Join the world-renowned filmmaker and PBS icon Ken Burns for a discussion on his fascinating career with local broadcast legend, Don Shelby.
Airs 3/3 at 4:30 p.m.
Join the world-renowned filmmaker and PBS icon Ken Burns for a discussion on his fascinating career with local broadcast legend, Don Shelby.
Airs 3/3 at 4:30 p.m.
A series that explores the lives of famous women and their lesser-known siblings. The series is narrated by Rachael Stirling.
Airs 3/3 at midnight.
Airs 3/10 at midnight.
Double Take: The Art of Elizabeth King illuminates the aesthetic and engineering questions sculptor Elizabeth King puzzles over with an acute sensitivity to both life, and the life-like. She has created her own genre at the intersection of the classical and automata. An accomplished artist with an eye for the intimate meaning of gesture, King obsessively manipulates her materials to produce pieces that both approximate and challenge the viewer. Newly retired from 40 years of teaching, King is more than ever able to focus on her work, and examine her motives and making. With major solo shows driving her, King seems poised to get her due. In studio visits, conversations with peers and art world figures, Double Take: The Art of Elizabeth King invites the viewer to consider what looking and seeing one another means in our increasingly visual world.
Airs 3/1 at 3 a.m.
A public art project featuring women who are lifting up the voices of others. The intention is to create a network of murals across America that weave a collective story laced with individual truths. In addition, each story becomes part of a larger dialogue through audio recordings, social media and a traveling exhibition. This series emphasizes the commonalities of our human experience through the leadership of empowered women. Sarah C. Rutherford began Her Voice Carries in Rochester, New York as a way to give public accolades to local women who are lifting up the voices of others. It was also born out of a desire to build connections across the different sections of Rochester and to shift the representation of women in public space. For the initial iteration, Rutherford completed five outdoor murals across the five sections of Rochester and one indoor mural at the Memorial Art Gallery. Rutherford is now growing the project to a national level in an effort to extend the network and deepen the collective message. Follow the project @hervoicecarries on Facebook, Instagram and twitter.
Airs 3/1 at 10 p.m. (repeats 3/2 at 5 p.m.)
Experience the power of song in the struggle for equality through the story of feminist singer and activist Holly Near, who for the last 40 years has worked on global social justice coalition-building in the women’s and lesbian movements.
Airs 3/1 at 9 p.m.
Rediscovering Frederick Douglas tells the story of how a photograph of famed abolitionist and eminent human rights leader Frederick Douglass—not seen for more than a century—was rediscovered. The 30-minute documentary investigates the mystery surrounding this unique image, reveals details about the interesting life of the owner of the photograph and explores the ways Douglass used photography as a tool in the fight for social reform.
Airs 2/27 at 4:30 a.m. and 2/28 at 3 a.m.
This documentary explores Portland’s African American history with a focus on the turbulent 1960s, ’70s and early ’80s. At the time, issues surrounding urban renewal, school desegregation and brittle police relations were exploding both nationally and locally.
Airs 2/27 at 3 a.m.
Imagine for a moment, one of the most important transportation events in America is about to take place. The date is May 10th, 1869 and you sense excitement in the air. A restless crowd has assembled, dignitaries have gathered, the last rail is about to be placed, two steam locomotives face each other ready to meet. The Golden Spike is driven, a cheer goes out, the band strikes up, and celebration champagne flows. The telegraph message consists of one single word, “DONE.” Viewers can transport themselves back to that day of 150 years ago through a new public television program, Journey to Promontory. The story is really about more than just that single day in May. This documentary chronicles years of planning, surveying and construction as told through interviews with some of America’s leading rail historians and supported with historical images.
Airs 2/26 at 2 a.m.
This documentary examines one of the largest archaeological finds in eastern North America, the Peace Bridge Site, located in Fort Erie, Ontario. Here, archaeologists are working with the Native American community to construct a more complete picture of life here thousands of years ago. Almost continuously between 2000 B.C. and A.D. 1500, people used this site as a source for stone raw materials, leaving behind many thousands of artfully crafted artifacts as well as abundant food and other remains of a lifeway that changed significantly over the millennia.
Airs 2/18 at 4 a.m.
– History teacher Mike Zahs uncovers a trove of 19th century show reels of one of America’s first motion picture impresarios, William Franklin Brinton. Zahs sets out to restore these show reels and present them to today’s audiences. In this portrait of an unlikely Midwestern folk hero, SAVING BRINTON offers a meditation on the legacy of illusionist Frank Brinton, and the magic of living history.
Airs 2/25 at 9 p.m.