DAILY BRIEFS: Freedom Docs Mark P.O.V. '99; American Cinematheque Int'l Series

by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE

>> P.O.V. Explores Visions of Freedom in Upcoming PBS Doc Season

The acclaimed annual PBS television documentary series, "P.O.V.," returns
for its 1999 series season in June with a focus on "Visions of Freedom."
Kicking off on June 1st, P.O.V. will screen Michael J. Moore's "The Legacy:
Murder & Media, Politics & Prisons," which premiered at the 1999 Sundance
Film Festival. The film explores the impact of California's "Three Strikes and
You're Out" initiative. The following week offers Lucy Winer and Karen
Eaton's "Golden Threads," a profile of 90-year-old Christine Burton who
founded -- at age 80 -- Golden Threads, a worldwide network for older
lesbians.

On June 22nd, the series will screen Ricki Stern's "In My Corner," a look
at two South Bronx teenage boxers shaped by two surrogate father trainers.
The next week brings David Finn, David Hess, and A.C. Weary's "The Green
Monster," a portrait of Midwestern "prodigy of practical mechanics" Art
Arfons. On July 6th, P.O.V. will screen Emiko Omori's "Rabbit in the
Moon," focusing on the WWII Japanese internment camps, while the following
week delivers Lourdes Portillo's study of a Latina icon in "Corpus: A Home
Movie for Selena."

On July 20th, the series will screen Ben Crane and Slawomir Grunberg's
"School Prayer: A Community at War," looking at the battle for religious
freedom in Mississippi, and finally the following week comes Catherine Ryan
and Gary Weimberg's "The Double Life of Ernesto Gomez Gomez," documenting
the search for identity by Puerto Rican teenager raised in Mexico. P.O.V.
has also announced that later this year they will offer screenings of the
Oscar-nominated, and Sundance award-winning doc, "Regret to Inform" by
Barbara Sonnenborn and Janet Cole, as well as Michael Camerini and Shari
Robertson's "Well-Founded Fear."

[For more information, visit the series website at:
http://www.pbs.org/pov.]

>> American Cinematheque Launching International Directors Series

With an announcement timed to coincide with this week's gala retrospective
premiere of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much," the American
Cinematheque has unveiled plans a week-long showcase of acclaimed and
emerging filmmakers from around the world. Set to take place in July, the
Universal Studios Hitchcock International Directors Series and the Absolut
New Filmmaker Showcase intend to welcome filmmakers from Africa, Asia,
Australia, Europe, Latin America and North America, according to
organizers.

Monday night's premiere at the American Cinematheque's new home in the
recently restored Hollywood movie palace, the Egyptian Theater, was in
conjunction with the centennial Hitchcock celebration unspooling at the
Nuart Theater in West LA.

[For more information, visit the Cinematheque site at:
http://www.americancinematheque.com, or call 323.466.3456]