As World Debates Who Takes in Migrants, Small Greek Town Steps in as First Response
New York, N.Y., Feb. 16, 2017 — Celebrated PBS documentary series POV has acquired the broadcast rights for Daphne Matziaraki’s 4.1 Miles. An Academy Award nominee in Best Documentary (Short Subject), the film joins Joe’s Violin as one of two Oscar-nominated shorts debuting on the public television showcase’s 30th season.
Produced as part of The New York Times’ Op-Doc series, the short film follows local coast guard officers off the Greek island of Lesbos, where thousands of migrants have braved the Mediterranean to flee conflicts at home. Once patrolling tranquil waters off this small island town, the coast guard now finds itself overwhelmed with saving hundreds from drowning at sea. Now, docks lined with restaurants have become makeshift first response centers. As one migrant’s body is carried out, an onlooker desperately yells, “The world needs to know what’s happening here! We can’t be going through this alone!”
“We are ecstatic to include 4.1 Miles as part of POV’s 30th season on PBS,” said POV Executive Producer Chris White. “This heartwrenching film shows us the humanity on both sides of a refugee crisis that is spinning out of control. In a time when victims are painted as criminals, it cries urgently for us to find better solutions to this worldwide tragedy. Stories about those stuck in the middle should be required viewing. It’s the only way forward.”
“It’s an incredible honor to have the opportunity to work with POV around the national television broadcast of 4.1 Miles,” said Matziaraki. “To know that my first film will reach millions of Americans, including policy makers across the nation, through POV and the PBS system is a dream come true.”
The film received the IDA David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award and the Documentary Gold Medal in the 2016 Student Academy Awards. It will debut on the PBS documentary series POV in 2017, after the showcase kicks off its 30th season this spring.
Watch the full short here.
About the Filmmaker:
Daphne Matziaraki, Director/Producer/Cinematographer
Daphne Matziaraki is a documentary filmmaker based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was born and raised in Athens, Greece, and has lived and worked as a filmmaker and journalist in Europe, Africa and the U.S. She holds a master’s in documentary filmmaking from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and a master’s in international relations from the University of Bristol, U.K.
Credits:
Director/Producer/Editor/Cinematographer: Daphne Matziaraki; Consulting Producer: Orlando Bagwell; Executive Producer: Kathleen Lingo; Original Music: William Ryan Fritch; Additional Music: “Erotiko” by Thanos Mikroutsikos; Executive Producers for POV: Justine Nagan, Chris White
Running Time: 21:20
POV Series Credits:
Executive Producers: Justine Nagan, Chris White; Vice President, Content Strategy: Eliza Licht; Associate Producer: Nicole Tsien; Coordinating Producer: Nikki Heyman
About POV
Produced by American Documentary, Inc., POV is public television’s premier showcase for nonfiction films. Since 1988, POV has been the home for the world’s boldest contemporary filmmakers, celebrating intriguing personal stories that spark conversation and inspire action. Always an innovator, POV discovers fresh new voices and creates interactive experiences that shine a light on social issues and elevate the art of storytelling. With our documentary broadcasts, original online programming and dynamic community engagement campaigns, we are committed to supporting films that capture the imagination and present diverse perspectives.
POV films have won 36 Emmy® Awards, 19 George Foster 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, three IDA Awards for Best Curated Series and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) Award for Corporate Commitment to Diversity. In 2013, American Documentary | POV was one of 13 nonprofit organizations around the world to win a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. Learn more at 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, Wyncote Foundation, The Fledgling Fund, Marguerite Casey Foundation, Ettinger Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, 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.
