The Futuro Media Group in conjunction with NAPT is requesting short (very short) independent film submissions to air as part of a PBS pilot called “America By the Numbers.” The pilot episode is called “Do It Yourself (DIY) Democracy.”
Ideally the film would be 1 – 3 minutes and would address one of the following issues:
- Identity in an increasingly diverse America
- The significance of “immigrants and refugees” to the only true “native” Americans
- Having a voice
- Democracy or what that means to you
- How notions of democracy sprang from Native culture and traditions (i.e. what the “settlers” learned from their native hosts…)
- Representation (or lack of it)
- Do It Yourself Democracy
- The importance of self-expression and/or having a vote.
This would be the ender segment of a half hour pilot that will air nationally on PBS, anchored by PBS and NPR correspondent Maria Hinojosa. We are looking for a short live action or animated film – it could be narrative or documentary or performance. It could be an original piece or a short excerpt from a larger piece or a work in progress.
Though our budget is limited, we are offering an honorarium for the work, credit (of course), and the opportunity for the work to be seen nationally on PBS. We would also hope that this collaboration encourages an on-going relationship with “America By the Numbers” should we go to series.
The rest of the pilot:
The pilot will include an opening that is part live action/part animated – a segment that lays out the growing diversity of this country (based on the 2010 census) and what those numbers could mean in the upcoming election. This will be followed by a segment that looks at democracy in Clarkston, Georgia, a town of 7500 but home to over 100 nationalities and languages – refugees from Vietnam, Somalia, Bosnia, Bhutan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Burma etc… Situated in the shadow of Stone Mountain, Georgia, It is one of the most diverse cities in America but the city council is made up of 6 whites born in America, and an African American Mayor.
The acquired short would round out the half hour with an independent voice. And it would be great if it could be a Native American voice from Georgia or the South (since that’s where the bulk of the pilot is set.)
The pilot is being produced by The Futuro Media Group a non-profit media company dedicated to producing multi-platform journalism that respects and celebrates the diversity of the American Experience and reports on critical issues and stories that are often overlooked by mainstream media. It is being funded by the National Minority Consortia including NAPT and the Ford Foundation.
Please submit your films as a link to vimeo or You Tube and send the links to both Georgiana Lee at NAPT glee3@unl.edu and to
Martha Spanninger at Futuro Media Group mspanninger@futuromediagroup.org
Or send a DVD to:
Martha Spanninger
The Futuro Media Group
87 Lafayette St.; New York, NY 10013
Click here to visit NAPT website.
