Film Feed

Meet Award Winning Filmmaker, Ken Burns!

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S5600M Join WPBT2 and award-winning filmmaker, Ken Burns for a night of gangsters, rumrunners, flappers and speakeasies as they host a screening for Ken Burn’s new film, Prohibition.  The screening will be held on Thursday, June 9 at 6:30pm at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts Amaturo Theatre.  Admission is $5 and tickets are available at www.wpbt2.org/kenburns or by calling 305-424-4025.

 

FLORINTINEFILMS_BER3284 Burns will lead a discussion on the film with local experts on the broader topics of civility and democracy, which he explores in this project.  He will also answer audience questions following the screening.  Come dressed in your best outfit from the 1920s and enjoy music from that era prior to the screening.

Burns has been making films for more than thirty years.  Named as one of the most influential documentary makers of all time, Burns has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made including The Civil War, Baseball, The Tenth Inning, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, Jazz, The War and many more.  

 

S2137M farewell The new Ken Burns documentary, Prohibition, is scheduled to air on WPBT2 in fall 2011.  The three-part, documentary film series, directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, tells the story of the rise, rule and fall of the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution and the entire era it encompassed.  The film raises vital questions that are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago – about means and ends, individual rights and responsibilities, and the proper role of government.

Local partners for the screening include: Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale Film Festival, City of Fort Lauderdale Centennial Committee and the Broward County Cultural Division, a service of Art Serve, Inc.

 

 


WPBT2 premieres American Master: John Muir in the New World on April 18th at 9:00 pm.

 

Muir Nearly a century after his death, John Muir is remembered and revered as the father of the environmental movement and the founder of the Sierra Club. It was this Scottish American who believed that it was our responsibility as citizens to protect our natural surroundings. And, by example and by passion, he taught us how to care for our wilderness treasures. Through his tireless advocacy and his writings, he almost single-handedly preserved the Yosemite Valley of California and was the force behind the creation of the National Park Service. Filmed throughout the majestic landscapes in which Muir traveled, this documentary places our nation’s most important wilderness assets in a cultural and social context. Muir’s story could not be a timelier reminder of America’s unique and, ultimately, threatened eco-systems.

The documentary also goes into Muir’s private affairs, as well. There is discussion on how he met his wifeSequia tree   Louie. Through his relationships one can see how Muir placed his studies on nature above everything else. He postponed his wedding and often would be on naturist adventures while married to Louie. His devotion to nature was shown through his daily actions and his perseverance to preserving the Yosemite Valley.


WPBT2 Airs Forgiveness: A Time to Love & A Time to Hate

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Forgiveness: A Time To Love and A Time To Hate provides an intimate look into the spontaneous outpouring of forgiveness: from the Amish families for the 2006 shooting of their children in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania; the struggle of ’60s radicals to cope with the serious consequences of their violent acts of protest; the shattering of a family after the mother abandons them, only to return seeking forgiveness; the legacy and divisiveness of apartheid and the aftermath of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in South Africa; the penitential journey of a modern-day Germany, confronting the horrific acts of the Holocaust; and the riveting stories of survivors of the unimaginably, brutal Rwandan genocide.

Forgiveness: A Time To Love and A Time To Hate airs Sunday, April 17 and Sunday, April 24 at 10:00pm on WPBT2.

 


When the Odds Are Against You...It Helps to Dream a Little.

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Visa Dream is a touching film following a couple striving to do things the proper way so that they can visit their family in the United States. People who grew up all their lives in the US often don’t realize some of the challenges people face in order to visit this country. Close to 6 million tourist visas are issued by the US worldwide every year. This documentary shows the lifestyle, the emotions, and journey of a couple that goes through this very process.

The stakes are high. Ramon and Aurora, (the older couple applying for the visa,) have not seen their kids for 16 years. And just because they apply for a visa and have an interview, does not mean they are guaranteed the approval for it. Basically, it comes down to a “yes” or “no” from an immigration officer, as their relatives anxiously wait to hear the answer.

