POV Announces Acquisition of Environmental Thriller ‘Delikado’
Overview
New York, N.Y. — May 3, 2022 — POV, the critically acclaimed PBS documentary series, announced the acquisition of environmental thriller Delikado as part of its upcoming 35th season. The film, which premiered April 29 at the 2022 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, is the directorial debut of award-winning journalist Karl Malakunas. Delikado is produced by two-time Emmy nominees Marty Syjuco and Michael Collins (POV’s Almost Sunrise, Give Up Tomorrow), as well as Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala.
Delikado takes place in the Philippines on the island of Palawan, a UNESCO World Heritage site with one of the oldest, largest and most diverse rainforests in the world. It is also the country’s “last ecological frontier” and one of the deadliest places for land defenders in the world, next to Brazil, the Congo and Colombia. The film follows three magnetic leaders – a charismatic lawyer, an ex-illegal logger, and a fearless politician – as they work with indigenous communities trying to save their increasingly valuable natural resources from being plundered.
Delikado also offers a unique exposé of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs” in the Philippines, which has claimed thousands of lives – showing it chiefly as a tool for Duterte and his allies to control the levers of economic and political power. These machinations will have an influence on voters in the next elections in the Philippines (set for May 9th), both at a national level and in Palawan.
“A land defender is killed every two days around the world as they strive to protect their local environments from being destroyed by politicians and powerful business figures. In Delikado, we show the inspirational battles of three land defenders trying to stop an island paradise in the Philippines from being plundered. I can’t imagine better partners and platforms than POV and PBS to bring the incredible stories of Delikado’s subjects – Bobby, Tata and Nieves – into homes across America.” said Delikado director Karl Malakunas.
“These activists illustrate, in no uncertain terms, the stakes of the battle for our environmental resources,” said Chris White, executive producer of POV. “I am grateful that this team of talented filmmakers are bringing these heroes to the public eye, with a clarion call for collective outrage and action.”
Festival screenings for Delikado will continue throughout the spring, with timing ahead of the critical Filipino 2022 general election taking place in early May. The documentary will be featured as part of the upcoming Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, CAAMfest in San Francisco, the Human Rights Watch Festival in New York, and DocEdge in New Zealand, and will make its television debut as part of POV’s 35th season on PBS this fall.
In collaboration with TIME Studios, exclusive Delikado content featuring Palawan land defender missions that didn’t make the final cut will be highlighted in TIME Magazine’s print edition and online, as well as related panel events later in the year.
Delikado is a Thoughtful Robot, Narravi Films, ITVS, and American Documentary | POV co-production in association with Naked Edge Films and Felt Films. Karl Malakunas is the director. The producers are Malakunas, Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala, Michael Collins, and Marty Syjuco. Collins and Syjuco’s previous projects premiered on POV, including Emmy-nominated Give Up Tomorrow and Almost Sunrise. Executive Producers include Daniel J. Chalfen and Laura Nix as well as Sally Jo Fifer for ITVS, and Erika Dilday and Chris White for American Documentary | POV. TheDelikado deal was negotiated by Chris White and Erika Dilday for American Documentary | POV and Isaac Hager, Focus Media Law Group, for the filmmaking team.
About the Artists
Director/Producer
Karl Malakunas is an Australian journalist and filmmaker who has reported on conflicts, natural disasters and political upheavals around the world for two decades. He is currently based in Hong Kong, as the Asia-Pacific Deputy Editor-In-Chief for the international news agency Agence France-Presse, and the former Philippine Bureau Chief for AFP. Malakunas began making Delikado, his first feature film, while based in the Philippines as Manila Bureau Chief for AFP. His initial short film and essay on Palawan's land defenders won a special merit at the 2018 Amnesty International Asia-Pacific Human Rights Awards. Malakunas was a 2019 Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Grantee and a 2019 SFFILM Vulcan Fellow for this film.
Producer
Marty Syjuco
Originally from the Philippines, Marty is two-time Emmy nominated filmmaker whose first film POV’s Give Up Tomorrow premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival where it won the Audience Award and Special Jury Prize. The film went on to win 18 awards and has been seen by over 50 million viewers worldwide. His second feature, POV’s Almost Sunrise won a CINE Golden Eagle Award, played theatrically at the IFC Center in NYC, and was nationally broadcast on PBS/POV for Veterans Day. His recent film, Call Her Ganda was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award and was recently broadcast on POV’s 32nd season. Marty is a proud ITVS, Bertha, Sundance, Tribeca, Fledgling, Wyncote, and Good Pitch Fellow, and was invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences last summer.
