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ITVS Community combines partnerships, strategic planning, events and resource materials to support community and educational activities. Resources such as discussion guides, teacher curricula, action kits, fact sheets and preview tapes are made available to our partners at no cost.
You can find 2009-2010 community engagement materials at the Independent Lens site at PBS.org. Visit Get Involved at Independent Lens on PBS.org >>
If you have questions regarding resources, please contact outreach@itvs.org.
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ALMOST HOME
Shot on location in a nursing home, ALMOST HOME tells the real stories of aging: unflinchingly honest stories of elders, children of elders, nursing assistants and one visionary nursing home director.
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ARUSI PERSIAN WEDDING
Iranian American filmmaker Marjan Tehrani chronicles her brother's return to Iran as he travels with his American wife to have a traditional Persian wedding and explore his lost heritage.
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ASK NOT
ASK NOT is a rare and compelling exploration of the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
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BANISHED
BANISHED tells the story of three counties that violently expelled African American families from their towns a century ago--and the descendants that return to learn a shocking history.
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BLACK GOLD
Tracing one man's fight for a fair price, BLACK GOLD is an eye-opening expose of the eighty billion dollar coffee industry.
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THE BUFFALO WAR
THE BUFFALO WAR examines the culture clash between Native Americans, ranchers, environmentalists and government agents currently battling over the yearly slaughter of America's last wild bison.
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CHICAGO 10
Mixed with animation and archival footage, Director Brett Morgen's CHICAGO 10 explores the buildup to and unraveling of the protest at the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the 1969 Conspiracy Trial.
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CHIEFS
An observational documentary about the on and off-court struggles of Native American basketball players at Wyoming Indian High School.
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THE CITY (LA CIUDAD)
Evoking hope, LA CIUDAD is the narrative stories of Latin American immigrants seeking community in a large, impersonal city.
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CONSCIENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION
In 1944, 85 Japanese American prisoners in an American concentration camp were prosecuted as criminals when they refused the draft.
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COUNTRY BOYS
COUNTRY BOYS: A David Sutherland film, is a universal coming-of-age story told through the eyes of Chris and Cody, two teenage boys struggling to find meaning and direction as they grow up in one of America's poorest regions.
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CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America
With a decades-long battle between the Bloods and the Crips, CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America examines the conditions that have lead to the devastating gang violence among young African Americans growing up in South Los Angeles.
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DEMOCRACY ON DEADLINE
DEMOCRACY ON DEADLINE shadows courageous journalists and champions of independent media as they work to make, and keep, their societies free.
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THE DEVIL'S MINER
Living in poverty with their mother in the mountains of Bolivia, 14-year-old Basilio and his 12-year-old brother, Bernardino, work long shifts in the Cerro Rico silver mines, braving deadly conditions to earn enough money to attend school.
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A DREAM IN DOUBT
In the wake of 9/11 and the hate crimes that followed, a Sikh American struggles to believe in the American dream amidst a climate of xenophobia and fear.
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THE FARMER'S WIFE
A landmark portrait of three tumultuous years in the life of a Nebraska farm family facing its toughest crisis.
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FROM SWASTIKA TO JIM CROW
The story of Jewish intellectuals who escaped Nazi Germany only to find anti-Semitism at major U.S. universities. Many secured positions at black colleges in the South, and ultimately impacted the Civil Rights Movement.
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THE GOOD WAR and Those Who Refused to Fight it
The story of the conscientious objectors who refused to fight in World War II, and prepared a generation of nonviolent activists who later changed American society.
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HELVETICA
A film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture, HELVETICA looks at the proliferation of one typeface.
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HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes
An in-depth look at the sexism, violence and homophobia in rap music and hip-hop culture through the lens of a former college star athlete.
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HOMECOMING...Sometimes I am haunted by memories of red dirt and clay
An investigation of the history of African American farmers and land loss in the rural South.
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IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA
This intimate documentary goes behind the scenes with Africa's first freely elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia.
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KING CORN
Two recent college graduates plant a single acre of the nation's most powerful crop—corn—and set out to follow it on its journey from a seed to the dinner plate.
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KNOCKING
Following two families who stand firm for their controversial and misunderstood Christian faith, KNOCKING reveals how Jehovah's Witnesses have helped shape history beyond the doorstep.
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A LION IN THE HOUSE
This inspiring, harrowing and intimate series follows five children as they fight against cancer with the help of their families, nurses and doctors over a span of six years.
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LIONESS
An intimate look at war through the eyes of women and the U.S. military policy that bans them from combat.
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LOS TRABAJADORES/THE WORKERS
Focusing on the lives of Juan and Ramon, immigrant day laborers working in Austin, Texas, LOS TRABAJADORES explores the contradictions that haunt America's dependence on and discrimination against immigrant labor.
