Season 3 of AMERICA REFRAMED airs Tuesdays, on Public Television's WORLD Channel at 8 p.m.

Season 3 of AMERICA REFRAMED airs Tuesdays, on Public Television's WORLD Channel at 8 p.m.

AMERICA REFRAMED celebrates independent documentaries with rich roster of diverse stories and storytellers

NEW YORK, April 6, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Join journalist and series host Natasha Del Toro for the continuation of the 3(rd) season of AMERICA REFRAMED, WORLD Channel's independent film series co-produced with American Documentary, Inc. (AmDoc).

AMERICA REFRAMED airs on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. on the WORLD Channel through June 30, 2015. (Check local listings.) Each film is available for free US streaming the following day at http://worldchannel.org/.

The series' filmmakers are passionate about the stories they report on, challenging assumptions about what the adage "from the personal to the political" means.

CAMBODIAN SON is the story of Kosal Khiev, an ex-convict turned poet. Khiev was born in a refugee camp, raised in the streets of LA, incarcerated in his youth and then deported back to a country he's never known. Intimate reflections about identity and home are shared by a new generational of Native Americans in WHERE GOD LIKES TO BE. BEFORE WE KNOW IT celebrates a pioneering generation of LGBT elders, all born before the modern gay rights movement, as they come to terms with aging and ageism in America.

ENDLESS ABILITIES is the story of Zachary Bastion's accident, which changed the course and focus of his life; audiences will join him on a cross country road-trip and enter the world of adaptive sports. And in PERFECT STRANGERS, meet Ellie, whose determination to gift a kidney, prompts a core question: What lies beyond the art of giving and receiving?

AMERICA REFRAMED follows designers-educators-activists, Emily Pilloton and Matthew Miller, to Bertie County, the poorest in North Carolina. In IF YOU BUILD IT, their goal is to offer a compelling and hopeful vision for a new kind of classroom in which students learn how to use the tools of design to build their own futures.

"AmDoc is thrilled to collaborate with WORLD Channel and WGBH on the AMERICA REFRAMED series; this association reaffirms our commitment to bold storytelling and diverse voices," says Simon Kilmurry, Executive Director, American Documentary, Inc. "Our films depict with honesty and authenticity issues that are impacting communities across America. We are proud to bring this stand-out series to the World Channel," says Chris Hastings, Co- Executive Producer, AMERICA REFRAMED.

With weekly 60- to 90-minute independent films, followed by provocative conversations led by host/moderator Natasha Del Toro, this series offers an unfiltered look at people rarely given a voice on national television. For more information and a complete listing of WORLD Channel programming, visit www.WORLDchannel.org.

AMERICA REFRAMED DATES & FILM DESCRIPTIONS

April 7
FAMILY AFFAIR by Chico Colvard

A father's duty is to provide the necessities of life and protection for his family. In the Colvard family, however, this sacred trust was violated and the crime was particularly heinous. Chico Colvard's three sisters survived severe emotional and physical abuse and repeated rape at the hands of their father. At 10 years old, Chico accidentally triggered a series of events that uncovered this evil secret and 30 years later, armed with his camera, he seeks to understand how his father has manipulated and controlled an entire family for life, and to explore the depth of his sisters' capacity to forgive.

April 14
THE PERFECT VICTIM by Elizabeth Rohrbaugh

Four incarcerated women Shirley, Carlene, Tanya and Ruby were beaten, raped, sold, abused, and nearly killed by their husbands. Collectively, they spent over eighty-five years in Missouri State prison each serving life sentences, convicted for having killed their husbands to save their lives. Through the years, the local press vilified these women, portraying them all as savage murderers without any knowledge of the ongoing abuse they suffered. With the help of impassioned lawyers and law students from the Missouri Battered Women's Coalition they begin a decade and a half long quest to secure their freedom. But will the judicial system and a notoriously secretive Missouri parole board give them a chance to renew their lives?

April 21
HANNA RANCH by Mitch Dickman

HANNA RANCH is a feature documentary about a visionary and charismatic cattleman, Kirk Hanna. Through memories and intimate anecdotes, we learn about Hanna and his life from family members, colleagues and friends. Hanna Ranch was built in the 1940s by Kirk Hanna's father and grandfather, who came from New Mexico and chose the Colorado site for its proximity to Fountain Creek, which runs through it. With 2.65 miles of stream coursing through the property, Hanna Ranch protects important floodplain and upland habitats with essential plant communities and associated wildlife to help it thrive.