Producer/Editor
Michael Collins
Michael is an Emmy and Grierson nominated filmmaker and the founder of Thoughtful Robot, a film production company committed to telling stories that galvanize change. Michael’s recent film POV’s Almost Sunrise is the first film about "moral injury" and its connection to the veteran suicide crisis. The film premiered at Telluride Mountainfilm in 2016 and has had 600+ screenings across the country, winning six major awards including the Voice Award and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Current-Affairs Documentary. Michael’s first film POV’s Give Up Tomorrow premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011 and won the Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize for Best New Director. Give Up Tomorrow was selected for the Britdoc Impact Award and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism.
Producer
Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala is a broadcast journalist based in Manila. She co-founded the video production company Storytellers International Inc. that has produced award-winning television specials and documentaries like Batas Militar (Martial Law), which is the highest rated documentary broadcast on Philippine television. The film swept all major awards in the Philippines and was a finalist at the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA), and a bronze medalist at the New York Film Festival. She is a contributing producer for ARD German Radio, Cable News Network (CNN) Hong Kong and Atlanta bureaus. Kara is a member of the Good Pitch Southeast Asia Team in Jakarta, has produced films for the History Channel and the Australian Broadcasting Company, and has reported for PBS and Voice of America.
Executive Producer
Daniel J. Chalfen is a Peabody and duPont winning and multiple-Emmy nominated film and television producer, and a co-founder of Naked Edge Films. Chalfen’s most recent credits include Kristine Stolakis’ Netflix Original Pray Away (executive produced by Jason Blum & Ryan Murphy), the Sundance award winner Always in Season (dir. Jacqueline Olive), Dava Whisenant’s Bathtubs Over Broadway (executive produced by Jason Blum & David Letterman), Dyana Winkler & Tina Brown’s United Skates (executive produced by John Legend) for HBO, and The Infiltrators (dir. Alex Rivera & Cristina Ibarra), Call Her Ganda (dir. PJ Raval) and The Feeling of Being Watched (dir. Assia Boundaoui’) that all aired on POV.
Executive Producer
Laura Nix is a director, writer, and producer working in non-fiction and fiction. She is known for her films Inventing Tomorrow (2018 Sundance Premiere), The Yes Men Are Revolting (2014), The Light In Her Eyes (2011), Whether You Like It Or Not: The Story of Hedwig (2003), and The Politics Of Fur (2002).
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Director: Karl Malakunas
Producers: Marty Syjuco, Michael Collins, Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala, Karl Malakunas
Executive Producers: Jody Allen, Suparna Bhasin, Jim Butterworth, Daniel J. Chalfen, James Costa, Erika Dilday, Sally Jo Fifer, Beadie Finzi, Alexandra Johnes, Ali Marsh, Laura Nix, Shanida Scotland, Rebecca Teitel, Chris White
Writers: Laura Nix, Michael Collins, Karl Malakunas
Editor: Michael Collins, Eric Daniel Metzgar
Cinematography: Tom Bannigan ACS
Composer: Nainita Desai
Sound: Karl Malakunas, Tom Bannigan
About
About POV
Produced by American Documentary, POV is the longest-running independent documentary showcase on American television. Since 1988, POV has presented films on PBS that capture the full spectrum of the human experience, with a long commitment to centering women and people of color in front of, and behind, the camera. The series is known for introducing generations of viewers to groundbreaking works like Tongues Untied, American Promise and Minding The Gap and innovative filmmakers including Jonathan Demme, Laura Poitras and Nanfu Wang. In 2018, POV Shorts launched as one of the first PBS series dedicated to bold and timely short-form documentaries. All POV programs are available for streaming concurrent with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS Video app, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO. For more information about PBS Passport, visit the PBS Passport FAQ website.
POV goes “beyond the broadcast” to bring powerful nonfiction storytelling to viewers wherever they are. Free educational resources accompany every film and a community network of thousands of partners nationwide work with POV to spark dialogue around today’s most pressing issues. POV continues to explore the future of documentary through innovative productions with partners such as The New York Times and The National Film Board of Canada and on platforms including Snapchat and Instagram.
POV films and projects have won 45 Emmy Awards, 26 George Foster Peabody Awards, 15 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, three Academy Awards and the first-ever George Polk Documentary Film Award. Learn more at pbs.org/pov and follow @povdocs on social media.
About American Documentary, Inc.
American Documentary, Inc. (AmDoc) is a multimedia company dedicated to creating, identifying and presenting contemporary stories that express opinions and perspectives rarely featured in mainstream media outlets. AmDoc is a catalyst for public culture, developing collaborative strategic engagement activities around socially relevant content on television, online and in community settings. These activities are designed to trigger action, from dialogue and feedback to educational opportunities and community participation.
Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, the Open Society Foundations, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation, Reva & David Logan Foundation, Park Foundation, and Perspective Fund. Additional funding comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Sage Foundation, Nancy Blachman and David desJardins, Chris and Nancy Plaut, Abby Pucker, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee and public television viewers. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations, including KQED San Francisco, WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG.