American Documentary

Overview

Brooklyn, N.Y. — December 17, 2024 — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, announced that A Swim Lesson and Until He’s Back, which had its broadcast and streaming premiere in the 7th season of POV Shorts, have been added to the shortlist ahead of formal nominations for Best Documentary Short Film for the 97th Academy Awards®. This announcement continues American Documentary’s streak of awards, accolades and industry recognition for their programming and leadership.

"All of us at American Documentary are honored to have the Academy recognize two films from our 7th season ofPOV Shorts – A Swim Lesson and Until He’s Back – and we are delighted these important films have a place on the shortlist. These films provide a thoughtful look at universal truths – from the simple life lessons found in learning to swim to the need for familial grieving – the film teams have used the short form medium to create deeply profound and well crafted works that we hope will be experienced by many viewers. As an organization that produces programs for public media, our longstanding mission has been to bring bold, authentic and visionary stories to audiences around the country and we will continue to strengthen our viewership and local engagement with POV as the anchor for bridging communities and empowering healthy and productive civic dialogue around the most critical issues of our time. For nearly 40 years we have advocated for the storytellers whose unique perspectives and artful approaches to the documentary form continue to inspire us," said Erika Dilday, executive producer of POV, POV Shorts, America ReFramed and executive director of American Documentary.

About A Swim Lesson

Watching a child learn how to swim is like witnessing a great opera. The maestro of this emotional orchestra is Bill Marsh. Swimming is the closest human beings will ever get to flying. And there is no greater joy (or fear) than watching your kid take the leap. Watching Bill teach kids how to swim is the parable we need, because inside his lessons are profound universal truths. An LA Times Co-Release.

Co-directed co-directed by Grammy winner and Emmy® nominee Rashida Jones (Quincy, Hot Girls Wanted, Parks & Recreation) and Oscar® winner Will McCormack (If Anything Happens I Love You, Celeste & Jesse Forever, produced by Emily Arlook and Nicole Emanuele, that made its world premiere at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival and East Coast premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival where it won the Audience Award and screened at this year’s Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Calgary Film Festival, Ojai Film Festival and Bend Film Festival.

Credits

Directors: Rashida Jones, Will McCormack

Producers: Emily Arlook and Nicole Emanuele

Cinematographers: Alexander Alexandrov

Executive Producers: Rashida Jones, Will McCormack for Le Train Train, Justin Lacob, Bryn Mooser for Documentary+, Jason Spingarn-Koff, Hemant Taneja and Terry Tang for LA Times, Erika Dilday, Chris White and Opal H. Bennett for American Documentary | POV Shorts

Editor: Mo Stoebe

Running time: 21 min

Country: USA

Year: 2024

About Until He’s Back

After learning that his son, Yahya, has died at sea trying to get to Spain, Ahmed Tchiche must find a way to bring his remains back home to Morocco so he and his family can have a proper goodbye. Through interweaving threads, Until He's Back explores the dangerous journey—crossing the Gibraltar Strait from Africa to Spain—and the difficulty of returning the bodies of those who drown at sea. Scripps News Co-Release.

Jacqueline Baylon is a Mexican filmmaker focusing on civil rights injustices and immigration stories around the world. She graduated from Texas State University and has worked for news organizations nationwide. She currently produces and directs news documentaries for Scripps Longform. Previously, she was a video producer for Business Insider and a staff journalist for The New York Times, where her assignments included shooting and producing videos. Before The Times, she was a print reporter for The Tampa Bay Times and The Sacramento Bee, among other publications. Jacqueline was born in Chihuahua City, Mexico, and was raised in El Paso, Texas. Until He’s Back has received ‘Best Documentary Short Film’ awards from this year’s Hamptons International Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and El Paso Film Festival, a nominee for Best Short Documentary at IDA and was the Official Selection for San Francisco International Film Festival, DC/DOX Film Festival and DokuFest.