Featured in the book "Fast Food Nation" and dubbed the "eco-cowboy," Hanna was an early adopter of Holistic Resource Management practices, sat on numerous environmental boards and was president of the Colorado Cattleman's Association. Hanna became a leader in the environmental ranching movement that set out to protect the West from the relentless encroachment of development and misuse. Hanna's opinion was so widely sought and respected that some believed he could run for governor of Colorado. But when his dream of harmony and sustainability ran up against the reality of family conflict and mounting threats to the land, Hanna lost hope.

April 28
PERFECT STRANGERS by Jan Krawitz

What lies beyond the art of giving and receiving? In PERFECT STRANGERS we meet Ellie, a kind-hearted masseuse, who decides she wants to share the gift of life with a stranger who has posted online that she needs a kidney. On average, 21 people die each day while waiting for a transplant.

Five hundred miles away, Kathy endures nightly dialysis and loses hope of receiving a transplant until she hears from Ellie. They meet and form a deep and genuine friendship. Over the course of four years, however, both women face unexpected challenges. As their parallel journeys unfold, the film raises questions about what motivates an individual to perform an extreme act of compassion. When we learn that Kathy's body would reject Ellie's kidney, we become disheartened along with them.

May 5
9-MAN by Ursula Liang

Much more than an urban pastime, 9-Man is a competitive Chinese-American sport with roots that trace back to the Toisan* region of Guangdong province. In North America, the game was a way for Chinese workers to escape the drudgery of menial labor during an era of extreme discrimination. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 -- the first U.S. immigration law targeting a single ethnic group -- constrained the formation of Chinese families, effectively creating Chinatown "bachelor societies" where men outnumbered women by huge ratios. In the 1930's, a traveling 9-Man tournament emerged, and helped create fraternity within a community plagued by unjust stereotypes of Asian masculinity.

Today, 9-Man provides a lasting connection to culture and community pride for men that know a different, more integrated America. Following several teams over the course of one season, the documentary captures the spirit of 9-Man as teams prepare for battle on gritty asphalt streets and oil-spotted Chinatown parking lots throughout North America and fight for the championship in Boston. While the elders question how to pass the torch, the next generation struggles with maintaining tradition in gentrified urban centers while the community becomes increasingly multi-ethnic. What does the future hold for this street ball battle? WINNER 2015 BEST DOCUMENTARY AWARD CAAMFEST

(Note: Hoisan is a region in the Guangdong Province of China. Other names are Toisan and Taishan.)

May 12
A WINNING GIRL by Kimberlee Bassford

Teshya Alo is 16 years old and weighs 125 pounds. But on the judo and wrestling mats, she throws women twice her age and many pounds heavier. And she beats boys. Now she has her sights set on taking gold at both the judo and wrestling world championships. If she does, she'd be the first and youngest athlete ever to win world championships in two different sports in the same year. But it won't be easy.

Teshya lives in Hawai'iand the cost to travel to mainland tournaments drains her family's resources. She's a student at Kamehameha Schools and she's going through puberty. A WINNING GIRL follows the four-year journey of this part-Polynesian teenage judo and wrestling phenomenon from Hawai'i, and in doing so tells the dynamic story of an elite athlete on her ascent, a girl facing the challenges of growing up, and an entire family dedicated to a single dream.

May 19
CAMBODIAN SON by Masahiro Sugano

Born in a refugee camp in Cambodia, poet Kosal Khiev was lucky to escape the war-torn country before he was two years old. Granted asylum, Khiev grew up in the U.S. with his mother and siblings. By the age of 16, he was convicted of attempted murder and spent the next 14 years in jail--including 18 months of solitary confinement in the New Folsom State Prison in California. Fatefully, during his time in solitary Khiev experienced a breakthrough that forged his path to freedom. In jail, he found writing and spoken-word mentors and upon release became a student/participant in the inaugural class of "The Actors' Gang" led by Artistic Director and Founder Tim Robbins. As a refugee with no permanent resident status in the U.S., however, Khiev was deported to Cambodia, a country he's never known. "How do you survive when you belong nowhere?" The documentary follows a year in the life of Khiev, while he navigates his new fame as Phnom Penh's premiere poet and receives the most important invitation of his career--to represent the Kingdom of Cambodia at the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Later he visits France for the first time where his life comes full circle and he faces a past he never dreamed of. WINNER 2014 BEST DOCUMENTARY AWARD CAAMFEST

May 26
ENDLESS ABILITIESby Zachary Bastion, Tripp Clemens and Harvey Burrell

In Narragansett, Rhode Island, Zachary was having the time of his life--surfing on the beach, enjoying bonfires with friends until the night he and best friend, Timmy, got into an accident. Zachary was rushed off to the hospital. Timmy didn't make it. After being hospitalized for 6 months and overcoming feelings of guilt, Zach realized that he was going to be in a chair for the rest of his life.

