Since its launch in 2012, the PBS Online Film Festival has featured diverse films from PBS member stations and ITVS and POV. Starting July 11, viewers can once again watch, vote and share their favorites. This year’s festival includes collaborations with a wide variety of public television producers, including the Center for Asian American Media, Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB), National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC), Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC), Wisconsin Media Lab and Vision Maker Media. The PBS Online Film Festival has attracted more than 1.5 million video streams over the first four years.
PBS announced that the PBS Online Film Festival will return for a fifth year on July 11-29, 2016, and will feature 25 short-form independent films from a broad spectrum of public media stations and partners.
Beginning July 11, the festival will be available via PBS and station digital platforms, including PBS.org, Youtube and PBS social media channels. The films will also be available via the PBS app on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku and FireTV devices.
This year’s lineup features films from the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC), Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB), National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Independent Lens, Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC), POV, StoryCorps and Vision Maker Media, as well as PBS local member stations Alaska Public Media, CET/ThinkTV (Cincinnati/Dayton),KLRU-TV (Austin), KQED (San Francisco), KTTZ (Texas Tech), Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Twin Cities Public Television, UNC-TV and WPBT (South Florida).
“PBS and its member stations are proud to be the home for independent filmmakers and to provide a platform for diverse voices to showcase their unique stories and talent,” said Ira Rubenstein, Senior Vice President and General Manager, PBS Digital. “Through the PBS Online Film Festival, we are giving a national audience the opportunity to watch 25 engrossing, high-quality independent films on-demand and, for the first time, vote for their favorite film through social voting.”
The PBS Online Film Festival showcases powerful and engaging stories from filmmakers across the country. The festival has become a popular annual online event, attracting more than 1.5 million video streams over the first four years, as well as nominations in the Webby Awards.
Viewers are encouraged to watch, vote and share their favorite film by going to pbs.org/filmfestival. The film with most votes will receive the “PBS People’s Choice” award. Additionally, for the first time ever, viewers can vote for their favorite film by logging onto their Facebook or Twitter account and sharing their favorite film titles using the #PBSolff hashtag. For updates on the festival, follow #PBSolff on Twitter.