American Documentary

UPDATE, November 14, 2022: Please note that Episodes 6 will now be released on Monday, May 15, 2023. See schedule lineup for more details.

UPDATE, November 14, 2022: Please note that there has been a change to the POV Shorts Season 5 schedule. Episodes 2-5 will now be released all on one day, Monday, February 13, 2023. See schedule lineup for more details.

Overview

New York, N.Y. –September 27, 2022 – POV Shorts, the award-winning non-fiction shorts film series curated by POV, celebrates its fifth year anniversary with 11 new bold and dynamic documentaries. The landmark season highlights art as activism, freedom of expression, Americans with disabilities, intergenerational stories, and connectedness, by independent storytellers. Nearly two-thirds of the season’s films are directed by filmmakers of color and over 80% are by women.

Packaged into six unique 30-minute episodes, POV Shorts, fifth anniversary season begins Monday, November 7, 2022 on PBS and streaming on POV.org and the PBS Video app. In addition to standard closed captioning for the film, POV, in partnership with audio description service DiCapta, provides real time audio interpretations for audiences with sensory disabilities. POV, America’s longest running documentary series, is currently celebrating its 35th anniversary season.

POV Shorts new season includes the world premiere of the student film, Call Me Anytime, I’m Not Leaving the House, directed by Sanjna Selva, about two Ukrainian sisters separated by distance and war; plus two co-releases with The New York Times Op-Docs, My Duduś, directed by Tom Krawczyk, follows a Polish mother with empty nest syndrome as she raises a baby squirrel; and Happiness is £4 Million, directed by Weixi Chen and Kai Wei about an idealistic young journalist in Beijing who profiles China's biggest real estate speculator.

Other notable films include Chilly and Milly an animated documentary short about the filmmaker's caretaker of a mother, her chronically ill husband, and the power of undying love, is a co-release with Latino Public Broadcasting and recent winner of the juried prize at this year’s PBS Shorts Film Festival.and Freedom Swimmer directed by Olivia Martin-McGuire and winner of the MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award at the 2022 Palm Springs International ShortFest, telling the story of a grandfather’s perilous swim from China to Hong Kong that parallels a new generation's quest for freedom. Coming Home, directed by Naim Naif and Margot Bowman, is an intimate portrait of a Brooklyn-based Palestinian-American dance troupe who use traditional Dabka to connect with their community and their homeland; You Can’t Stop Spirit, directed by Vashni Korin, about Black women creating a space for freedom through the Baby Doll Mardi Gras masking tradition, won the 2021 Reel South Award and Best Documentary Short at the 2021 Indie Memphis Film Festival; and All Riders, a 2021 DOC NYC selection, directed by Victor Dias Rodrigues, takes a close look at New Yorkers fighting for MTA accessibility.

“As the fifth season of POV Shorts marks a notable milestone, the series is well-represented by these outstanding stories and filmmakers,” said Opal H. Bennett, co-producer for POV. “This is an eclectic group of episodes, some performance-forward, some animated, one focused on POV’s hometown–New York City–and all conveying the unique world view of each filmmaker. We are so excited to bring these films to PBS audiences.”

POV Shorts launched in 2018 as one of the first PBS series dedicated to bold and timely short-form documentaries. POV Shorts has almost 40 titles in its catalog. In addition, the strand works with major short-form digital distributors such as Field of Vision and has worked with others including The New York Times Op-Docs and Condé Nast. POV Shorts have screened at the Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Hot Docs, DOC NYC, Palms Springs International ShortFest, True/False film festivals, among others.

The series is known for its curation and for broadcasting award-winning titles, including: the recent News & Documentary Emmy nominated, Oscar® shortlisted, and IDA 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 was nominated in 2019 and 2021.

POV SHORTS LANDMARK SEASON 5 LINEUP:

EPISODE 1: Shut Up and Paint – An artist’s canvas becomes an embattled space.

Premiere Date: November 7, 2022

Shut Up And Paint, Directors: Titus Kaphar, Alex Mallis/Producers: Matt O’Neill, Perri Peltz, Chloe Gbai

24 MIN | USA | 2022

Painter Titus Kaphar looks to film as a medium in the face of an insatiable art market seeking to silence his activism. 2022 Tribeca Film Festival. Best Short, 2022 Big Sky Film Festival & 2022 IFF Boston. 2022 BAMCinemafest Selection.

EPISODE 2: Our Motherland Fantasy Nightmare – Two families experience homeland violence across generations.

