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P.O.V. Garners Six News and Documentary Emmy Nominations

Jul 20 2006

P.O.V., public television's premier showcase for independent point-of-view films, has received six nominations in the 27th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards, a record for the series which is now in its 19th season on PBS. The announcement was made on July 18 by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Tod Lending's Omar & Pete was nominated for Best Documentary; Susan Stern's The Self-Made Man was nominated in two categories: Writing and Outstanding Informational Programming-Long Form; Marshall Curry's Street Fight was nominated for Outstanding Informational Programming-Long Form; Hubert Davis's Hardwood received a nomination for Outstanding Cultural & Artistic Programming; and Ross McElwee's Bright Leaves was nominated for writing.

PBS programs in general led the pack for the third year in a row with 33 nominations, more than any other broadcast or cable network.

"The quality of documentary films being made today is extraordinary, and we are honored to be working with some of the best filmmakers working now," said Cara Mertes, P.O.V.'s Executive Producer. "Emmy nominations remind us that powerful first-person documentaries matter in the world, and help P.O.V. reach wider audiences. They, in turn, become avid viewers and users of our stories, which is our goal."

The News and Documentary Emmy Awards will be presented on Monday, Sept. 25 at a black-tie ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City, which will be attended by more than 700 television and new-media industry executives, news and documentary producers and journalists.

Television's first and longest-running showcase for independent nonfiction films, P.O.V. films have received 18 Emmy Awards and 28 previous nominations, in addition to every other coveted trade award and honor, including 11 George Foster Peabody Awards, eight duPont-Columbia Broadcast Journalism Awards, three Academy Awards(R), three Independent Spirit Awards and the Prix Italia. P.O.V. recently garnered its first Primetime Emmy nomination, for Jessica Yu's In the Realms of the Unreal; the winner will be announced on Aug. 19, 2006.

Omar & Pete by Tod Lending
Category: Best Documentary
Omar and Pete were determined to change their lives. Both had been in and out of prison for more than 30 years - never out longer than six months. This intimate and penetrating film follows these two longtime African-American friends after what they hope will be their final release. Their lives take divergent paths in their native Baltimore as one wrestles with addiction and fear while the other finds success and freedom through helping others. With extraordinary cooperation from Maryland's innovative reentry programs — many run by former drug addicts and convicts themselves — Omar & Pete also provides a rare glimpse into an intense and very personal web of support.

The Self-Made Man by Susan Stern
Outstanding Informational Programming — Long Form;
Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Writing
Is it ever rational to choose death? On Independence Day at Stern Ranch in central California, 77-year-old solar-energy pioneer Bob Stern finds out he is seriously ill — possibly dying. Meanwhile, an elderly in-law is slowly declining on artificial life support in a hospital. Bob decides to cheat that fate and take his own life. His family tries to stop him. But first, Bob sets up a video camera. Daughter Susan Stern (Barbie Nation - P.O.V.) tells the story of her father's quirky, inspiring life and the difficult end-of-life choices faced by an aging population. Part King Lear, part Western, The Self-Made Man is a true-life family drama about a controversial issue: Should we control how we die?

Street Fight by Marshall Curry
Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story — Long Form
Street Fight, nominated for an Academy Award, covers the turbulent campaign of Cory Booker, a 32-year old Rhodes Scholar/Yale Law graduate running for mayor of Newark, N.J. against Sharpe James, the four-term incumbent twice his age. An urban David and Goliath story, the film chronicles the young man's struggle against the city's entrenched political machine, which routinely uses strong-arm tactics to hold onto power. The battle sheds light on important questions about democracy, power, poverty and race. When the mayor accuses the Ivy League-educated challenger of not being "really black," the campaign forces voters to examine how we define race in America.

Hardwood by Hubert Davis
Outstanding Cultural & Artistic Programming
The Academy Award-nominated Hardwood is a deeply personal filmic journey by Hubert Davis, the son of former Harlem Globetrotter Mel Davis. Mel, now a coach for young basketball players in Vancouver, recalls falling in love at first sight with Hubert's mother, a white woman, at a time when racism seemed to make their union impossible. Despite their emotional bond — still resonating more than 20 years later — Mel chose to marry a black woman, with whom he also had a son. The filmmaker unites both sides of his family, speaking movingly about the complex web of love, betrayal and family ties that binds them all. Through personal interviews, archival footage and home movies, Davis delves into his father's past in the hope of finding his own future.

Bright Leaves by Ross McElwee
Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Writing
What legacy is passed down to generations when a family is a giant tobacco producer? Filmmaker Ross McElwee (Sherman's March, Time Indefinite — P.O.V.), whose great-grandfather created the famous Bull Durham brand in his native North Carolina, takes viewers on an autobiographical journey across that state's social, economic and psychological tobacco terrain. Wise and wry, this meditation on the allure of cigarettes looks at loss and preservation, addiction and denial. Bright Leaves also examines filmmaking itself, as McElwee grapples with home movies, a vintage Hollywood melodrama and his own efforts to document North Carolina and his family.

The Self-Made Man and Street Fight are co-presentations with the Independent Television Service.

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