Downloads: Press Release
‘Last Train Home’ a Double Winner; ‘Armadillo,’ ‘Enemies of the People’ and ‘Where Soldiers Come From’ Win Awards
New York, NY — Oct. 2, 2012 — POV (Point of View), public television’s premier showcase for independent documentaries, won five awards, including Best Documentary, at the 2012 News & Documentary Emmy® Awards: an all-time high for the series celebrating its 25th season on PBS. POV and 60 Minutes had the most number of awards. The winners were announced on Oct. 1, 2012 by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at a ceremony in New York City. PBS won nine awards in total.
Last Train Home won Best Documentary and Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting— Long Form; Armadillo won in the Outstanding Editing— Documentary and Long Form category; Enemies of the People won for Outstanding Investigative Journalism— Long Form; and Where Soldiers Come From won in the Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story— Long Form category. The films aired during POV’s 2011 season.
“It’s especially gratifying for our filmmakers to receive these awards during the 25th anniversary season of POV,” said Simon Kilmurry, executive producer of POV. “We are grateful that PBS has provided a national showcase for independent documentaries for a quarter-century, and we look forward to continuing to expand the reach of these important works on television, online, in the community and across new digital technologies.”
“Many of the filmmakers honored tonight have taken tremendous risks to tell these stories of common people caught up in extraordinary circumstances,” said Cynthia López, co-executive producer of POV. “We see how documentaries are able not only to chronicle history, but make a real impact in the world. We are honored to present these extraordinary works on POV.”
POV has now won 32 Emmy Awards, including a 2007 Special News & Documentary Emmy for Excellence in Television Documentary Filmmaking. POV has also won 15 George Foster Peabody Awards, 10 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Broadcast Journalism Awards, four Independent Spirit Awards, three Academy Awards®, the Prix Italia, the Webby, two International Documentary Association Awards for Best Continuing Series and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers’ Corporate Commitment to Diversity Award.
Chris White is vice president of production and programming for POV; Yance Ford is series producer; and Andrew Catauro is coordinating producer.
POV’s News & Documentary Emmy Award-winning films:
(Visit www.pbs.org/pov/pressroom for embeddable trailers, photos, press releases and lesson plans.)
The films will stream on POV’s website, www.pbs.org/pov/video/ through the end of October.
Last Train Home by Lixin Fan
Every spring, China’s cities are plunged into chaos as 130 million migrant workers return to their villages for the New Year in the world’s largest human migration. Last Train Home goes on a heart-stopping journey with a couple who left infant children behind for factory jobs 16 years ago. They return to a family growing distant and a daughter longing to leave school. As the family members navigate their new world, this award-winning film paints a rich, human portrait of today’s China. An EyeSteelFilm production in association with ITVS International. A co-presentation with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). An Official Selection of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and New Directors/New Films.
Last Train Home won the Best Feature-Length Documentary Award at the 2009 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and the Golden Gate Award for Investigative Documentary Feature at the 2010 San Francisco International Film Festival.
Director/Producer: Lixin Fan; Producers: Daniel Cross, Mila Aung-Thwin; Co-Producer: Bob Moore; Executive Producers: Qi Zhao, Sally Jo Fifer, Stephen Gong, Simon Kilmurry; Co-Executive Producer: Cynthia López; VP, Programming and Production: Chris White; Series Producer: Yance Ford; Coordinating Producer: Andrew Catauro.
Photos: Download here
Trailer: Link
Filmmaker: Lixin Fan Bio | Interview | Statement
Press: Press Release | Critical Acclaim | Fact Sheet
Armadillo by Janus Metz
In 2009, Janus Metz and cameraman Lars Skree accompanied a platoon of Danish soldiers to Armadillo, a combat operations base in Afghanistan. For six months, often under fire, they captured the lives of the young soldiers fighting the Taliban in a hostile and confusing environment. Winner of the Critics’ Week Grand Prix at Cannes, Armadillo is one of the most dramatic and candid accounts of combat to come out of Afghanistan.
Armadillo‘s awards include the 2010 Critics’ Week Grand Prize, Cannes Film Festival, the Grierson Award, London Film Festival, and the 2011 Jury Prize, Best Documentary Feature, RiverRun International Film Festival.
Editor: Per K. Kirkegaard; Assistant Editors: Per Sandholt, Sara Bøgh Jensen; Additional Editing (for POV): Chris White.
Photos: Download here
Trailer: Link
Filmmaker: Janus Metz Bio | Interview | Statement
Press: Press Release | Fact Sheet | Critical Acclaim
Enemies of the People by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath
The Khmer Rouge slaughtered nearly 2 million people in the late 1970s. Yet the “killing fields” of Cambodia have remained largely unexplained. Until now. Thet Sambath, an unassuming yet cunning investigative journalist who lost his family in the conflict, elicits shocking testimony, never before seen or heard, from the foot soldiers who slit throats and from Pol Pot’s right-hand man, the notorious Brother Number Two. Produced in association with American Documentary | POV. A co-presentation with CAAM.
Enemies of the People won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and the Anne Dellinger Grand Jury Award and Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.
Directors/Producers: Rob Lemkin, Thet Sambath; Executive Producers: Mike Wang, Sandra Whipham, Simon Kilmurry; Co-Executive Producer: Cynthia López; VP, Programming and Production: Chris White; Series Producer: Yance Ford; Coordinating Producer: Andrew Catauro.
Photos: Download here
Trailer: Link
Filmmakers: Rob Lemkin, Thet Sambath Bio| Interview | Statement
Press: Press Release | Critical Acclaim | Fact Sheet
Where Soldiers Come From by Heather Courtney
From a small town in northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan, Where Soldiers Come From follows the four-year journey of childhood friends who join the National Guard after high school. As the young men transform from restless teenagers to soldiers looking for roadside bombs to 23-year-old combat veterans, the film offers an intimate look at the young Americans who fight our wars and the families and towns they come from. A co-production of Quincy Hill Films and ITVS in association with American Documentary | POV, with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Where Soldiers Come From won the 2012 Nokia Truer Than Fiction Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards and the 2011 Best Documentary Award at the Philadelphia Film Festival and Best Documentary Feature Editing Award at the SXSW Film Festival.
Director/Producer: Heather Courtney; Co-Producers: Megan Gilbride, David Hartstein; Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer, Simon Kilmurry; Co-Executive Producer: Cynthia López; VP, Programming and Production: Chris White; Series Producer: Yance Ford; Coordinating Producer: Andrew Catauro.
Photos: Download here
Trailer: Link
Filmmaker: Heather Courtney Bio | Interview| Statement
Press: Press Release | Critical Acclaim | 2012 Encore Press Release
The full list of winners of the 33rd Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards is available on the website of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences: www.emmyonline.tv
POV (www.pbs.org/pov)
Produced by American Documentary, Inc. and now in its 25th season on PBS, 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 October with primetime specials during the year, POV has brought more than 365 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
American Documentary, Inc. (www.amdoc.org)
American Documentary, Inc. (AmDoc) is a multimedia company dedicated to creating, identifying and presenting contemporary stories that express opinions and perspectives rarely featured in mainstream media outlets. AmDoc is a catalyst for public culture, developing collaborative strategic engagement activities around socially relevant content on television, online and in community settings. These activities are designed to trigger action, from dialogue and feedback to educational opportunities and community participation.
Contacts:
POV Communications: 212-989-7425. Emergency contact: 646-729-4748
Amanda Nguyen, anguyen@pov.org; Cynthia López, clopez@pov.org
POV online pressroom: www.pbs.org/pov/pressroom