The film includes interviews with their family members, various visa applicants, comments from private visa consultants who work filling out paperwork on a daily basis, as well as an interview with a United States Consular Officer. A consular officer actually does the interview with foreigners desiring to obtain a visitors’ visa, to determine their eligibility.

Visa Dream airs Thursday, April 14 at 11:30pm on WPBT2.

 


WPBT2 premieres Looking for Lincoln on April 12th at 8:00 pm.

Lincoln This documentary follows one of the country’s best and enigmatic presidents. It is presented and written by Henry Louis Gates Jr. In the film, Gates shows how the Lincoln legend grew out of controversy, greed, love, clashing political perspectives, power struggles, and considerable disagreement over how our 16th president should be remembered. His quest to piece together Lincoln’s complex life takes him from Illinois to Gettysburg to Washington, D.C., and face-to-face with people who live with Lincoln every day – relic hunters, re-enactors, and others for whom the study of Lincoln is a passion.

The program gives an in-depth look at the famous almost mythological president. It discusses Lincoln’s Abe-lincoln childhood and his depression stage of his life. Furthermore, it explains Lincoln’s relationships with women and how he ended up with Mary Todd. It illustrates how Lincoln believed that there was strength in intelligence and he was not afraid to ask for help by enlisting his ex-opponents to be apart of his presidential cabinet.  He truly believed it would be the best for the country to succeed, as would freeing the slaves. President Abraham Lincoln left a mark on this country with more than just freeing the slaves and it shows in the documentary.


A Night of Poetry Everywhere with Liam Callanan and Campbell McGrath is hosted by the Miami Dade Public Library System on Thursday April 14 at 6:30

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Campbell A Night of Poetry Everywhere is hosted by Liam Callanan, executive producer of Poetry Everywhere, and award-winning poet Campbell  McGrath. The evening is dedicated to screenings, readings and discussions about poetry. The event consists of thirty different short animated poetry Liamcallanan films from different poets including Miami’s own Campbell McGrath to the current Santa Fe Poet Laureate Valerie Martinez. Each film features every word of every poem, both onscreen and in the soundtrack. These films are screened on public television and in buses, libraries  and classrooms. The purpose of these films is to bring poetry into public life.

O_miami A Night of Poetry Everywhere is presented in collaboration with University of Wynwood, University of Wisconsin, and the Poetry Foundation as part of O, Miami (www.omiami.org), a county-wide poetry festival inaugurating in April 2011. Its goal is for every single person in Miami-Dade County to encounter a poem during the month of April.

The event A Night of Poetry Everywhere takes place on Thursday April 14, 2011 at 6:30 till 8:30 at the Main Library Auditorium at 101 W. Flagler Street.

WPBT2’s video sharing website, uVu, will cover this special night.  If you cannot attend, take a look at the event on uvuvideo.org, keyword “Night of Poetry”


WPBT2 and Independent Lens Premiere Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

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WPBT2 and Independent Lens bring to life the story of a revolutionary artist in Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child premiering Tuesday, April 12 at 11:00pm on WPBT2.

Jean-michel-basquiat-07-press Centered on a rare interview that director Tamra Davis shot with her friend and contemporary artist Jean-Michel Basquiat over 20 years ago, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radian Child is the definitive chronicle of the short but brilliant life of the young artist who revolutionized the New York art scene almost overnight.

Told through interviews with his fellow artists, friends, and lovers, the film recounts Jean-michel-basquiat-03-press Basquiat’slightning-quick ascension from street kid to art world star.

In the gritty, crime-ridden city that was New York in the late 1970s, artists, punk rockers, and writers flourished in the grimy oasis of the East Village. Among them was Basquiat, a Haitian/Puerto Rican graffiti artist from Brooklyn, who covered the city with the tag SAMO. In 1981, he put paint on canvas for the first time, and by 1983 he was an artist with rock star status.

