Sara Taksler directed and wrote the PBS documentary “How Saba Kept Singing.” The film combined live-action, animation, and artifacts to create a seamless, historical piece. The motion picture debuted at Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival. On April 18, the film premiered on PBS and Youtube. The production connected to Taksler’s previous experience.
Hip Hop pioneer and Public Enemy founder Chuck D is helping to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip hop by joining with PBS and BBC Music for a docuseries called Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed The World. The four part docuseries examines not only the history of hip hop, but also how the music genre helped change the world.
Last week, PBS held a special screening and Q & A session centered on their latest series “The Black Church.”
I should be honest; I’m not really into sports. I follow the Baltimore Ravens occasionally (I’m happy they’re doing amazingly this year), plus I played tennis and practiced karate growing up. Still, I’ve just never really been interested in sports. The same goes for sports movies. Not that I hate sports movies, I love The Sandlot, The Longest Yard, Cool Runnings, plus a couple others, but I don’t go out of my way to seek out sports movies like I do horror and sci-fi. That being said, I don’t rule them out, a good sports movie needs to have a compelling character for me to latch onto, and Stay Close has that.
Critically acclaimed and historian, author, and filmmaker Henry Louis Gates Jr. celebrated the launch of his latest documentary, Reconstruction: America After the Civil War during an evening at the New York Historical Society on Monday, March 4.
Last week, Bill Nye, directors David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg, executive producer Henry S. Rosenthal, and producer Seth Gordon celebrated the premiere of the PBS documentary, BILL NYE: SCIENCE GUY. The evening was supported by PBS SoCal and The Planetary Society.
Additional guests who came out to support included Noël Wells, Robert Picardo, Rio Mangini, Violett Beane, Jamie Costa, Amra Ricketts, Genevieve Morton, Josh Sussman, Wes Johnson, Kate Crash, GloZell Green, Daniel Fernandez, Eyelid Kid, Mari Takahashi Following the screening, Bill Nye, David Alvarado, and Jason Sussberg participated in a q&a moderated by Nerdist’s Kyle Hill.
The film is an exclusive look at the man behind the “science guy” that, for fans of both Bill and science, is a must see. It’s a unique look at what made, and arguably still makes, Bill one of the most beloved scientists and children’s hosts around the world. It features Bill on a journey to shed his skin as a scientist for kids and be taken seriously as a scientist for adults. It’s quite interesting to learn more about his life and his struggles; the film is at its most interesting when the camera catches him open and vulnerable. Not to say that the film doesn’t feature Nye’s familiar brand of quirky comedy, it does, but there’s something deeper to this portrayal of America’s most famous scientist; something we haven’t seen in Nye before. For that reason alone, the film warrants a look. But Nye and collaborators hope that’s not all people will take away from the film. They hope that viewers will follow along, too, as he attempts to change the minds of those they say aren’t “using scientific thinking.” “We’re releasing this film in another [version of America],” co-director Jason Sussberg exclaimed. “–Where the President doesn’t [even] believe in climate change.” And, while that storyline is at times entertaining, climate change vs. climate change deniers; intelligent design vs. evolution, the film benefits most from its portrait of Nye’s humanness. We see a glimpse into the mind of the man behind arguably one of America’s favorite scientists, and that, in my humble opinion, is worth the price of admission.
The film opened theatrically on November 10th, exclusively at Landmark Nuart.
A deeply engaging examination of America’s deadliest domestic terrorist act.
The Recording Academy collaborated with PBS’ ‘Great Performances’ on the all-star musical event.
Season 8 of “Art In The Twenty-First Century” will air on PBS in September.