The documentary Banished, co-produced by CIR, explores how slavery and racism reverberated into 20th-century America with the violent removal of black families from their communities from the 1860s to the 1920s. Banished will be broadcast as part of PBS Independent Lens in February 2008.
An open call from WGBH Lab and National Black Programming Consortium invites filmmakers and other aspiring media-makers to pitch ideas for video shorts (of approximately three minutes) looking at the issue of how we resolve past wrongs, especially around matters of race. Pitches might explore themes of belonging versus expulsion, anger versus forgiveness, guilt versus reparations. A successful pitch offers a new approach to story-telling and presents a surprising visual style, a fresh genre or a unique voice.
Selected pitches will receive production funding and editorial support. Finished shorts may be presented in conjunction with WGBH’s and PBS’s African American History Month programming in February, via broadcast and broadband. The Lab will also consider completed shorts (rather than only preliminary pitches) that address these themes.
Learn more about this project on the NBPC website. For more information contact Stefanie Koperniak at 617-300-5317 or stefanie_koperniak@wgbh.org.