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POV Shorts Unveils Doc Lineup for Fifth Season (EXCLUSIVE)

“POV Shorts” will kick off its fifth season Nov. 7, with 11 documentaries highlighting topics including art as activism, freedom of expression, Americans with disabilities, intergenerational stories, and connectedness on the way.

Packaged into six 30-minute episodes, “POV Shorts” will be available on PBS and will stream on POV.org and the PBS Video app. The season will conclude on Dec. 19. Nearly two-thirds of the season’s films were directed by filmmakers of color, and over 80% were made by women.

“As the fifth season of ‘POV Shorts’ marks a notable milestone, the series is well-represented by these outstanding stories and filmmakers,” says Opal H. Bennett, co-producer for “POV.” “This is an eclectic group of episodes, some performance-forward, some animated, one focused on ‘POV’s’ hometown – New York City – and all conveying the unique world view of each filmmaker.”

Season five’s first short is Titus Kaphar and Alex Mallis’s 24-minute film “Shut Up and Paint.” The film is about Kaphar, a painter who looks to film as a medium in the face of an insatiable art market seeking to silence his activism. 

Other season highlights include the world premiere of the student film, “Call Me Anytime, I’m Not Leaving the House,” directed by Sanjna Selva, about two Ukrainian sisters separated by distance and war, Tom Krawczyk’s “My Duduś,” which follows a Polish mother with empty nest syndrome as she raises a baby squirrel, and Weixi Chen and Kai Wei’s “Happiness Is £4 Million,” about an idealistic young journalist in Beijing who profiles China’s biggest real estate speculator. Both “My Dudus” and “Happiness Is £4 Million,” will be co-released by “POV Shorts” and The New York Times Op-Docs.

Another co-release is William D. Caballero’s “Chilly and Milly,” an animated short about the filmmaker’s mother, her chronically ill husband, and the power of undying love. The short, the winner of the juried prize at the 2022 PBS Shorts Film Festival, will be available via “POV Shorts” and Latino Public Broadcasting.

“We play nice with the digital-only distributors like the New Yorker and the New York Times Op-Docs,” Bennett told Variety in January. “From our standpoint, it’s greater exposure and a broader audience for the filmmakers. It also means multiple license fees for the same title, which for a short documentary filmmaker is a big deal.”

Like HBO, PBS, the company behind “POV Shorts,” has been distributing short-form nonfiction content for decades. Launched in 2018, “POV Shorts” has received two Oscar nominations for its short docs. “Aguilas” and “A Broken House,” two “POV Shorts” distributed with the New Yorker, made last season’s Academy Award short doc shortlist.

“POV Shorts” has nearly 40 titles in its catalog. The strand works with major short-form digital distributors such as Field of Vision and Condé Nast. “POV Shorts” have screened at tier one film festivals, including Sundance, South by Southwest Tribeca, Hot Docs, DOC NYC, Palms Springs International ShortFest, and True/False.

POV Shorts Season 5 lineup:

“Shut Up And Paint”
Directors: Titus Kaphar, Alex Mallis/Producers: Matt O’Neill, Perri Peltz, Chloe Gbai
24 min | USA | 2022.
Premiere Date: Nov. 7

“Call Me Anytime, I’m Not Leaving the House”
Director/Producer: Sanjna Selva/Producers:  Judith Helfand, Ed Robbins
11 min | USA | 2022
Two Ukrainian sisters – one recently emigrated to Brooklyn, the other in war-besieged Odessa – long to be reunited and reminisce about their homeland.
Premiere Date: Nov. 14

“Freedom Swimmer”
Director: Olivia Martin-McGuire/Producers: Brooke Silcox, Ron Dyens
15 min | Australia/France/UK/Hong Kong | 2022
The story of a grandfather’s perilous swim from China to Hong Kong that parallels his granddaughter’s own quest for a new freedom.
Premiere Date: Nov. 14

“Are You Down?”
Directors/Producers: Juan Matos, Dennis Scholl
12 min | USA | 2022
A portrait of the life and work of Jamaican New Yorker and visual artist Michael Richards, highlighting his powerful sculpture practice and beautiful spirit.
Premiere Date: Nov. 21

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“All Riders”
Director/Producer: Victor Dias Rodrigues/Producer: Branton Choi
12 min |USA | 2021
The subway makes New York City tick, but getting around is a constant battle for disabled New Yorkers.
Premiere Date: Nov. 21

“Happiness Is £4 Million”
Directors: Weixi Chen, Kai Wei/Producer: Hao Wu
24 min | China/USA | 2022
An idealistic young journalist in Beijing profiles China’s biggest real estate speculator. Their divergent life experiences and clashing values reflect the generational and societal changes happening in the country.
Premiere Date: Nov. 28

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“My Duduś”
Director: Tom Krawczyk/Producer: Nick J. Santore
9 min | USA | 2022
A Polish mother grieves when her only child leaves their home in the suburbs of Chicago to study in Poland. While her son is away, she finds a baby squirrel in her backyard and forges a unique and powerful bond with the animal, raising him as if he were her own child.
Premiere Date: Dec. 5

“Some Kind of Intimacy”
Director/Producer: Toby Bull/Producer: Isidore Bethel
6 min | UK | 2022
Director Toby Bull tries to find greater meaning from the sheep living on the land where his parents were buried several years ago. The film is an original perspective on bereavement, tackled with humor and tenderness.
Premiere Date: Dec. 5

“Chilly and Milly”
Director/Producer: William D. Caballero/Producer: Elaine Del Valle
9 min | USA | 2022
Eleven years after filming a documentary about his family, director William D. Caballero returns home to revisit scenes with his parents in the animated short, Chilly and Milly. Chilly, William’s father, is a diabetic with kidney failure, while Milly sees herself as a caretaker. Watching the documentary, Chilly and Milly discuss their life together, including their successes and setbacks.
Premiere Date: Dec. 5

“You Can’t Stop Spirit”
Director/Producer: Vashni Korin
16 min | USA | 2021
A group of self-liberated Black women who created an alternative social space – centered on the Baby Doll Mardi Gras masking tradition, where they are encouraged to be free.
Premiere Date: Dec. 19

“Coming Home”
Directors: Naim Naif, Margot Bowman/Producer: Meghan Doherty
10 min | USA/UK | 2022
Freedom Dabka Group, a collective of Palestinian-American dancers living in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, use traditional Dabka as a way to connect to their community and homeland.
Premiere Date: Dec. 19

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