Hey, have you had a chance to catch By the People, the HBO documentary about Barack Obama‘s presidential campaign that began airing this month? Yeah, me too. Did you shed some tears? Uh-huh. Did you marvel at the momentousness of that time? Yep. And isn’t it fantastic to have that all on record, so we […]

There’s a lot going on New Jersey these days: a heated race for governor, a money laundering and public corruption scandal that saw the arrest of 44 people in July, and a bumper crop of cranberries. The city of Newark, N.J., is also back in the spotlight as the focus of a new Sundance Channel […]

Over a stormy two-year period, The Fire Next Time (POV 2005) follows a deeply divided group of Montana citizens caught in a web of conflicts intensified by rapid growth and the power of talk radio. Many residents were losing their jobs in timber and mining, and blamed environmentalists. Throw into this stressful situation two disturbing […]

Tonight’s Bill Moyers Journal will focus on the health care debate, featuring a substantial portion of POV’s Critical Condition, a documentary by Roger Weisberg, that was originally broadcast last October in the lead up to the 2008 presidential election. (Watch a preview.) Critical Condition follows a group of ordinary hard-working Americans struggling to survive serious […]

Filmmakers Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar were just in Washington, D.C. for a screening of Made in L.A. on Capitol Hill. This event included comments and conversation with Congresswoman Diane Watson, ?Congressman Luis Gutierrez, chair of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus’ Immigration Taskforce, Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of America’s Voice, Bill Mefford, director of […]

Last summer I wrote a post riffing off of a Bill Moyers Journal blog post asking you what one documentary you thought the next president should screen in the White House. Responses included Sicko, An Incovenient Truth and Our Brand is Crisis, among others. Earlier this month, Politico.com offered a glimpse at some of the […]

POV staffer Anne del Castillo just returned from Austin, Texas, where she attended the South By Southwest Film Festival. She reports back on the films she saw and the films she’s sad she missed. Maybe it’s age, but I’m finding that each year, it takes me a little longer to recover from SXSW. After 15 […]

Last September, POV broadcast Critical Condition, a film by Roger Weisberg about four critically ill Americans and their struggle to survive without health insurance. We chose to air the film shortly before the election because health care reform was such a major issue in the 2008 presidential election. In conjunction with that broadcast, we produced […]

Last October, I railed about how there was a dearth of doc filmmakers tackling the current economic meltdown, pointing out that the usually on-the-ball PBS Frontline series wasn’t stepping into the void. Well, they finally answered the call a couple of weeks ago. And boy, did they present a grim picture. I found Frontline’s “Inside […]

Freelance writer Amanda Hirsch, former editorial director of PBS Interactive, blogs about documentaries and the Web in her weekly column, Outside the Frame. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) cheated on her diet Saturday night. I know this not because the Senator and I are close, personal friends, but because I follow her on Twitter. McCaskill blogs […]

Last summer, POV aired Campaign, a startling insider’s view of Japanese electoral politics. Shot in just 12 days in October 2005, filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda’s portrait of a man plucked from obscurity by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to run for a critical seat on a suburban city council is an insightful — and endearing […]

POV interactive director Theresa Riley was in Washington D.C. last week for the presidential inauguration. She tells us about watching — and documenting — the inauguration from the ground. A few days after the election in November, Thursday the 6th to be precise, I called up my congresswoman’s D.C. office and asked to be put […]

POV series producer Yance Ford writes in on Inauguration Day from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City. It’s a bright, chilly day here in Park City, and the mood on the streets, buses and in the coffee shops at Sundance is buoyant. Dozens of filmmakers have gathered here at the Sundance Documentary Fund’s filmmaker […]

Freelance writer Amanda Hirsch, former editorial director of PBS Interactive, blogs about documentaries and the Web in her column, Outside the Frame, published every week on the POV Blog. Forget what you’ve heard: The inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama does not actually begin on January 20. Sure, that’s when the official ceremony takes place, but […]

In 2001, the hate-based attempted murders of two Mexican day laborers catapulted the town of Farmingville, New York into national headlines. Filmmakers Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini spent a year there so they could capture first-hand the stories of residents, day laborers and activists on all sides of the debate, and Farmingville premiered on POV […]

Freelance writer Amanda Hirsch, former editorial director of PBS Interactive, blogs about documentaries and the Web in her column, Outside the Frame, published every other Wednesday. Is there any stone left unturned in a modern presidential campaign? This question was posed by New York Times film critic Janet Maslin in her 1993 review of The […]

Next Tuesday, November 4, 2008, millions of voters across America will take to the polls and cast their ballots to determine the next president of the United States. When you’re in the voting booth, and the curtains are closed, you’ll be making an important contribution to American democracy and making your voice heard. But are […]

Our friends at Arts Engine, the non-profit media organization that produced Katy Chevigny‘s Election Day have just written in to let us know that as the election approaches, they’re stepping up their campaign to make sure that people get to exercise their right to vote this year and encouraging people to host viewing parties. Read […]