Stateside With Rosalea: Doco-diplomacy

Back in 2005, public television broadcasters from around the world came together for a conference in San Francisco at which they showed their work to their peers and met both formally and informally to discuss the role of public broadcasting in their respective nations and the world at large.

Among those attending Input 2005, was retired U.S. Ambassador James Collins, an expert on Russia and Eurasia, now the chair of the international advisory board of the Independent Television Service, a major commissioner of programs for the Public Broadcasting Service here in the United States. Collins was on hand this Monday to help launch ITVS International’s Global Perspectives Project in Washington, DC.

::True Stories: Life in the USA::
Learning of the treasure trove of independent US documentaries already funded by ITVS, Collins saw an opportunity for an alternative view of the country to be taken to parts of the world accustomed to seeing only “Santa Barbara reruns and the NBA” on television. The documentaries would be a useful vehicle for people in embassies and public diplomacy—“a good conversation opener,” as the Ambassador said on Monday.

Two big advantages of using the independent documentaries were that they were already paid for, and they didn’t bear the trademark of Uncle Sam. With the encouragement of California’s senior senator, Diane Feinstein, Congress supports the initiative on a yearly basis through the State Department.

The first season of True Stories was hosted by actor Benicio Del Toro and included 16 U.S. documentaries, which aired in Malawi and Peru in 2006-2007. Broadcast partners in Bahrain, Colombia, Hong Kong and Indonesia have joined for 2007-2008. If public funding is secured by ITVS International, broadcasts are planned in a total of 35-40 countries by 2010.

The funding is needed to add the introductory remarks, which put the documentary in context, and to pay the documentary makers for the rights for two years for the countries they are shown in. (Countries that already pay for such rights routinely, such as South Africa, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand are not targeted as broadcasters.)

http://www.itvs.org/international/truestories/

rosalea.barker @ gmail.com
--PEACE--

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