POV's outreach and development assistant Jessica Lee recently attended a screening of POV's The Way We Get By on Capitol Hill. She writes about the experience and tells us what struck her about the film, its subjects and the screening.
Recently, President Obama officially declared this November Military Family Month. As someone who has had only one enlisted extended family member, I didn't grow up with a deep sense of knowing what it was like to be part of a military family. That changed in September, when I had the privilege of attending a Capitol Hill screening of The Way We Get By by Aron Gaudet. The film has garnered great reviews, but I believe its greatest success is its ability to touch every person who sees it, regardless of his or her political beliefs. This rang especially true at the special screening on the Hill, which was specifically geared toward military families. The event was presented as part of President Obama's United We Serve initiative, and was sponsored by Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, and Maine Representatives Michael Michaud and Chellie Pingree, along with the USO, Operation Homefront and HandsOn Network.
Maine troop greeters Joan Gaudet, Jerry Mundy and Bill Knight with Representative Michael Michaud and Senator Susan Collins, and Dr. Jill Biden. Photo courtsey of the USO.
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Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup.
Last night's special Veterans Day broadcast of POV's 
New Muslim Cool, which screened on Sept. 24th, was followed by a Q & A with Jason Hamza Pèrez. I found Pèrez particularly interesting, because he explained the techniques that the director, Jennifer Maytorena Taylor, used to help him feel at ease as the subject of her fillm. He told us that Taylor made an impact on him by respecting his privacy and adhering to his rules on where the camera could and couldn't go. He put the documentary into perspective perhaps even better than the filmmaker could — which makes sense, since it was his life that was spotlighted.