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MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH: Terra Incognita
MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH brings the stem cell debate to the forefront and examines the constantly evolving interplay between the promise of new discoveries, the controversy of modern science and the courage of people living with devastating disease and injury.
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MARCH POINT
The journey of three teens from the Swinomish Indian Tribe who make a film about the threat from two local oil refineries.
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MISS NAVAJO
Following pageant contestants in their quest for the Miss Navajo Nation crown, and featuring personal stories of recent winners, MISS NAVAJO is a unique celebration of womanhood.
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NEGROES WITH GUNS: Rob Williams and Black Power
NEGROES WITH GUNS follows Robert Williams's journey from North Carolina community leader to exile in Cuba and China, a journey that brought the issue of armed self-defense to the forefront of the Black Power and Civil Rights Movements.
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NEW AMERICANS
An INDEPENDENT LENS special, this seven-hour mini-series traces the journeys of America's newest arrivals from their roots in their homelands through their first difficult years in America.
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NEW YEAR BABY
Filmmaker Socheata Poeuv grew up in the United States never knowing that her family had survived the Khmer Rouge genocide. In NEW YEAR BABY, she embarks on a journey to Cambodia in search of the truth about her family's past.
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PLEASE VOTE FOR ME
PLEASE VOTE FOR ME follows eight-year-old students in an elementary school in China as they campaign for class monitor.
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POETIC LICENSE
POETIC LICENSE enters the lives of teenage poets whose spoken word performances allow them to candidly and poignantly express what it's like growing up in today's America.
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RACE IS THE PLACE
RACE IS THE PLACE presents the creative visions of a group of multicultural actors, poets, visual artists and musicians on America's most pressing social issues.
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RACE TO EXECUTION
Through compelling personal narratives and the often unexpected results of research on race, justice and the media, RACE TO EXECUTION exposes the factors that influence who lives and who dies at the hands of the state.
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THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN
Against all odds, John Peterson abandons conventional chemical farming and fights local hysteria to build a thriving organic farm and a progressive farm community.
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REFRIGERATOR MOTHERS
A look at the fallout from the American medical establishment's incorrect assessment in the 1950s that autism was the result of poor mothering, leaving a generation of women who were branded emotionally frigid or "refrigerator mothers" with permanent scars.
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SENTENCED HOME
Raised as Americans in inner-city projects near Seattle, three young Cambodian men are unwillingly deported back to Cambodia, caught between a tragic past and an uncertain future by a system that doesn't offer any second chances.
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SEOUL TRAIN
SEOUL TRAIN exposes the complex geopolitics and bureaucracy entangling the lives of thousands of North Korean refugees as they risk their lives trying to escape their homeland and China, often aided by activists via an underground railroad.
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SHADYA
Shadya Zoabi, a charismatic 17-year-old karate world champion, strives to succeed on her own terms within her traditional Muslim village in northern Israel.
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SWEET OLD SONG
An intimate portrait of the extraordinary relationship between two African American artists who have been collaborating as musicians and visual artists since 1983.
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TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
The story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a global movement.
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TAKING THE HEAT: The First Women Fire Fighters of New York City
Profiling the eventful career of Captain Brenda Berkman, TAKING THE HEAT tells the story of the first women firefighters' struggle for fairness in a system that was, and still is, heavily biased against them.
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TEST OF COURAGE: The Making of a Firefighter
The young men and women competing to become firefighters in TEST OF COURAGE not only test their courage, but learn to navigate cultural divides and to trust one another.
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TRAVIS
The complex life of a child born with AIDS struggling to survive and pursue a happy life.
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TRUDELL
Combining images and archival footage with interviews and performances, this biography reveals the philosophy and motivations behind Native American activist and poet John Trudell's work and its relationship to contemporary Indian history.
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TULIA, TEXAS
TULIA, TEXAS is the story of a small town's search for justice and the price Americans pay for the nation's war on drugs.
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TWISTED
TWISTED tells the stories of people who live with dystonia, a neurological disorder that forces muscles to twist into abnormal, often painful, movements or postures.
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TWO TOWNS OF JASPER
Using a white crew and a black crew, TWO TOWNS OF JASPER documents black and white residents of Jasper, Texas after an African-American man was murdered by three white men.
discussion guide pdf (964K) (get Acrobat Reader)
postcard
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AN UNREASONABLE MAN
AN UNREASONABLE MAN takes an unsparing look at Ralph Nader, one of the most important and controversial political figures of our time.
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THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SESAME STREET
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SESAME STREET explores the drama and complexities behind producing the world's most popular children's television program.
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You can find 2009-2010 community engagement materials at the Independent Lens site at PBS.org. Visit Get Involved at Independent Lens on PBS.org.
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