Credits

Director/Producer: Jacqueline Baylon

Cinematographers: Guillem Trius, Carmen Molina and Pedro Ballesteros

Executive Producers: Zach Toombs; Erika Dilday, Chris White and Opal H. Bennett for American Documentary | POV Shorts

Editor: Hailey Gavin

Running time: 39 min

Country: Spain/Morocco/USA

Year: 2024

To read our POV Shorts Season 7 announcement and find photos and press materials visit amdoc.org

• The full list of nominees for the 97th Academy Awards® is availablehere.

The 97th Academy Awards® Oscars presentation will be held on Sunday March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and televised live on ABC.

About

About American Documentary, Inc.
American Documentary, Inc. (AmDoc) is a multimedia organization dedicated to creating, identifying and presenting contemporary stories that express opinions and perspectives rarely featured in mainstream media outlets. AmDoc is a catalyst for public culture, developing collaborative strategic engagement activities around socially relevant content on television, online and in community settings. These activities are designed to trigger action, from dialogue and feedback to educational opportunities and community participation.

Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, the Open Society Foundations, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation, Reva & David Logan Foundation, Park Foundation, and Perspective Fund. Additional funding comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the Chasing the Dream and Peril and Promise public media initiatives of The WNET Group, Chris and Nancy Plaut, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee and public television viewers. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations, including KQED San Francisco, WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG.

POV Shorts
POV Shorts launched in 2018 as one of the first PBS series dedicated to bold and timely short-form documentaries.The series is known for its curation, and for broadcasting award-winning titles, including: Emmy® nominated Earthrise, Water Warriors, The Changing Same, Emmy® award winners The Love Bugs, the Oscar® winning Days of Waiting, and the Oscar® shortlisted A Broken House and Aguilas. The series won Best Short Form Series at the IDA Documentary Awards in 2023, 2022 and 2020, with A Broken House winning Best Short in 2022. Series titlesIn the Absence, A Night at the Garden,4.1 Miles,Joe’s Violin, and Hardwood have all been nominated for Oscar® awards.

About POV
Produced by American Documentary, POV is the longest-running independent documentary showcase on American television. Since 1988, POV has presented films on PBS that capture the full spectrum of the human experience, with a long commitment to centering women and people of color in front of, and behind, the camera. The series is known for introducing generations of viewers to groundbreaking works like Tongues Untied, American Promise, Minding The Gap and Not Going Quietly, and innovative filmmakers including Jonathan Demme, Laura Poitras and Nanfu Wang. In 2018, POV Shorts launched as one of the first PBS series dedicated to bold and timely short-form documentaries. All POV programs are available for streaming concurrent with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO. For more information about PBS Passport, visit the PBS Passport FAQ website.

POV goes “beyond the broadcast” to bring powerful nonfiction storytelling to viewers wherever they are. Free educational resources accompany every film and a community network of thousands of partners nationwide work with POV to spark dialogue around today’s most pressing issues. POV continues to explore the future of documentary through innovative productions with partners such as The New York Times and The National Film Board of Canada and on platforms including Instagram.

POV films and projects have won 48 Emmy Awards, 28 George Foster Peabody Awards, 16 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, three Academy Awards® and the first-ever George Polk Documentary Film Award. Learn more at pbs.org/pov and follow @povdocs on social media.

About PBS
PBS, with more than 330 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and digital content. Each month, PBS reaches over 120 million people through television and 26 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS’s broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. Decades of research confirm that PBS’s premier children’s media service, PBS KIDS, helps children build critical literacy, math and social-emotional skills, enabling them to find success in school and life. Delivered through member stations, PBS KIDS offers high-quality educational content on TV – including a 24/7 channel, online at pbskids.org, via an array of mobile apps and in communities across America. More information about PBS is available at www.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the internet, or by following PBS on Twitter, Facebook or through our apps for mobile and connected devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at pbs.org/pressroom or by following PBS Communications on Twitter.