March is National Women's History Month, so why not curl up with some films from the P.O.V. archives that celebrate amazing, courageous women from around the country?
The women showcased in these three P.O.V. films — an African-American Congresswoman running for president; a Christian teenager from Lubbock, Texas; and an Asian-American architect — are very different from each other in age, race, background, and almost everything else. But what they have in common is the determination to stand up for their vision, and to share that vision with all those around them.
In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to Congress. In 1972, she became the first black woman to run for president. She championed the causes of the poor, the young, minorities, gays, women, and other marginalized Americans. Despite strong, and sometimes bigoted opposition, Shirley Chisholm struck a populist progressive chord with many Americans, and carried over 151 delegates to the 1972 Democratic Convention, where she spoke from the main podium.
Chisholm '72
In 2008, when either Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton will make history as the first African American or first woman Democratic candidate for the President of the United States, let us remember Shirley Chisholm, who said, "I ran because somebody had to do it first. I ran because most people thought the country was not ready for a black candidate, not ready for a woman candidate. Someday — it was time in 1972 to make that someday come."
Last week, P.O.V. aired Academy Award-winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock's latest film, Wrestling With Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner. Viewers wrote in with questions about the film for Ms. Mock via email and via blog comments. She'll be answering a selection of those questions on the P.O.V. Blog this week.
Question: Wrestling With Angels is about the life and work of Tony Kushner, a playwright who addresses topics like war and peace, gay rights, terrorism, American foreign policy and race relations in his plays and screenplays. How do you see Kushner's political point of view play out in his work? How do you express your political views in your documentary films?
Freida Lee Mock: The question of art and politics has come up often in the discussions surrounding the film. A recent project I worked on demonstrates some of the ways I think about the connection between the two.
Adel Hamad is a Sudanese man who had been held at Guantanamo Bay for nearly 5 years without a court hearing. I heard about Adel's case, and I worked together with actor Martin Sheen on a video about Adel's case, and about the need for transparency and open hearings for detainees.
I'm happy to report that Adel Hamad was released in December 2007, and has been reunited with his family in Sudan. You can watch a video of Adel being reunited with his daughter at the Project Hamad Blog (footage courtesy of Al Jazeera). This is the result of all that hard work — a good man goes home to his family. However, Adel was only one of the many detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and many others are still in custody, still in legal limbo. You can find out more about Adel Hamad and the necessity of habeas corpas at Project Hamad.
Other viewers of Wrestling With Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner have also asked me about the relationship between art and politics in Tony Kushner's work, and in my work. You can watch me talk about this topic in the video below.
Read Part II of Freida Lee Mock's response to viewer questions.
Wrestling with Angels filmmaker Freida Lee Mock will be answering viewer questions as a guest blogger on the P.O.V. Blog the week of December 17th. In the meantime, get to know this Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker by downloading a podcast of the interview she did with P.O.V.'s Chris White earlier this year, or by reading a transcript of the interview on the P.O.V. website.
Get the jump on other viewers by entering your questions for her as a comment to this post.
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock returns to P.O.V. on December 12th with her new film Wrestling With Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner. In the film, Mock followed the acclaimed playwright from 2001 to 2004, documenting his creative process, his collaborations with actors, composers and directors, and his steadfast commitment to political activism.
In 1995, Freida Lee Mock won the Academy Award for her documentary film: Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, and in her Behind the Lens interview with P.O.V. conducted earlier this year, Mock compared Wrestling With Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner to Maya Lin:
I look at this film as a counterpart to the Maya Lin film. Both are about artists whose works are profoundly social and political in their outreach and who have had a very profound impact on the social and political questions of our times through their work. Maya Lin did it through public memorials; Tony does it through drama and theater. They are both extremely articulate characters. Both have a certain outsider's perspective, but their impact is very much a mainstream impact. And they both have a sense of responsibility and an awareness of how they can make a difference through their work.
Freida Lee Mock's Academy Award® winning documentary, Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision premiered on P.O.V. in 1996. It was 25 years ago today that the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial was dedicated in Washington D.C. On this anniversary date, we take a look back at the film, which follows a decade in the life of this visionary artist. Freida Lee Mock returns to P.O.V. on December 12th, 2007 with her new film about another extraordinary artist: Wrestling With Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner
Visionary artist Maya Lin. By Adam Stoltman
On November 13, 1982, the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C. It was one of the most bitterly disputed public monuments in American history. Only 21 when her design for the Washington, D.C. Vietnam Veterans Memorial was chosen in 1981, Maya Lin has never shied away from controversy.
Her starkly simple slash of polished black granite inscribed with the 57,661 names of those who died in Vietnam was viciously attacked as "dishonorable," "a scar," and "a black hole," but Lin remained committed to her vision, and the Memorial, a moving tribute to sacrifice and quiet heroism, was built as planned. Since then, Lin has completed a succession of eloquent, startlingly original monuments and sculptures that confront vital American social issues.
Read more and watch an interview with filmmaker Freida Lee Mock after the jump...
July 29, 6:30 pm My American Girls Lower East Side Tenement Museum
New York, NY
Come to a screening of My American Girls, and share in the joys and struggles of the Ortiz family, first generation immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Find out more about the screening!
Last week, P.O.V. aired Academy Award-winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock's latest film, Wrestling With Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner. Viewers wrote in with questions about the film for Ms. Mock via email and via blog comments. She'll be answering a selection of those questions on the P.O.V. Blog this week.