In 1985, he and Andy Warhol became close friends and painting collaborators; however, they soon parted ways, and Warhol died suddenly in 1987. Basquiat’s heroin addiction worsened, and he died of an overdose in 1988 at the age of 27, leaving behind an enormous body of work including thousands of paintings and drawings with the potential to sell for more than a million dollars today.

Jean-michel-basquiat-04-press With compassion and psychological insight, Tamra Davis details the mysteries that surround this charismatic young man, an artist of enormous talent whose fortunes mirrored the rollercoaster quality of the downtown scene he seemed to embody.

 

 


WPBT2 and FIU Invite You to a Free Screening and Discussion!

 
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WPBT2 and FIU’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications will hold a screening of POV's The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers on Thursday, March 24 at 5:30pm at the Mary Ann Wolfe Theatre on FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus. 

Most dangerous man nixon kissinger afa org pentagon05 In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a leading Vietnam War strategist, concludes that America’s role in the war is based on decades of lies. He leaks 7,000 pages of top-secret documents to The New York Times, a daring act of conscience that leads directly to Watergate, President Nixon’s resignation and the end of the Vietnam War. Ellsberg and a who’s-who of Vietnam-era movers and shakers give a riveting account of those world-changing events in POV’s The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers by award-winning filmmakers Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith.

 

Most dangerous man de machine gun vietnam The Most Dangerous Man in America is a comprehensive look at the release of the Pentagon Papers and the political firestorm that may have sealed Americans’ disenchantment with the war, and which certainly sealed the fate of the Nixon Administration. But the film is also an intensely intimate look into the conscience of a gifted and intelligent man who wrestled personally and professionally with what he came to see as the contradictions between American ideals and American power in Southeast Asia.

Following the screening, guests will have the chance to chat with Daniel Ellsberg via Skype and many local experts.

The screening is free and open to the public.

 

This event is a collaboration with POV, PBS' award-winning nonfiction film series. 

http://www.pbs.org/pov/

 


WPBT2 Premieres Jews and Baseball

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WPBT2 will air Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story on Sunday, March 6 at 4:00pm. 

Follow Dustin Hoffman as he narrates this story, which explores the connection between Jewish Americans and baseball, our nation’s most iconic institution. More than a film about sports, it is a story of immigration, assimilation, bigotry, heroism, the passing on of traditions, and the shattering of stereotypes

Interviews include fans, writers, executives, and especially players – including Al Rosen, Kevin Youkilis, Shawn Green, Norm Sherry, Ron Blomberg, Bob Feller, Yogi Berra, and a rare interview with the legendary Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax. Fans Ron Howard and Larry King speak of the meaning of Jewish ballplayers in their own lives, while historians and even two baseball-loving rabbis relate the stories of Jewish players to the turbulent history of the last centur

 


Masterpiece Classic Presents "Any Human Heart"

 
AHHMattHayl MASTERPIECE Classic presents a three-part adaptation of this moving tale of adventure, romance, and heartbreak on Any Human Heart, airing Sundays, February 13, 20, and 27, 2011 at 9pm on WPBT2.


A trio of great British actors play the different life stages of Logan Mountstuart, the hero of William Boyd’s acclaimed novel about a writer, lover, art dealer, and spy living by his wits in the tumultuous 20th century.


Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent (Iris, Moulin Rouge!) stars as Mountstuart in his dotage, with Matthew Macfadyen (Little Dorrit, Pride & Prejudice) as the hero in his prime and Sam Claflin (The Pillars of the Earth) as the eager seducer in his impetuous youth.


Adapted by Boyd, the production was hailed as “an absolute treat” by The Guardian (London) during its recent UK broadcast. The review extolled the series as “a witty, touching, intimate romp through one man’s life, and through a big chunk of the 20th century, directed with panache, and with fine performances wherever you look.”


Any Human Heart also stars Hayley Atwell (Brideshead Revisited, Mansfield Park), Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City, My Boy Jack), Gillian Anderson (Bleak House, The X Files), Tom Hollander (Wives and Daughters, In the Loop), Ed Stoppard (Upstairs Downstairs), Samuel West (Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express), and Richard Schiff (The West Wing).