American Identity
P.O.V. Borders | American I.D.
America "land of the free and home of the brave" or is it? Is there any truth to the reputation? We went to the corners of the globe to find out what people think 'American' really means and the three words they would use to describe these United States. Bearing those modifiers in mind, step into the shoes of the original "Mad Men" and brainstorm a slogan for Uncle Sam's beleaguered brand.
Related P.O.V. Films and Features
These are just a few P.O.V. films that look at the American identity. If you're a community organizer or teacher interested in screening a film for your community, learn more about how you can borrow these and other films from P.O.V.
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American Tongues
by Louis Alvarez, Andrew Kolker (P.O.V. 1988)
Rich in humor and regional color, this sometimes hilarious film uses the prism of language to reveal our attitudes about the way other people speak. From Boston Brahmins to Black Louisiana teenagers, from Texas cowboys to New York professionals, American Tongues elicits funny, perceptive, sometimes shocking, and always telling comments on American English in all its diversity. |
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Election Day
by Katy Chevigny (P.O.V. 2008)
Forget the pie charts, color-coded maps and hyperventilating pundits. What's the street-level experience of voters in today's America? In a triumph of documentary storytelling, Election Day combines 11 stories — shot simultaneously on November 2, 2004, from dawn until long past midnight — into one. |
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KPFA On the Air
by Veronica Selver and Sharon Wood (P.O.V. 2000)
In 1949, America's first listener-supported community radio station, KPFA, began broadcasting from Berkeley, California. The station quickly became a living testament to free speech and cultural diversity – a vital community of the air that often found itself embroiled in conflict. This riveting film takes us through KPFA's passionate 50-year history, including its founding by pacifists and poets, through its defiance of Cold War conformity, to the present day challenges that confront this on-going experiment in democratic media. |
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Mai's America
by Marlo Poras (P.O.V. 2002)
A spunky Vietnamese teenager named Mai gets the chance of a lifetime — to study in the United States. Expecting Hollywood, she instead lands in rural Mississippi, a crazy quilt of self-proclaimed rednecks, cliquish teenagers, South Vietnamese exiles and transvestite soulmates. As she tries to fit in and to make ends meet, Mai discovers that "America" is both less and far more than she bargained for. From cosmopolitan Hanoi to the heart of the Deep South, Mai's unforgettable journey offers an outsider's glimpse inside America. |
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Rain in a Dry Land
by Anne Makepeace (P.O.V. 2007)
How do you measure the distance from an African village to an American city? What does it mean to be a refugee in today's "global village"? Rain in a Dry Land provides eye-opening answers as it chronicles the fortunes of two Somali Bantu families transported by relief agencies from years of civil war and refugee life to Atlanta, Georgia, and Springfield, Massachusetts. |
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