POV "Better This World" Screening 8/24

Monkey Wrench Books, 110 E. North Loop, will host a screening of the POV documentary “Better This World” on Wednesday, 8/24, at 8 pm. This film will air on KLRU Tuesday, 9/6, at 9 pm

Watch the full episode. See more POV.

The story of Bradley Crowder and David McKay, who were accused of intending to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention, is a dramatic tale of idealism, loyalty, crime and betrayal. Better This World follows the radicalization of these boyhood friends from Midland, Texas, under the tutelage of revolutionary activist Brandon Darby. The results: eight homemade bombs, multiple domestic terrorism charges and a high-stakes entrapment defense hinging on the actions of a controversial FBI informant. Better This World goes to the heart of the war on terror and its impact on civil liberties and political dissent in post-9/11 America.

Community Cinema begins again this September

KLRU has again partnered with Austin Public Library’s Windsor Park Branch and ITVS’ Independent Lens for monthly Community Cinema film screenings and discussions. The events take place the first Tuesday of each month at 7 pm at Windsor Park Branch Library located at 5833 Westminster Dr. Austin, TX 78723. This years films are:

September
Peace Unveiled
When the U.S. troop surge was announced in late 2009, women in Afghanistan knew that the ground was being laid for peace talks with the Taliban. Peace Unveiled follows three women who immediately began to organize to make sure that women have a seat at the negotiating table. One is a savvy parliamentarian who participated in writing the Afghan constitution that guarantees equality for women; another, a former midwife who is one of the last women’s rights advocates alive in Kandahar; and the third, a young activist who lives in a traditional family in Kabul. Convinced that the Taliban will have demands that jeopardize women’s hard-earned gains, they maneuver against formidable odds to have their voices heard in a peace jirga and high peace council. We go behind Kabul’s closed doors as the women’s case is made to U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, General David Petraeus and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who promises the women that “peace and justice can’t come at the cost of women and women’s lives.” But will this promise be kept? Narrated by Tilda Swinton.

October
Deaf Jam
Aneta Brodski, a deaf teen living in New York City, discovers the power of American Sign Language poetry. As she prepares to be one of the first deaf poets to compete in a spoken-word slam, her journey leads to an unexpected collaboration.

November
We Still Live Here (Âs Nutayuneân)
The Wampanoag nation of southeastern Massachusetts ensured the survival of the first English settlers in America, and lived to regret it. AS NUTAYUNEAN – We Still Live Here tells the story of the return of the Wampanoag language, the first time a language with no Native speakers has been revived in this country. Spurred on by an indomitable linguist named Jessie Little Doe, the Wampanoag are bringing their language and their culture back.

December
Lioness
How did five female Army support soldiers–mechanics, supply clerks and engineers–end up fighting alongside the Marines in some of the bloodiest counterinsurgency battles of the Iraq War? Directors Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers give an intimate look at war through the eyes of the first women in U.S. history sent into direct ground combat, despite a policy that bans them from doing so. Through harrowing personal stories, these women candidly share their experiences in Iraq as well as from their lives back home to form a portrait of the emotional and psychological effects of war.

January
Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock
As a black woman who was a feminist before the term was invented, Daisy Bates refused to accept her assigned place in society. The life of Daisy Bates tells the story of her life and public support of nine black students to attend the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, which culminated in a constitutional crisis–pitting a president against a governor and a community against itself.

February
More Than a Month
Shukree Hassan Tilghman, a 29-year-old African American filmmaker, is on a cross-country campaign to end Black History Month. Through this tongue-in-cheek journey, MORE THAN A MONTH investigates what the treatment of history tells us about race and equality in a “post-racial” America.

March
Revenge of the Electric Car
Filmmaker Chris Paine takes his film crew behind the closed doors of Nissan, GM, and the Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors to chronicle the story of the global resurgence of electric cars. Without using a single drop of foreign oil, this new generation of car is America’s future: fast, furious, and cleaner than ever.

April
Hell and Back Again
What does it mean to lead men in war? What does it mean to come home – injured physically and psychologically – and build a new life? HELL AND BACK AGAIN that asks and answers these questions with the conflict in Afghanistan as the backdrop. Two overlapping narratives intercut: the life of a Marine on the war front, and the life of the same Marine in recovery at home – creating a realistic depiction of how Marines experience this war.

May
Strong!
A formidable figure, standing at 5’8″ and weighing over 300 pounds, Cheryl Haworth struggles to defend her champion status as her lifetime weightlifting career inches towards its inevitable end. STRONG! chronicles her journey and the challenges this unusual elite athlete faces, exploring popular notions of power, strength, beauty and health.

KLRU-Q movie documentary night

On Monday, June 27th, KLRU-Q features a night of documentaries about the film. From classic films to B-movies, these documentaries give viewers an inside look at Hollywood.

8 pm – Anatomy ’59: The Making of a Classic Motion Picture – Explores the crime, the trial and book that inspired the courtroom thriller “Anatomy of a Murder.”

