American Documentary

Overview

New York, N.Y. – September 12, 2023 – American Documentary, Inc., the award-winning nonprofit behind public media series 'POV,' 'POV Shorts,' and 'America ReFramed' co-produced with WORLD, announced the promotion of Robert Y. Chang to the newly minted position of Co-Producer, POV. A seasoned programmer, Chang joined American Documentary in 2017 as the Coordinating Producer for America ReFramed, where across five seasons, he was a central member of the team that programmed and facilitated the national broadcast premieres of nearly seventy independent films.

Chang joined POV’s programming and production team in 2022, overseeing the series’ Call for Entries and pre-screening committee. In this new position, his responsibilities expand to include POV’s awards efforts. Chang will report to Chris White, Executive Producer POV & America ReFramed and Opal H. Bennett, Executive Producer POV Shorts and Senior Producer, POV. Erika Dilday is the Executive Director, American Documentary and Executive Producer, POV and America ReFramed.

"It is a pleasure to work with Robert Chang and I know I’m not alone in saying this - his expertise and standing in the field is a source of much pride at American Documentary. His contributions to ‘POV’ are valued and I’m happy that he continues to thrive and grow here professionally.” said Erika Dilday, executive director of American Documentary. “We are extremely fortunate to have Robert’s wide-ranging experience, curiosity, perspective and talent during this pivotal moment for our organization.”

Robert Y. Chang is the Co-Producer of POV, America's longest running non-fiction television series currently in its 36th season. Prior to POV, Chang was the coordinating producer of America ReFramed, where across five seasons, he facilitated the national broadcast premieres of nearly seventy independent films. Chang has served as programmer, panelist, and reviewer for a range of film festivals, foundations, and funders of the arts. He has also served as juror for festival and industry awards including: the IDA Awards, RTDNA Murrow Awards, and the News & Doc Emmys®. Robert received his PhD in Cultural Anthropology at NYU with research on the intersection of religion and media. His doctoral research centered on media in order to highlight how cosmopolitan, immigrant, and religious identities are crafted in secular multicultural societies. Most broadly, his research bridged frameworks of media production and embodied sensory practice; transnational formations of religious identity; religiosity and its mediations of social life. He has taught in the departments of Religion, Anthropology, and Religious Studies at Princeton University, Fordham University, and NYU. As an independent filmmaker, his very first public industry pitch was at Silverdocs documentary film festival in 2007. His documentary work has screened worldwide and is distributed by Documentary Educational Resources (DER). In 2020, DOC NYC awarded him a New Leader in Documentary Award and he is a member of the The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Producers Guild of America, Asian American Documentary Network and NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists.

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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 46 Emmy® Awards, 27 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, Chris and Nancy Plaut, 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.