Documentary Production and Distribution News
ITVS Announces Funding and Production of Half the Sky for Primetime PBS Broadcast
By StudentFilmmakers.com Staff
posted Jul 12, 2011, 11:34
Based on the Bestselling Book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Production in Six Countries With Star Power From, America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Lucy Liu, Marisa Tomei and More.
Based on the Bestselling Book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Production
in Six Countries With Star Power From, America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Lucy Liu,
Marisa Tomei and More.
(San Francisco, CA) ITVS (Independent Television Service) announced that it,
along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, has made a significant investment
in Half the Sky, a primetime television special and transmedia project based
on New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's widely acclaimed
book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.
The two-part, four-hour broadcast will premier as a special presentation of
the Emmy® Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens in fall 2012 as a cornerstone
of Women and Girls Lead, a multi-year engagement campaign led by ITVS to leverage
the power of documentary storytelling to increase the leadership and development
of women and girls worldwide.
“This is a project that means the world to Sheryl and me, and represents
20 years of travel, research and writing. We are proud to partner with public
television to bring awareness to what we see as the greatest moral challenge
of our time,” said Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist and Pulitzer-prize
winning author.
“More girls have been killed in the last 50 years, precisely because
they were girls, then men were killed in all the battles of the twentieth century
– we hope Half the Sky will be a call to conscience for anyone who reads
the book, watches the documentaries, or engages with the online content or social
media,” said Pulitzer-prize winning author Sheryl WuDunn.
Half the Sky’s television and online life will build on the success of
the best-selling book, which has been through 37 printings with more than 430,000
copies sold (not including e-books) and translated into over 14 languages. The
four-hour special broadcast will be accompanied by a groundbreaking game hosted
by Facebook and mobile games for India and Africa created in partnership with
Games for Change to harness the power of gaming for social change and bringing
new audiences together. The U.S. and international broadcast will be amplified
by social media, interactive tools, and community engagement on the ground in
100 U.S. markets and selected cities worldwide. Additionally, more than 40 educational
short films are being created in partnership with 54+ NGOs for wide-reaching
use among targeted communities across the global south and the U.S. Fenton,
led by chief strategy officer Lisa Witter, is providing overall strategy and
coordination of the social action and communications elements of the project.
"Viewers turn to PBS for programs that enlarge their world and deepen
their understanding," said Sally Jo Fifer, President and CEO of ITVS. “Half
the Sky tells the extraordinary stories of women and girls on the front lines
of the fight against poverty and gender inequality across the global south and
here in the U.S. who have risen above these circumstances to better our world.
It is a perfect match for the engagement-driven goals of public media.”
Some of today’s finest actresses and spokespeople have been tapped to
engage with the subjects on the ground and broaden the understanding for viewers
of the issues at hand, including Diane Lane, who recently traveled to Somaliland,
America Ferrera who will soon travel to India and in scheduling talks are —
Nicole Kidman, among others.
Each actor will accompany the production team and Kristof or WuDunn on location
to one of six countries in the global south — and WuDunn will spearhead
the production of stories surrounding these issues here in the U.S. Acclaimed
actor and humanitarian George Clooney will provide narration for the series.
Marisa Tomei and Lucy Liu have directed short films based on women profiled
in Half the Sky, which will be part of a large online content strategy to be
released over the course of the campaign.
"I am so deeply moved and inspired by the work that Nick and Sheryl do
on behalf of women all over the world,” said actress America Ferrera.
“ITVS and PBS are sure to save and inspire many lives by bringing these
incredible stories to their audience. I'm honored to be a part of it."
“I feel a sense of honor and excitement to be part of a program that
will bring these critical human rights issues to a larger television audience,”
said acclaimed actress Diane Lane. “Traveling with Nick was a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity that I could not pass up. My experience with Edna Adan in Somaliland
has been eye opening and awe-inspiring. In order to fully understand these issues,
it is crucial to see them firsthand.”
The multi-platform project is A Show of Force production with Fugitive Films.
Show of Force is the company behind the recent PBS mini-series event Circus.
Half the Sky is executive produced by Maro Chermayeff, Mikaela Beardsley, and
Jamie Gordon. The storytelling is immersive and immediate as the subjects tackle
some of the most startling human right violations around the world and right
here in the U.S. on their route to empowerment.
In addition to ITVS and Corporation for Public Broadcasting, additional supporters
of Half the Sky to date include: IKEA Foundation, Ford Foundation, Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Nike Foundation,
NoVo Foundation, and USAID. Pro-bono support has been provided by Waggener Edstrom
and the United Nations Foundation.
Resources:
www.itvs.org
www.showofforce.com
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