9 pm – Hollywood Scrapbook – A look at producer Eric G. Stacey and the evolution of moral and sexual themes in films of his time. He worked with legendary directors such as Victor Flemming, Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Curtiz, Frank Capra, Raoul Walsh, Nicholas Ray, Elia Kazan and George Stevens.

10 pm – Drive-In Movie Memories – Film historians and B-movie actors add context to clips from classic drive-in movies of all genres.

Q Night At the Movies for June

KLRU Q Night at the Movies now spotlights a classic film each Saturday night at 8 p.m. This month our feature films will be:

June 4 Gorky Park
A Moscow detective’s investigation of a bizarre triple murder leads him to run-ins with the KGB and an American tycoon.

June 11 Exodus
An Israeli nationalist (Paul Newman), a U.S. nurse (Eva Marie Saint) and 611 Jewish refugees break a 1947 British blockade.

June 18 The Entertainer
British song-and-dance man Archie (Laurence Olivier) knows he’s a failure, and so does his alcoholic wife (Brenda de Banzie).

June 25 Doctor Zhivago
Boris Pasternak’s story of a poet/doctor (Omar Sharif), his wife (Geraldine Chaplin) and his lover (Julie Christie) unfolds during the Russian Revolution.

KLRU adds Out in America to 6/12 schedule

Watch the full episode. See more PBS Specials.

KLRU has added the documentary Out in America to the June schedule. This program will air on Sunday, June 12, at 7pm.

Out in America is an uplifting collection of unique, transformative stories and inspiring personal narratives told through the lens of the country’s most prominent LGBT figures and pioneers, as well as many average, yet extraordinary, citizens from Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender communities. The program weaves together diverse stories – from urban and rural America, from the heartland to New England, from San Francisco to Harlem. Deeply moving and often humorous, viewers will get a glimpse of awakenings, first crushes, unlikely soul mates, intimacy and liberation. While separated by circumstance and upbringing, the film’s subjects are all united in their shared experiences of self-discovery, coming out, pride and love as well as a triumph over adversity and a true sense of belonging. Against the backdrop of historical events, each also traces their own hopes, struggles, influences and contributions towards advancements in equality and broad social change.

Also airing is  Montrose, Texas: The Transformation of a Neighborhood. This thirty-minute documentary airs at 8:30 pm Sunday and 10:30 p.m. Monday.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker shot into the national spotlight this year when she was elected the first openly GLBT mayor of a large city. Hers is one of the many voices featured in the documentary, Montrose, Texas: The Transformation of a Neighborhood. This program features community leaders Suzanne Anderson, Marion E. Coleman, John Danielson, Ray Hill, Jimmy Carper, Brandon Wolf, and City Council Member Sue Lovell, among others. Rare footage from The Gulf Coast Archive and Museum of GLBT History brings back fond memories.

Other shows airing as part of Gay & Lesbian Pride Month include:
Stonewall Uprising:  American Experience airs Monday, June 13th at 8pm
Emile Norman—By His Own Design airs Monday, June 13th at 9:30 pm
Independent Lens “Two Spirits” airs Tuesday, June 14th at 9 pm
Find out more these programs here

Austin boxing documentaries 6/16

Austin’s boxing scene takes center stage in back-to-back documentaries on June 16.

Split Decision at 7:30 pm
Talented boxer Jesus “El Matador” Chavez finds his rise to the world championship cut short when he is deported to Mexico for a youthful crime in his past. Back in the country he left as a child, Jesus faces two new battles: the fight for the right to return to his family and career in the United States and the struggle to find acceptance in the country of his birth.

Boxing Gym at 8:30 pm
This film explores an Austin institution, Lord’s Gym, which was founded by Richard Lord, a former professional boxer. A wide variety of people of all ages, races, ethnicities and social classes train at the gym: men, women, children, doctors, lawyers, judges, business men and women, immigrants, professional boxers and people who want to become professional boxers alongside amateurs who love the sport and teenagers who are trying to develop strength and assertiveness. The gym is an example of the American “melting pot” where people meet, talk, and train.

Freedom Riders event q&a with Julian Bond

For those of you who could not make it to the KLRU/LBJ Library preview screening and discussion of Freedom Riders on May 4, here’s the entire question and answer session with Julian Bond. Please watch the full documentary of Freedom Riders on Monday, May 16 at 8 p.m. on KLRU.

You can also:
View photos from the night here.
Go to the LBJ Library to see an interactive exhibit on the Freedom Rides as well as an exhibit on the Radical Movements of the 1960s. The library is located at 2313 Red River is open daily from 9 – 5. Admission is free.

Q Night at the Movies feature schedule for May

KLRU Q Night at the Movies now spotlights a classic film each Saturday night at 8 p.m. This month our feature films will be:

May 7: Special double feature
When Harry Met Sally

Two Manhattan careerists (Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan) first hate, then like and eventually love each other over the course of 12 years.

Crossing Delancey
A Manhattan single (Amy Irving) meets a man (Peter Riegert) through her Jewish grandmother’s (Reizl Bozyk) matchmaker.

May 14 Mrs. Doubtfire
Estranged from his wife (Sally Field), an out-of-work actor (Robin Williams) masquerades as a nanny to be with his children.

