American Documentary

Overview

New York, N.Y. — September 8, 2023 — The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, (NATAS) has announced that Chris White, the Executive Producer for POV and America ReFramed since 2015, will join the elite ranks of the Silver Circle Honorees during the 44th News & Documentary Emmy® Awards. The Silver Circle is an honor bestowed since 1996 upon broadcast television professionals with a quarter century of service to the industry across performing, creative, technical, administrative, or journalistic roles. Beyond simply marking a measure of time in the chosen field, awardees have demonstrated a visionary and conscious commitment to making a difference in the television industry and community.

A native of New York City, Chris White has immersed himself in film since his days at Colgate University (class of ‘91), where he explored the history of film and its craft. He cultivated his lifelong passion as a distribution executive at Angelika Films International in the early 1990s, during the resurgence of the independent cinema movement, when POV was still in its nascency. After media internships and film production jobs he joined POV in 2000 as the Coordinating Producer. In 2015, he became the Executive Producer at American Documentary, responsible for producing PBS’s award-winning documentary series POV, as well as America ReFramed in partnership with WORLD. During his tenure at POV, White has presented over 300 films for national broadcast on public television. Since becoming Executive Producer, POV, POV Shorts and America ReFramed films have won 15 Emmys®, 13 George Foster Peabody Awards, and have garnered 10 Academy Award nominations, including the films Minding the Gap in 2019, The Mole Agent in 2021, and A House Made of Splinters at this year’s Oscars®.

Central to his work is the ongoing advocacy for the non-fiction filmmaking practice, centering voices and perspectives outside of mainstream media. He believes that documentaries are “a powerful way of moving people, of highlighting our shared humanity, values, hopes, and aspirations, no matter our political beliefs, economic status, race, or gender,” says White. “It’s an opportunity to broaden our view of the world and of other people’s experiences in a way that’s enriching, enlightening, and essential.”

“I am deeply honored to receive this recognition from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences,” White continued. “Being part of this industry and being able to share unique nonfiction stories through public media continues to be a fulfilling pursuit and I’m proud to contribute to the field. But what I am most proud of is the artists, the producers and the directors that we serve, for their limitless curiosity about people, about us - they’re doing the real work.”

In addition to his programming and production work, his industry leadership extends into nurturing the next generation of filmmakers. Notable projects and partnerships over the years have included POV’s Diverse Voices Project, providing co-production support and mentorship to emerging BIPOC filmmakers; and the Project VoiceScape Awards honoring young documentarians, produced in partnership with Adobe Youth Voices. White is at the forefront of a decade-plus-long relationship with StoryCorps, bringing animated versions of their award-winning oral-history project to public television.

White was also a freelance editor, including work on Landmarks in 21st Century American Architecture, a series produced by Checkerboard Films focusing on luminaries such as Daniel Libeskind, Ray Kappe, and Rick Joy. He served on the advisory board of Checkerboard Films, and was a board member of Global Action Project from 2003-2008. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and frequently serves as a News & Documentary Emmys® Juror, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

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 and the Prix Italia, since its launch in 1988. The POV series has been honored with a Special News & Documentary Emmy® Award for Excellence in Television Documentary Filmmaking, three IDA Awards for Best Curated Series and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) Award for Corporate Commitment to Diversity. America ReFramed has earned awards across media and journalism fields including a Peabody and a duPont award, along with an IDA Documentary Award, a Kaleidoscope Award presented by the Radio, Television, Digital News Association, three Christopher Awards and seven National Native Media Awards and an Asian American Journalist Association Award.

American Documentary has received eight nominations for documentary films featured in its POV and America ReFramed series in the 44th News & Documentary Emmy® Awards. The full list of nominees for the 44th Annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards is available at https://theemmys.tv/. The winners in the Documentary Categories will be presented live at the Palladium Times Square Theater in Manhattan on live on September 28, 2023, 7:30pm ET and will be live streamed on The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) viewing platform powered by Vimeo, available online at watch.theemmys.tv and via The Emmys® apps for iOS, tvOS, Android, FireTV, and Roku (full list at apps.theemmys.tv).

About

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, the Chasing the Dream and Peril and Promise public media initiatives of The WNET Group, 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.

POV Shorts is known for its curation and for broadcasting award-winning titles, including: 2022 News & Documentary Emmy® nominated, Oscar® shortlisted, and IDA Documentary Awards winner, A Broken House; A Night at the Garden, which received an Academy Award nomination; Emmy® nominated Earthrise, Water Warriors, The Changing Same; Emmy® winner The Love Bugs and Oscar® shortlisted Àguilas. The series won Best Short Form Series at the IDA Documentary Awards in 2020 and 2022, and was nominated in 2019 and 2021.

POV Shorts launched in 2018 as one of the first PBS series dedicated to bold and timely short-form documentaries. POV Shorts has almost 60 titles in its catalog. In addition, the strand works with major short-form digital distributors such as Field of Vision and has collaborated with The New York Times Op-Docs, Condé Nast and Chicken & Egg Pictures. POV Shorts films were official selections at the Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Hot Docs, DOC NYC, Palms Springs International ShortFest and True/False Film Festivals, among others.

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, Minding The Gap and Not Going Quietly, 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 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 America ReFramed

America ReFramed is a co-production of WORLD and American Documentary, Inc. The series curates a diverse selection of independent documentaries that brings to national audiences compelling stories which illuminate the changing contours of our ever-evolving country. Viewers will be immersed in stories that span the spectrum of American life, from the streets of towns big and small to its exurbs and country roads. The documentary series presents an array of personal voices and experiences through which we learn from our past, understand our present and are challenged to seek new frameworks for America’s future.

America ReFramed received a Peabody Award for Deej and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for Class of ‘27. The series has earned several Christopher, GRACIE, Telly and Cine Golden Eagle Awards, as well as multiple nominations for Emmy®, Independent Documentary Association and Imagen Awards.