A state-by-state breakdown of the best, most representative and most unique documentaries from the 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Freelance journalist Adam Schartoff checks in from BAMcinemaFEST 2011. In this dispatch, Schartoff talks with POV alum Marshall Curry about his new documentary, which leads the festival's nonfiction lineup and airs later this summer on POV.

Freelance journalist and film programmer Adam Schartoff previews the documentary slate at Brooklyn's BAMcinemaFEST, June 16-26, 2011.

Late last week, TIME magazine published its 2011 TIME 100 list, featuring a group they deem to be “the most influential in the world.” TIME describes those chosen as people whose “ideas spark dialogue and dissent and sometimes even revolution.” Cory Booker and Patti Smith TIME Magazine This year’s list includes two POV alumni: Newark, […]

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 […]

MoMA’s retrospective of Kim Longinotto‘s work starts this week. This is a rare chance to see all of Kim’s masterful films in America, and to hear from Kim herself — she is considered one of the foremost vérité filmmakers in the documentary world. Kim’s film Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go will air on POV […]

POV alum Sam Kauffman, whose thoughtful and provocative short film, Massacre at Murambi, premiered on POV in 2007, has been awarded a Guggenheim fellowship. In this BU Today article, Sam talks about how he plans on using the fellowship to return to Africa. Another POV alum, Marshall Curry, whose Street Fight (POV 2005) was nominated […]

IN THEATERS Werner Herzog‘s Encounters at the End of the World opened in limited release on June 11. The film follows Herzog’s travels in Antarctica, from the 1,100-person community of McMurdo Station, to the Ross Sea, to the Erebus volcano, capturing as many of nature’s sights as possible. Encounters at the End of the World […]

I recently read an article by Dana Gioia titled “Connect the Prose and the Passion.” In the article, Gioia explored the etymology of the word “passion,” revealing that it comes from the Late Latin word passio, which means “suffering”. What does any of this have to do with documentaries? This month, I attended a screening […]

One of the things that always strikes me as I watch documentaries is that the stories don’t end as the credits start to roll. After they’ve given us a glimpse into their lives, documentary subjects go on living, usually out of the spotlight — and we, the viewers who have come to care about them, […]

Yance Ford, POV’s series producer, attended the inaugural Cinema Eye Awards on March 18th. She writes in with some of her thoughts on what she liked and didn’t like about the awards. For a complete list of winners, visit the website of the Cinema Eye Honors. Gathered in decidedly more casual attire than the Academy […]

Anne del Castillo, POV’s director of development and special projects, just returned from SXSW. She reports on what it was like to return to her old stomping grounds in Austin. I remember a conversation that I had with film bloggers Joel Heller, Agnes Varnum, and Sarah Jo Marks at SXSW last year: Joel told us […]

Watching Henry Louis Gates, Jr. hosts African American Lives 2 on PBS. Reading The Color of PoliticsNew Yorker article about Cory Booker, a “mayor of the post-racial generation” and the history of Newark politics. Variety reports that Agnes Varda is working on a new “autobiographical docu feature”, Les Places d’Agnes, that will be ready for […]

Over the years, we’ve conducted hundreds of Behind the Lens interviews with POV filmmakers. These interviews air during the broadcast of the films on PBS, and are made available as podcasts and edited interviews via the POV website. But in the interest of brevity, a lot of fascinating insights, materials and advice end up on […]

Looking for a gift for your history-obsessed uncle? Your environmentally-conscious friend? Your urban sophisticate of a brother-in-law? Documentary DVDs could be the way to their heart this holiday season. When it comes to ordering documentaries, the glut of online stores selling DVDs make purchasing and shipping a breeze, but buyers and gifters beware: despite what […]