May 21 Unforgiven
An old gunslinger (Clint Eastwood), his ex-partner (Morgan Freeman) and a quick-draw kid go bounty hunting in a town called Big Whiskey.

May 28 Bonnie & Clyde
Acclaimed account of the gun-toting bank robbers (Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway) and the trail of terror they blazed through the Southwest in the ’30s.

KLRU & LBJ Library host Freedom Riders preview

Please join us for an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides. On Wednesday, May 4, at 6 pm KLRU and the LBJ Library will host a preview of the powerful documentary Freedom Riders followed by a conversation with civil rights leader Julian Bond. The event is free but an RSVP is required. RSVP here

On May 4, 1961, the first Freedom Riders left Washington, D. C., bound for New Orleans. These courageous men and women rode buses through the South to challenge local laws or customs that enforced segregation. They demanded unrestricted access to terminal restaurants and waiting rooms. Along their journey, some were arrested, some were beaten, and buses were burned. Their bravery in the face of bitter racism awakened the nation’s conscience.

Bond, who is featured in the documentary, was the Communications Director for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee at the time of the Freedom Rides. Later, Bond served in the Georgia House and Senate and as Chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

On May 9, the LBJ Library will open an exhibit Freedom Riders which details the sacrifices of the Freedom Riders during six months in 1961. On May 16, KLRU will air the entire 2-hour documentary Freedom Riders.

On Story: Presented by Austin Film Festival starts Saturday

AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL AND KLRU ANNOUNCE NEW SERIES “ON STORY: PRESENTED BY AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL”

SERIES PREMIERES SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011 AT 7:30PM ON KLRU-Q

AUSTIN, TX (April 12, 2011) – The Austin Film Festival and KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, announced today the new 12-episode series “On Story: Presented by Austin Film Festival” will premiere on Saturday, April 16, 2011, on KLRU Q (18.3).

The new half-hour series will focus on the inspiration and creative process at the conception of the filmmaking process and air right after Roger Ebert presents At the Movies and just before the station’s new movie package at 8pm. “On Story” will include new interviews and footage from past Austin Film Festival panels and screenings of screenwriters and filmmakers discussing their craft and films. Each episode will pair these conversations with a short film from a Texas filmmaker, which has previously screened at the Austin Film Festival. “On Story” is produced by Austin Film Festival co-Founder and Executive Director Barbara Morgan.

“The Austin Film Festival is quite proud of the new series, and we’re so happy to be working with KLRU on it,” says Barbara Morgan. “We’ve been working on concept for a while and are thrilled to finally be able to give local audiences a taste of the Festival.”

The filmmakers and screenwriters appearing on the show include Lawrence Kasdan (Empire Strikes Back), Shane Black (Lethal Weapon), Ed Burns (The Brothers McMullen), Randall Wallace (Braveheart), John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side), David Peoples (Blade Runner), Judd Apatow (Knocked Up), Ron Howard, and more.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE
April 16, 2011 at 7:30pm: Episode 1
(footage from Lawrence Kasdan, Shane Black, and Randall Wallace at Austin Film Festival, short film: Frente Noreste by Angela Torres Camarena)

April 23, 2011 at 7:30pm: Episode 2
April 30, 2011 at 7:30pm: Episode 3
May 7, 2011 at 7:30pm: Episode 4
May 14, 2011 at 7:30pm: Episode 5
May 21, 2011 at 7:30pm: Episode 6
May 28, 2011 at 7:30pm: Episode 7
June 4, 2011 at 7:30pm: Episode 8
June 11, 2011 at 7:30pm: Episode 9
June 18, 2011 at 7:30pm: Episode 10
June 25, 2011 at 7:30pm: Episode 11
July 2, 2011 at 7:30pm: Episode 12

The show airs on KLRU-Q broadcast channel 18.3, which is available free over the air in KLRU’s 18 county viewing area including Travis, Hayes, Bastrop, Williamson and Caldwell counties. KLRU-Q is also available to digital cable subscribers of Time Warner (channel 20 or 255) or Grande (channel 284).

Episodes will also be available online at klru.org shortly following the broadcast.

For more information on the Austin Film Festival, visit austinfilmfestival.com. And, go to klru.org to find out more about the station and for programming schedules.

About Austin Film Festival
The Austin Film Festival (AFF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the art and craft of filmmaking by inspiring and championing the work of screenwriters, filmmakers, and all artists who use the language of film to tell a story. The Austin Film Festival is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art. Special support is provided to the Austin Film Festival by Continental Airlines, KVUE, KUT 90.5, and Dos Equis.

About KLRU
KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, reflects, celebrates and inspires Central Texas through creative excellence, community engagement and lifelong learning. In addition to providing locally produced and quality national television programming, KLRU is also a non-profit organization helping to build a stronger community through educational workshops, community engagement projects and public events. Known as the producing station of the longest-running live music television show AUSTIN CITY LIMITS, KLRU has also worked on several other national productions including the documentaries CITIZEN ARCHITECT and LAST BEST HOPE. Get more information about KLRU at klru.org