CPB Announces the Second Round of Grants for America at a Crossroads Initiative

For Immediate Release on March 10, 2005

Awards to Fund Filmmakers' Research and Development for Proposed Post-9/11 Documentaries

ASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 10, 2005 - The Corporation for Public Broadcasting today announced that it has selected 14 additional projects for funding through its America at a Crossroads initiative. The grants will fund research and development on film topics ranging from the Madrid terrorist attack to fledgling democracy movements in the Middle East to underground terrorist fundraising and recruiting here in the United States.

"These projects will bring viewers the solid reporting and diverse range of viewpoints they expect from public television," CPB President and CEO Kathleen Cox said. "Local stations will be able to build outreach efforts around the broadcasts, including town meetings and panel discussions to help viewers better understand the threats, challenges and opportunities of today's world."

The filmmakers and awardees in this round include first-time CPB grant recipients and veteran, highly regarded producers; local public television stations; and scholars, writers and editorial observers from across the country and around the world. Like the ten shows already selected for Crossroads development grants, these proposed programs will offer a variety of topics and genres, including history, verite films and investigative reporting. A complete list of projects selected to date for R&D funding is attached.

Michael Pack, the senior vice president for TV programming at CPB, added, "CPB has never before launched programming ventures on this scale. We have focused our efforts to attract proposals around specific themes and to bring new voices and energy to public television. We are impressed by the filmmakers' commitment to help us better understand the world in which we live and the diversity of opinions they represent."

The America at a Crossroads initiative will provide up to $20 million in competitive grants in the coming three years to develop and broadcast films on the challenges America faces in the wake of the September 11 attacks and the War on Terror. This is the second of three rounds in which CPB is selecting projects for R&D funding from more than 440 proposals submitted. In selecting proposals for funding, CPB drew heavily on the expertise and advice of its 13-member advisory board of leading foreign policy, security, democracy and human rights experts. CPB also consulted with a station advisory group of public television general managers and programmers, and PBS and CPB executives.

Pending entering into appropriate agreements, CPB expects to award about 35 R&D grants (averaging $60,000 each) to allow the filmmakers to further develop story lines, identify characters, prepare scripts and treatments, and submit full production proposals to CPB. The R&D process is expected to conclude in early summer. Based on the results of this research and development, CPB intends to award about 20 broadcast hours worth of major production grants this summer.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Research and Development Grants for America at a Crossroads

As of March 10, 2005

NOTE: The films marked below with an asterisk (*) are being announced today.

The Anti-Americans (Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker, Center for New American Media, New York) 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.

*Arab Democrats (Andrew Walworth and David C. Taylor, New River Media, Washington, D.C.; Phil Day, London; and Dr. Joshua Muravchik, AEI, Washington, D.C.) will feature democratic activists and advocates operating in often hostile and dangerous environments in the Arab world. Through their personal stories, the program will follow a select group of activists working to promote democracy in their home countries and examine how United States and international policy affects their efforts.

*The Arab Predicament (Zvi Dor Ner and Mark Davis, WGBH Educational Foundation, Boston.) will examine Arab societies to better understand the forces that have stifled the economic growth in the Middle East and undermined people's quest for better life.

*Democracy in Iran (Aviva Kempner, Ciesla Foundation, Washington, D.C.) will highlight the relationship between the people in and outside of Iran -- especially the extraordinary support Iran's pro-democracy movement gets from expatriates living in the United States. These expatriates have circumvented the Iranian government's news blackout by beaming satellite reports of the outside world into Iranian homes and offices. These private efforts have become as vital as the official U.S. broadcasts in Iran's fight for freedom and democracy.

*Danger Zone (Richard Carlson and Barbara Newman, Foundation For the Defense of Democracies and Tulip Hill Productions, Washington, D.C.) explore intelligence and special operations efforts to fight terrorism in the United States and worldwide. Part one will offer an in-depth look at MI5 and how it works with US Intelligence and Special Forces, including covert private contractors. Part two will investigate Hezbollah's activities in about a dozen American cities.

The Day We Chose the Future (Paula Apsell, NOVA/WGBH, Boston) 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.

*Ex-Extremists (Charles Stuart, Stuart Television Productions, Concord, MA and WNPT, Nashville) is a journey into the dark and intriguing world of formerly militant Islamic extremists who have renounced violence and become advocates for reform. These individuals -- part of an increasingly vocal minority -- are participants in an active debate that is gaining increasing prominence in the Muslim world and beyond.

