POV Shorts has announced seven acquired titles that will make up the series’ eight seasons, launching on November 18th with Jeff Orlowski-Yang (“Social Dilemma”) and Sarah Keo’s “Chasing Time.”
Launched in 2018, POV Shorts served as a platform for filmmakers to tell stories that focused on relevant contemporary issues and cultural stories. Intergenerational care and guidance, local culture, chosen families, memory, identity, and the power of history are among the many topics being explored this season.
Opal H. Bennett, POV Senior Producer and POV Shorts Executive Producer American Documentary, said: “It is both our honor and our charge at POV that, season after season, we provide audiences with films that make a difference and that spark conversations.”
In ‘Chasing Time’, the team behind the feature document ‘Chasing Ice’ reunites to uncover the visual evidence of climate change and inspire action towards a sustainable future. The short doc had its world premiere at the 2024 Hot Documents Canadian International Documentary Festival.
On November 18th, in addition to “Time to Chase,” POV Shorts will release “The People Can Fly” by Imani Dennison, “MNM” by Twiggy Pucci Garçon, and “Please Give Me Your Opinion” by Marshall Granger.
For “People Can Fly,” director Imani Dennison uncovers the history of black gathering spaces and gental skate culture in Louisville, Kentucky, from the 1960s to the mid-2000s. “The People Can Fly” is the first release from the Chicken & Egg Pictures Pov Shorts co-production fund and the first American Documentary/POV Shorts produced original to be included in the POV Shorts season. The film, which debuted at the 2024 Black Star Film Festival, will be followed by Richard O’Connor’s animated short StoryCorps: Dear Mrs. Doyle.
In “MNM,” Garcon followed Mermaid and Milan, two emerging runway divas from the drag ballroom community. Granger’s “Your Opinion, Your Opinion” collects ten years (1997-2007) of unprepared and unedited live call-in comments from Yellowstone public radio and juxtaposes them with present-day Montana, revealing the state’s continued identity debates regarding community, cost of living, and the right to free expression.
On November 25th, the remaining three short docs of Season 8 will be released – “In of Black Folk”, “La Orquesta” and “Classroom 4”.
“In Black Folk Songs, directed by Hayley Watson and Justin Emeka, we have captured top black musical talent on a single Pacific Northwest stage, launching a strong new tradition of black artists from Juntente backgrounds, co-producing with ‘La Orquesta’ (lpb) and decting forsed with aa copres fid aaaa copresting aaa coprodecting (la A co-production with “Atlanta and Her Youth Orchestra” offers a fresh perspective on the film directed by Monica Billvikencio and Stephanie Liu.
In “Classroom 4,” director Eden Wurmfeld enters a prison classroom where college students and incarcerated learners work together to study the history of crime and punishment, resulting in unexpected conversations and a deeper understanding of justice and humanity.
“Black Folk Song,” “Time to Chase,” “People Can Fly,” and “Classroom 4” are all eligible for Oscar consideration.
(“La Nueva Ola de Añil” (“The New Indigo Wave”) is also part of the eighth season of POV shorts and is currently streaming.)
All seven short documents are available to stream on pov.org and the PBS app.
