Downloads: Press Release
New York, NY — April 30, 2015 — PBS’s award-winning independent documentary series POV (Point of View) and director Rachel Boynton have won the Edward R. Murrow Award from the 76th Annual Overseas Press Club (OPC) Awards for Boynton’s film Big Men. This marks POV’s first Overseas Press Club Award. Boynton will accept the honor at the OPC’s black-tie ceremony tonight, which will be live streamed from the Mandarin Oriental New York. Tune in at 7:30 p.m. ET to watch the live stream or see it on Google Hangouts.
About the film: Over five years, director Rachel Boynton and her cinematographer film the quest for oil in Ghana by Dallas-based Kosmos. The company develops the country’s first commercial oil field, yet its success is quickly compromised by political intrigue and accusations of corruption. As Ghanaians wait to reap the benefits of oil, the filmmakers discover violent resistance down the coast in the Niger Delta, where poor Nigerians have yet to prosper from decades-old oil fields. Big Men, executive produced by Brad Pitt, provides an unprecedented inside look at the global deal making and dark underside of energy development–a contest for money and power that is reshaping the world. The film was an Official Selection of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.
The OPC judges called Big Men “a surprising story that takes the viewer to an unexpected place and introduces unconventional characters… Deeply reported and compellingly told, this is investigative journalism of the highest order.”
“Receiving an award that bears the name of Edward R. Murrow is a huge honor,” said Boynton. “Murrow’s work was characterized by courage, vision and an intense belief in the pressing need to reveal and dissect uncomfortable societal truths. The same could be said of POV’s work today. I’m incredibly proud to have Big Men included in such tremendous company.”
POV, produced by American Documentary, Inc., begins its 28th season on PBS on Monday, June 22, 2015 at 10 p.m. (check local listings) with blair dorosh-walther’s Out in the Night.
Credits: Director/Producer/Writer: Rachel Boynton; Executive Producers: Steven Shainberg, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Dan Cogan, Diana Barrett, Jim and Susan Swartz, Christina Weiss Lurie, Jeffrey Lurie, Rick Rosenthal; Cinematographer: Jonathan Furmanski; Editor: Seth Bomse; Original Music: Nathan Larson.
POV Series Credits: Executive Producer: Simon Kilmurry; Co-Executive Producer: Cynthia López; VP, Programming and Production: Chris White; Associate Producer: Nicole Tsien; Coordinator Producer: Nikki Heyman.
About POV
POV, public television’s premier showcase for nonfiction films, is American television’s longest-running independent documentary series. Since 1988, POV has been the home for the world’s boldest contemporary filmmakers, celebrating intriguing personal stories that spark conversation and inspire action. POV films have won 32 Emmys, 18 Peabody Awards, 12 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, three Academy Awards® the first-ever George Polk Documentary Film Award and the Prix Italia. The POV series has been honored with a Special News & Documentary Emmy Award for Excellence in Television Documentary Filmmaking, two IDA Awards for Best Continuing Series and the NALIP Award for Corporate Commitment to Diversity. In 2013, American Documentary | POV was one of only 13 nonprofit organizations to win a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. Visit www.pbs.org/pov.
Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding comes from Nancy Blachman and David desJardins, Bertha Foundation, The Fledgling Fund, Marguerite Casey Foundation, Ettinger Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, and public television viewers. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations including KQED San Francisco, WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG.
Contacts:
POV Communications: 212-989-7425. communications@pov.org
Cathy Fisher, cfisher@pov.org; Brian Geldin, bgeldin@pov.org
POV online pressroom: www.pbs.org/pov/pressroom