*Feeling at Home in America (Alan and Susan Raymond, Video Verite, Philadelphia) will be a cinema verite profile of teenagers from a large Arab-American community that explores how the events of September 11th has changed their lives and their sense of identity as Americans.

*Islam vs. Islamism (Martyn Burke, Frank Gaffney and Alex Alexiev, ABG Films Inc., Los Angeles) will explore how Islamic extremists are at war with their own faith, and how the consequences of their ambitions and policies devastate the socio-economic potential and well-being of the Muslim world. The filmmakers will follow the stories of several Muslims who have been victimized by the radicals and who are fighting back.

*In the Eye of the Beholder: News Coverage of the Middle East (Diana Frank, Michelle Genece, Mindfire Productions, New York) will follow two news teams -- one from an Arab news channel, the other from a U.S. news organization -- as they cover the same event. The film will illuminate how different international audiences hear and see very different accounts of world events.

*Inside the American Empire with Robert Kaplan (WETA, Washington, D.C. and 3BM Productions, London) will feature Atlantic Monthly correspondent Robert Kaplan as he travels with U.S. troops who are fighting the war on terror in ways and places unknown to many Americans. Kaplan will travel with the troops as they engage in small-scale, low-intensity conflicts that go largely unreported. He will show how the U.S. military has taken on new humanitarian and intelligence-gathering roles as part of the war on terror.

*Invasion! (Timothy Smith and Brian Berger, Docere Palace Studios, LLP, New York, in association with Granada America, New York, and the Washington Post Company, Washington, D.C.) will examine the art and strategy of military invasion and occupation by looking at historical and contemporary examples of successes and failures with emphasis on the strategies likely to be effective in a post-9/11 world.

Jihad (William Cran and Clive Syddall, Paladin Invision, London) will examine the history and causes of Islamist radicalism.

Masika Al Arabiva El Enteshar Se Amerika (Arab Music Succeeding in America) (Miles Copeland and Jonathan Brandeis, Firstars, Hollywood) 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 Mosque in Morgantown (Brittany Huckabee of Boston) will chronicle the unfolding drama within a Muslim community in small-town West Virginia. The verite 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.) 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.

*Picture War (Stanley Nelson, Firelight Media Inc., New York) will explore the power of photography to influence public opinion and foreign policy in wartime as well as shape the historical memory of conflicts, including the war on terror. The film will explore how images have transformed the public's understanding of war, violence and patriotism, from Mathew Brady's Civil War photos to the present day.

*Religion in U.S. Prisons (Ginny Durrin, Durrin Productions, Washington, D.C.) is a film about the growing allure of religion in U.S. prisons since the September 11th attacks. The film will explore how the war on terror has transformed the prison population, and how this affects inmates' behavior after they are released into the community.

*The Road from Baghdad (David Fanning, WGBH, Boston and Martin Smith, Marcela Gavrina, Rain Media, New York) will explore the chances for democracy throughout the Middle East. Two travelers -- one who is optimistic about the chances for regime change, the other who is not -- will visit people and places where reform has succeeded, or has proved impossible. In the process, the travelers will try to change each others' views, and those of the audience.

Security Versus Liberty: The Other War (Jennifer Lawson , WHUT, Washington, D.C. and Lisa Zeff, ABC News Productions, New York) 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.

*Spain's 9/11 (David Alter and Phil Craig, Brook Lapping Productions, London and Dr. Jeffrey Gedmin, the Aspen Institute, Berlin) will examine the two weeks following the train bombing in Madrid commonly referred to as "Spain's 9/11" as described by those closest to the action including former President Jose Aznar. The film will detail how the bombing caused some in Europe to reassess their relations with America, and revealed evidence of the terrorists wider aims.

The Terror Dilemma (Steve Hewlett, MSRM Productions, Washington, D.C. and London) will feature Newsweek's award winning investigative reporters Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball as they follow the terrorist money trail and uncover how extremists have used, and in some cases, abused legitimate Muslim political and charitable groups to finance the spread of Jihad around the globe. The team will explore the dilemmas -- and frequent missteps -- of U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials as they seek to distinguish criminal activity from legitimate religious and political expression. The team will use classified documents and meet with sources in both the West and the Islamic world as they show how terrorists seek to expand their global operations.

The Trial of Saddam Hussein (Daniel Polin and Kenneth Mandel, Great Projects Film Company, New York) 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.

The Trouble with Islam (Gordon Henderson, 90th Parallel Films and Television Productions LTD, Ontario, Canada) 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.

Note: All titles are working titles.

About CPB

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,400 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services.

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