Zach doesn't see himself as disabled and says that some of the coolest and most interesting people he knows are in chairs. So in the summer of 2012, Zach, along with his best friends Will, Tripp and Harvey, retrofit a vehicle for a cross-country trip in search of inspiration. Along the way they meet practitioners of the adaptive sports movement, where differently abled persons rock climb, swim competitively, play soccer and more. They also meet pioneers like Kirk Bauer, founder of Disabled Sports USA. He, with a group of war veterans, created the organization in 1967 to encourage persons like themselves to live full, integrated lives.


From rehabilitation patients to Paralympic athletes, ENDLESS ABILITIES captures the spirit of resilient people who defy being defined by their physical disability. Ultimately, Zach and his friends, learn that sports really are a great equalizer, unifying people of all abilities who rise to full potential on the playing field.

June 2
IF YOU BUILD IT by Patrick Creadon

IF YOU BUILD IT follows designers-educators-activists Emily Pilloton and Matthew Miller, to Bertie County, the poorest in North Carolina. Their goal is to offer a compelling and hopeful vision for a new kind of classroom in which students learn how to use the tools of design to build their own futures.

Living on credit and grant money, Emily and Matthew work doggedly to persuade a reticent school board to invest in them in the wake of a failed investment to renovate a school that now sits abandoned and vandalized. Determined to prove their model works, they successfully engage teenagers like Stevie, who tends to his family's farm, along with other members of the high school class. The parents of these teens are hopeful they can be engaged to use their minds and intellectual faculties to achieve gainful employment and a bright future someday. The town is concerned not only about the continual brain-drain but about the future viability of Bertie County itself. The documentary follows the teachers and their students, who armed with the tools of design through a year-long, full-scale project, transform the community, and more importantly, their lives.

June 9
WHERE GOD LIKES TO BE by Anna Hudak & Nicolas Hudak

WHERE GOD LIKES TO BE focuses on three young protagonists full of hope and promise--Andi Running Wolf, Edward Tailfeathers, and Douglas Fitzgerald--following them over the course of a summer that marks a turning point in all of their lives. Each grapples with whether to leave and pursue opportunities far from home, or stay behind with friends and family potentially struggling with limited opportunity and marginalization.

Edward is looking for work but doesn't even get a call back from national stores and fast food chains. He admits that there is not much to do and most of his friends smoke weed. Like most youth his age, he plays loud rock music in the garage with friends. In the intimacy of his bedroom, time stands still as he strums his guitar and hums a love song. Andi, who graduated high school with honors, is on her way to the University of Montana in Missoula, taking with her lots of photos of family and friends as well as her favorite poster of Sitting Bull. She is majoring in Native American studies and hopes her roommate is not too messy. On a weekend home she returns to find her grandfather passed away and the home of her childhood condemned. Heartbroken, she sits by the cemetery's entrance at the foot of an ancient tree. Doug loves the outdoors, and is proud to be a true cowboy and an Indian. A young family man, he worries that families today are not teaching their kids about their ancestors and connection to the land which nurtures their identity, as well as their native language and culture.

An intimate and rare look at the Blackfeet Indian reservation, WHERE GOD LIKES TO BE looks longingly and lovingly at the place Andi, Edward and Doug call home. WINNER 2014 AUDIENCE AWARD BIG SKY DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

June 16
BY THE RIVER OF BABYLON: An Elegy for South Louisiana
by Don Howard and Jim Shelton


BY THE RIVER OF BABYLON: An Elegy for South Louisianalooks at the disappearing culture and environment in Southwest Louisiana: its marshlands and man's calamitous engineering mistakes, and the unique habitat that gave rise to the Cajun and Creole, music, culture and people left in its wake.

With compelling footage and expert commentary from Bob Marshall, a local Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, among others, the film documents the facades and interiors of a good number of famed but decaying dance halls. Riveting performances by leading Zydeco proponents such as Clifton Chenier and Beau Jocque are juxtaposed by thorough and thoughtful explanations such as the rapacious dredging of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet through wetlands to give oil tankers direct access to the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana, a major source of energy for the nation, is being destroyed bit by bit and the region's eco-system and marshland continues to be damaged by flooding due to both storms and river reconstruction. Like the famed music of the region, the documentary is both a love letter and a lament over the destruction of the region and by association, the decline of its culture and way of life.

June 23
A SELF-MADE MAN by Lori Petchers

Gender identity issues often appear in early childhood. Some kids, like Tony, feel they were born in the wrong body and this belief conflicts with how they view and define themselves. Once such a young person makes up his or her mind to embark on a sex change both parents and the teenager face new questions and daunting challenges that they would have never imagined. Tony Ferrailo knows this from experience. As a teenager, he successfully transitioned from being female to male.

