ALBANY — WMHT Public Media (WMHT), a multichannel public communications organization serving Eastern New York and Western New England, today announced a partnership with the Albany Public Library (APL) to present sneak previews of a national documentary series, a collaboration designed to advance education and spur community conversations regarding timely and topical issues impacting our region and nation.
Hosted at APL’s Pine Hills Branch at 517 Western Ave. in Albany, each of five short screenings will feature documentary projects included in the new season of Indie Lens Pop-Up, a long-running series that is part of INDEPENDENT LENS, PBS’s award-winning documentary anthology series.
A range of topics will be explored, from the Muslim American experience, climate gentrification, and race and gender equity in mainstream media, to personal perspectives on what it means to live with Parkinson’s disease, and how the Deaf and hard of hearing community redefine listening.
Free and open to the public, each screening will be accompanied by a moderated discussion featuring panelists engaged by WMHT in partnership with student organizations at area colleges, who will also help to plan the programs. In addition, APL is preparing book displays and recommended reading and viewing lists from their holdings to provide further insight on the topics.
The Indie Lens Pop-Up series of screenings begins Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 6 p.m. with “A Town Called Victoria,” by Li Lu and Anthony Pedone. Synopsis: When the local mosque is burned to the ground in an apparent hate crime, the town of Victoria, Texas, must overcome its age-old political, racial, and economic divides to find a collective way forward.
The series continues 6 p.m., Jan.3 with Razing Liberty Square, by Katja Esson and Ann Bennett. Liberty City, Miami, is home to one of the oldest segregated public housing projects in the United States. Now with rising sea levels, the neighborhood’s higher ground has become something else: real estate gold. Feb. 7: Breaking the News, by Heather Courtney, Princess Hairston, Chelsea Hernandez, and Diane M Quon. March 13: Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s, by Anna Moot-Levin and Laura Green. April 24: The Tuba Thieves, by Alison O’Daniel.
APL’s Pine Hills Branch is an accessible building and there are several handicapped spaces in the parking lot. It can also be reached by bus (via Routes 10, 11, 114, 138, and 763). Films include closed captioning. This year’s Indie Lens Pop-Up series will feature both in-person and virtual events in more than 40 cities across the U.S. Each film will make its television debut on INDEPENDENT LENS, and will be available to stream on the PBS App.
