America at a Crossroads
R&D Grantees, First Wave
The Anti-Americans
Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker, Center for New American Media, New York
The Anti-Americans will explore European anti-American sentiment over the past 200 years with an emphasis on contemporary attitudes. The sometimes satiric look will examine the perceptions and misperceptions of some of Europe's leading political, cultural, intellectual and media figures as well as ordinary citizens.
The Day We Chose the Future
Paula Apsell, NOVA/WGBH, Boston
The Day We Chose the Future will combine a riveting drama, based on scenario planning, with expert interviews, to shed light on the likely choices and decisions that will confront policy makers, first responders, and citizens when responding to a WMD terrorist attack.
Jihad
William Cran and Clive Syddall, Paladin Invision, London
Jihad will examine the history and causes of Islamist Radicalism.
The Muslim Brotherhood
Steve Hewlett, MSRM Productions, Washington, D.C. and London
The Muslim Brotherhood will feature two nationally acclaimed investigative reporters, whose identities will be anonymous while they track the Brotherhood's development, structure, international operations and financial networks. The film will also explore its relationship with Al Qaeda and other terror groups.
The Mosque in Morgantown
Brittany Huckabee of Boston
The Mosque in Morgantown will chronicle the unfolding drama within a Muslim community in small-town West Virginia. The verité-style documentary will follow Asra Nomani, a former Wall Street Journal correspondent, as she pushes for change at the mosque her father helped to found three decades ago. It will also tell the stories of other mosque members, in their own words, as they work to determine the shape of their religious community.
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Richard Robbins and Tom Yellin, PJ Productions, New York and WETA, Washington, D.C.
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience will bring to the screen the writing of American troops who have served the nation on the frontlines in Iraq and Afghanistan. The writings - fiction, verse, and letters, essays, memoirs, and personal journals - are being solicited and collected as part of the National Endowment for the Arts' program, Operation Homecoming.
Security Versus Liberty: The Other War
Jennifer Lawson , WHUT, Washington and Lisa Zeff, ABC News Productions, New York
Security Versus Liberty: The Other War will examine the tensions and trade-offs between security and liberty in the post-9/11 world by following several characters enmeshed in the controversy.
The Trouble with Islam
Gordon Henderson, 90th Parallel Films and Television Productions LTD, Ontario, Canada
The Trouble with Islam will feature the internationally best-selling author Irshad Manji, who observes that Islam, under which the world's most learned and accomplished societies once flourished, closed the door on critical thinking at the end of the 11th century. Manji will meet fellow Muslims in Iran, Lebanon, Yemen and the U.S. who are trying to open those doors.
Masika Al Arabiva El Enteshar Se Amerika (Arab Music Succeeding in America)
Miles Copeland and Jonathan Brandeis, Firstars, Hollywood
Masika Al Arabiva El Enteshar Se Amerika (Arab Music Succeeding in America) will follow a group of popular Arab musicians from their preparations to depart their homeland through their American concert tour to their return to the Middle East. The Arab group will be joined in concert by leading American musicians, and the film will likely be co-broadcast in the U.S. and several Middle East countries.
The Trial of Saddam Hussein
Daniel Polin and Kenneth Mandel, Great Projects Film Company, New York
The Trial of Saddam Hussein will give a behind-the-scene view of the pre-trial preparations and trial of Saddam Hussein - events that will test that country's budding justice system, and begin to reconcile Iraq's legacy of dictatorship, crime, war, and occupation.
Note: All titles are working titles.
Contact CPB
For questions about the Crossroads initiative, please send an e-mail to crossroads@cpb.org. Check this page for the latest updates and project status information.