America ReFramed - Documentaries In May Explore Mental Illness And Life-Changing Events

America ReFramed - Documentaries In May Explore Mental Illness And Life-Changing Events

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NEW YORK, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This month on America ReFramed, four films document the personal stories of challenges, disappointment and triumphs of fascinating individuals.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120907/DC70003LOGO)

51 Birch Street (Encore Presentation: May 5) is a riveting personal documentary that explores a universal human question: how much about your parents do you really want to know? In this documentary, filmmaker Doug Block captures his unpredictable journey through a whirlwind of dramatic life-changing events: the death of his mother, uncovering family secrets and more. (Filmmaker Doug Block)

Abused: The Postville Raid (Encore Presentation: May 12) presents the devastating effects of US Enforcement Immigration Policies on communities, families and children. The film tells the gripping personal stories of the individuals, the families and the town that survived the most brutal, most expensive and largest immigration raid in the history of the United States and serves as a cautionary tale of government abuses. (Filmmaker Luis Argueta)

West 47(th) Street (Encore Presentation: Airs May 19) tackles the realities of mental illness, a topic that incites misunderstanding and stereotypes. With compassion and insight, the filmmaker of West 47(th) Street follows the lives of four people who struggle with serious mental illness as they try to take back control of their lives. (Filmmaker Bill Lichtenstein)

Na Kamalei:The Men of Hula (Encore Presentation: May 26) explores the revival of men who dance the hula by following legendary master hula teacher, Robert Cazimero and the only all male hula school in Hawaiyi as they complete at the world's largest hula competition. As they celebrate the 30(th) anniversary of their school, Robert and his men are out to prove that the renaissance of men dancing the hula is not over. (Filmmaker Lisette Marie Flanary)

The Series: America ReFramed
The 52-week series, America ReFramed, tells the stories of a transforming American culture in all its broad diversity. With independent films, 60 to 90 minutes in length as well as in-depth interviews and commentary from host Natasha Del Toro, the series takes an unfiltered look at challenging national issues and fascinating lives with personal storytelling.

America ReFramed showcases films that offer viewers a "snapshot" of America -- the guts, the glory, the grit of a new and changing reality. From contemporary life on Native American reservations to stories of recovery on the Gulf, from hardships and renewal in small towns to stories of tough city streets across the country, these independent and personal films document the times in which we live.

Host Natasha Del Toro is an independent journalist and documentary producer who brings both an energetic voice and a practiced eye to the series. From interviews with filmmakers and others, Del Toro elicits the issues, the challenges, and the back-story of each featured film. The series is produced by American Documentary, Inc., and broadcast by public television's WORLD Channel.

Presenters

American Documentary, Inc. (www.amdoc.org)
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. American Documentary is best known for its premiere series POV Point of View Documentaries on PBS for over 25 years. America ReFramed is produced by Executive Producers Simon Kilmurry and Cynthia Lopez.

About WORLD (www.WORLDchannel.org)
The WORLD Channel is a 24/7 public television channel dedicated to delivering the best of public television's nonfiction, news and documentary programming, and a growing schedule of original content from independent producers. The complementary website www.WORLDchannel.org, expands on broadcast topics and fuels content across social media, providing opportunities for broad and diverse audience interaction. WORLD is produced and distributed by WGBH Boston, WNET New York Public Media, and American Public Television (APT) in association with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA). The WORLD channel is available in markets representing more than 57% of US TV households, and 15 of the top 25 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston and Atlanta. Funding for WORLD is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

About WGBH (www.wgbh.org)
WGBH Boston is America's preeminent public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content for TV and the Web, including Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Arthur, Curious George, and more than a dozen other prime-time, lifestyle, and children's series. WGBH's television channels include WGBH 2, WGBH 44, and the digital channels WORLD and Create. WGBH TV productions focusing on the region's diverse community include Greater Boston, Basic Black, High School Quiz Show, and Neighborhood Kitchens. WGBH Radio serves listeners across New England with 89.7 WGBH, Boston Public Radio; Classical New England; and WCAI, the Cape and Islands NPR® Station. WGBH also is a major source of programs for public radio (among them, PRI's The World®), a leader in educational multimedia (including PBS LearningMedia(TM), providing the nation's educators with free, curriculum-based digital content to meet the needs of 21st-century learners), and a pioneer in technologies and services that make media accessible to the 36 million Americans who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or visually impaired. WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors: Emmys, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards ... even two Oscars. Find more information at wgbh.org.

SOURCE American Documentary, Inc.

Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120907/DC70003LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
American Documentary, Inc.


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