: the Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful by Jonathan Demme
(Reflecting Images: Masters)
Filmed over a five-year period, Jonathan Demme’s portrait of post-Katrina New Orleans tells the story of Carolyn Parker, a lifelong resident of the Lower Ninth Ward, as she fights for the right to rebuild her home and community. That she faced these odds with unbridled wit, spirituality and an abiding sense of justice borne of her life in New Orleans makes for a unique cinematic tale of personal triumph. (USA, 2011, 90 min.)
El Velador (The Night Watchman) by Natalia Almada
(Reflecting Images: Best of Fests)
From dusk to dawn, El Velador (The Night Watchman) accompanies Martin, a guard who watches over the extravagant mausoleums of Mexico’s notorious drug lords in Sinaloa, the country’s drug heartland. In the labyrinth of the narco-cemetery, the film about violence without violence reminds us how, in the turmoil of Mexico’s bloodiest conflict since the Revolution, ordinary life persists and quietly defies the dead. (Mexico/USA, 2011, 72 min.) The film was pitched at the FORUM in 2010.
About POV
Produced by American Documentary, Inc. and beginning its 25th season in 2012, the award-winning POV series is the longest-running showcase on American television to feature the work of today’s best independent documentary filmmakers. Airing June through September, with primetime specials during the year, POV has brought more than 300 acclaimed documentaries to millions nationwide and has a Webby Award-winning online series, POV’s Borders. Since 1988, POV has pioneered the art of presentation and outreach using independent nonfiction media to build new communities in conversation about today’s most pressing social issues. Visit www.pbs.org/pov.
Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, The Educational Foundation of America, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, FACT and public television viewers. Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Funding for POV’s Diverse Voices Project is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Project VoiceScape is a partnership of Adobe Youth Voices, PBS and POV. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations, including WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG.
Contact:
POV Communications: 212-989-7425
Emergency Contact: 646-729-4748
Cathy Fisher, cfisher@pov.org; 212-989-7425
Online Pressroom: www.pbs.org/pov/pressroom
