Inside PBS Blog

If the next Ken Burns comes from central Texas, chances are "Docubloggers" will discover him.

The weekly series on KLRU, the PBS station in Austin, turns average Joes into filmmakers.

Each half-hour episode features three or four mini documentary films. Some come from local film school students, but many are produced by KLRU viewers.

"'Life in Central Texas' is our motto," says Sean Cunningham, a KLRU filmmaker and one of the show's co-producers. "That doesn't mean life from our perspective. 'Docubloggers' is for anyone who wants to tell their story."

The show's name reflects the concept: a blend of traditional documentary filmmaking and blog-style citizen journalism.

Each "docublog" tends to be a few minutes long and focuses on a single subject. Some are funny, others are moving, but all offer a slice of life in Austin, the Lone State state's famously eclectic capital.

The show's first season, which concluded earlier this year, featured profiles of graffiti artists, a street musician, a pizza delivery guy and a lovingly made portrait of a beauty parlor frequented by African American women.

As one might expect, the sophistication of the filmmaking varies.

An Iraq war veteran created a seven-minute montage of photographs he took during his tour of duty, set to a haunting score.

An employee at the Texas Military Forces Museum crafted a 10-minute overview of the museum, complete with close ups of battlefield dioramas that seem to use sound effects from old war movies.

"It runs the gamut," Sean says. "Some of [the films] are very simple. Some of them have this great spark of creativity."

Domenique Bellavia, the other creative force behind "Docubloggers," says she and Sean have learned a lot from the viewers who have submitted films.

"Sometimes we get locked into our own ways of telling a story," she says. "When we see these community docublogs, we get ideas for what we can use in the films we make. It's been very inspiring."

KLRU airs "Docubloggers" Thursday nights, part of a lineup of homegrown programming. All the films are archived on the show's Web site.

The show is developing a following. The program's pilot won a local Emmy last year, and the Austin American Statesman has hailed the show as "YouTube on vitamins."

Sean and Domenique hope the "Docublogs" concept can be replicated at other PBS stations around the nation.

Says Sean: "PBS was founded on community activism. I think it's a model that can be spread around."

What do you think? Would you like to see public television offer more programs like "Docubloggers?" If given the opportunity to make your own films and have them aired on television, would you participate?