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Dedications
Over the years, we at ITVS have lost some dear friends and colleagues whose ideas and dedication enriched our lives and helped to elevate the status of independent filmmakers and public television. As we celebrate our 15th anniversary, we would like to honor the following people: LARRY HALL ITVS FOUNDER 1930–2004 A tireless media activist, Larry Hall was one of the leaders in the lobbying effort to Congress and CPB for the creation of ITVS, along with fellow ITVS founding fathers Larry Sapadin, Larry Daressa and Jeff Chester. Known affectionately as one of the three “Larry’s,” Hall also worked as a theoretical physicist and nonmilitary researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. KAYO HATTA PRODUCER OF FISHBOWL 1958–2005 Filmmaker Kayo Hatta’s final work, Fishbowl, an ITVS/LINCS-funded project, airs in the 2006 season of Independent Lens. Completed only weeks before her death, Fishbowl is Hatta’s adaptation of a short story by Lois-Ann Yamanaka, capturing a moment in the life of a an adolescent girl in Hawaii. Herself Hawaiian-born, Hatta also directed Picture Bride, about early 20th-century plantation life, one of the first independent feature films produced in Hawaii. NIETZCHKA KEENE PRODUCER OF HEROIN OF HELL 1952–2004 Nietzchka Keene’s 1996 drama HEROIN OF HELL, starring Catherine Keener, tells the story of a painter obsessed with visions of hell and damnation. At the time of her death, Keene had nearly finished production on her third film, Barefoot to Jerusalem, and was a professor in Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin. RICHARD KOTUK PRODUCER OF TRAVIS 1942–1998 Richard Kotuk spent three years documenting the life of a young boy with AIDS in his Peabody Award-winning film, Travis. Kotuk received national Emmys for his PBS documentaries Who’s Going to Care for These Children?, about foster parents of children with AIDS, and GLORIA, about the loving relationship between an eight-year-old and her AIDS-stricken father. Kotuk received an Academy Award nomination for Children of Darkness, a PBS special report on the crisis in mental healthcare for emotionally disturbed children. MARLON RIGGS Producer of BLACK IS… BLACK AIN’T 1957–1994 The late Emmy and Peabody award-winning filmmaker Marlon Riggs established a reputation for his insightful and controversial films that confront racism and homophobia. He was one of the country’s most explosively influential independent filmmakers. BLACK IS… BLACK AIN’T, Riggs’s final film, blends many forms to create an audiovisual collage exploring the questions of what “blackness” means to African Americans and how “black identity” has been historically defined. JACKIE SHEARER ITVS BOARD MEMBER 1946–1993 Jackie Shearer served on the ITVS Board of Directors in 1992 and 1993. An accomplished director, producer and scriptwriter, Shearer directed A Minor Altercation in 1977 as well as episodes of the series Eyes on the Prize II and The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry for American Experience. PATRICK WICKHAM DIRECTOR OF CONTRACT POLICY AND DIGITAL INITIATIVES 1967–2004 ITVS’s most longstanding employee, Patrick Wickham held a number of positions, serving most recently as ITVS’s Director of Contract Policy and Digital Initiatives and as director of Production. He joined ITVS shortly after it was founded in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1991. Wickham was a guiding force at ITVS. His legacy is evident in the nearly 400 independently produced programs that he played a part in bringing to fruition. JAMES YEE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 1947–2001 James Yee served as ITVS’s executive director from 1994 to 2000. A consummate and passionate advocate for ITVS and the independent producing community, he led the organization through a landscape of shifting visual formats and congressional funding cuts, which were restored largely because of his diplomacy. Yee began his public television career at WGBH Boston in 1977 where he worked on the teen series Rebop. He later went on to help found and serve as executive director for the National Asian American Telecommunications Association. |
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