Premiere Date: February 13, 2023

Call Me Anytime, I’m Not Leaving the House, Director/Producer: Sanjna Selva/Producers: Judith Helfand, Ed Robbins

11 MIN | USA | 2022

Two Ukrainian sisters – one recently emigrated to Brooklyn, the other in war-besieged Odessa – long to be reunited and reminisce about their homeland.

Freedom Swimmer, Director: Olivia Martin-McGuire/Producers: Brooke Silcox, Ron Dyens

15 MIN | Australia/France/UK/Hong Kong | 2022

The story of a grandfather’s perilous swim from China to Hong Kong that parallels his granddaughter’s own quest for a new freedom. MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award, 2022 Palm Springs International ShortFest. Best International Short Film, 2022 Doc Edge Film Festival. Best Animation, 2022 Aspen Film Festival.

EPISODE 3: Take the A Train – Two stories from the heart of New York.

Premiere Date: February 13, 2023

Are You Down?, Directors/Producers: Juan Matos, Dennis Scholl

12 MIN | USA | 2022

A portrait of the life and work of Jamaican New Yorker and visual artist Michael Richards, highlighting his powerful sculpture practice and beautiful spirit. 2022 Miami Film Festival

All Riders, Director/Producer: Victor Dias Rodrigues/Producer: ​​Branton Choi

12 MIN |USA | 2021

The subway makes New York City tick, but getting around is a constant battle for disabled New Yorkers. 2021 Palm Springs International ShortFest. 2021 DOCNYC.

EPISODE 4: Happiness is £4 Million – A modern contemplation on the generational divide.

Premiere Date: February 13, 2023

Happiness is £4 Million, Directors: Weixi Chen, Kai Wei/Producer: Hao Wu

24 MIN | China/USA | 2022

An idealistic, young journalist in Beijing profiles China's biggest real estate speculator. Their divergent life experiences and clashing values reflect the generational and societal changes happening in the country. A co-release with The New York Times Op-Docs. 2022 Sheffield DocFest.

EPISODE 5: You Are My Sunshine – Three stories about care and connection.

Premiere Date: February 13, 2023

My Duduś, Director: Tom Krawczyk/Producer: Nick J. Santore

9 MIN | USA | 2022

A Polish mother grieves when her only child leaves their home in the suburbs of Chicago to study in Poland. While her son is away, she finds a baby squirrel in her backyard and forges a unique and powerful bond with the animal, raising him as if he were her own child. 2022 SXSW Film Festival. 2022 San Francisco International Film Festival. Audience Award, 2022 Chicago Critics Film Festival.

Some Kind of Intimacy, Director/Producer: Toby Bull/Producer: Isidore Bethel

6 MIN | UK | 2022

Director Toby Bull tries to find greater meaning from the sheep living on the land where his parents were buried several years ago. The film is an original perspective on bereavement, tackled with humor and tenderness. 2022 Palm Springs International ShortFest.

Chilly and Milly, Director/Producer: William D. Caballero/Producer: Elaine Del Valle

9 MIN | USA | 2022

Eleven years after filming a documentary about his family, director William D. Caballero returns home to revisit scenes with his parents in the animated short, Chilly and Milly. Chilly, William’s father, is a diabetic with kidney failure while Milly sees herself as a caretaker. Watching the documentary, Chilly and Milly discuss their life together, including their successes and setbacks. A co-release with Latino Public Broadcasting. 2022 Palm Springs International ShortFest Selection. 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Best Documentary Short, 2022 Atlanta Film Festival. 2022 PBS Short Film Festival Selection.

EPISODE 6: This Sacred Place – New worlds unfold in stories of tradition and hometown pride.

Premiere Date: May 15, 2023

You Can’t Stop Spirit, Director/Producer: Vashni Korin

16 MIN | USA | 2021

A group of self-liberated Black women who created an alternative social space - centered on the Baby Doll Mardi Gras masking tradition, where they are encouraged to be free. 2022 Palm Springs International ShortFest Selection. Best Documentary Short, 2021 Indie Memphis Film Festival. 2021 Reel South Award. 2021 BlackStar Film Festival Selection.

Coming Home, Directors: Naim Naif, Margot Bowman/Producer: Meghan Doherty

10 MIN | USA/UK | 2022

Freedom Dabka Group, a collective of Palestinian-American dancers living in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn use traditional Dabka as a way to connect to their community and homeland. 2022 SXSW Film Festival 2022 Palm Springs International ShortFest Selection. 2022 Wyncote Fellowship participant.

Photos

POV Shorts Season 5 images here

About

About POV and POV Shorts
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, 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, 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.