Now a Certified Life Coach and Transgender Youth Advocate in New Haven, CT, we watch Tony in his role as educator and activist, guiding children as young as 8, and their parents through the arduous journey. Tony thoughtfully acknowledges from multiple perspectives the complicated dynamics of transitioning, and he creates safe spaces and support groups for teens and their families. Formerly identifying as a lesbian, Tony comes to terms with the complexities of his own life as a female-to-male transgender person. He honors the little girl that he was and tattoos that image of himself on his arm. He also muses about everlasting love and friendship. With lots of compassion, laughter and togetherness, "A Self-Made Man" follows Tony as he helps young people and their families transition safely.

June 30
BEFORE YOU KNOW IT by P.J. Raval

With humor and candor, BEFORE YOU KNOW IT celebrates the bold and brave lives of active gay senior citizens who have witnessed unbelievable change in their lifetimes: from the Stonewall Riots and gay liberation to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and gay marriage rights. The film introduces us to Dennis, a gentle-hearted widower in his 70s who explores his sexual identity and fondness for dressing in women's clothing under the name "Dee," and becomes a resident at Rainbow Vista, a gay retirement community outside of Portland, Oregon. In Harlem, New York, we meet Ty, an impassioned activist for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, who hears nothing but wedding bells once gay marriage legislation passes in New York; and, Robert, known as "The Mouth," who was born and reared in Houston, Texas. The son of a Southern Baptist preacher, Robert always knew he was a "sissy." But in Galveston, Texas, he is a feisty bar owner who presses on when his neighborhood institution is threatened.

Born before the modern gay rights movement, Dennis, Ty and Robert have become pioneers in an unprecedented "out" generation of elders. They are also among the estimated 2.4 million LGBT Americans over the age of 55. While some gay Americans adhered to the cultural norms of earlier times, others became activists and made it their mission to live out, loud and proud. Each has faced discrimination, neglect and exclusion. BEFORE YOU KNOW IT reminds us that while LGBT elders face a specific set of issues, aging and its challenges are universal.

About AMERICA REFRAMED

AMERICA REFRAMED is a co-production of the WORLD Channel and American Documentary, Inc. and is hosted by journalist Natasha Del Toro.

Through the lens of independent documentaries, AMERICA REFRAMED brings to national audiences compelling stories that illuminate the changing contours of an ever-evolving America. The 26-week, social-issue 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.

Season three of AMERICA REFRAMED curates a diverse selection of films highlighting innovative and artistic approaches to storytelling from emerging to veteran filmmakers alike. Viewers will be immersed in personal stories from the streets of towns big and small to the ex-burbs and country roads that span the spectrum of American life. The documentaries invite audiences to reflect on topics as varied as culture, healthcare, politics, gun violence, religion and more. Hosted by journalist Natasha Del Toro, several episodes will feature a roundtable discussion with special guest commentators and filmmakers.

AMERICA REFRAMED has won five 2013 CINE Golden Eagle Awards, three Telly Awards, a Gracie Award and recently was nominated for its second national Imagen Award, which honors films featuring Latinos and their culture in television and film.

AMERICA REFRAMED Series Credits


Executive Producers: Simon Kilmurry, Chris
Hastings

Series Producer: Carmen L. Vicencio

Host: Natasha Del Toro
Web and Social Media
AMERICA REFRAMED can be accessed online via http://worldchannel.org/programs/america-reframed/ and, https://www.facebook.com/WorldChannel, https://www.facebook.com/AmericaReFramed

@worldchannelPTV
@americareframed
@ndeltoro

AMERICA REFRAMED Co-Producers

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.

The WORLD Channel delivers the best of public television's nonfiction, news and documentary programing to US audiences through local public television stations and streaming online at worldchannel.org. WORLD reached 35 million unique viewers 18+ last year (55% adults 18-49) and over-indexes in key diversity demographics.* Online, the WORLD Channel expands on broadcast topics and fuels dialogue across social media, providing opportunities for broad and diverse audience interaction. (Source: Nielsen Local Buyer Reach Scorecard 01/13-12/13)

WORLD Channel is programmed by WGBH/Boston, in partnership with American Public Television and WNET/New York, and in association with the American Public Television and National Educational Telecommunications Association. Funding for the WORLD Channel is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Ford Foundation. Additional funding for AMERICA REFRAMED is provided by the MacArthur Foundation.

Media Contact
Journalists and reviewers may contact Neyda Martinez at 917 656 7846 or via email at neyda.martinez@gmail.com for interviews and special requests.

http://worldchannel.org/programs/america-reframed/
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Twitter: @americareframed #americareframed



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