HOME ACROSS LANDS features International Institute of RI's resettlement work (Saturday at 7 PM)

The journey of a family that spent more than five years in an Ethiopian refugee camp before relocating to Rhode Island is the focus of the upcoming documentary, Home Across Lands.

The documentary will premiere on WSBE Rhode Island PBS on Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 7 PM, as part of the station's ongoing series, Rhode Island Stories. The documentary will be re-broadcast on Sunday, August 16 at 11 PM, and on WSBE Learn on Sunday, August 30 at 11 PM.

Home Across Lands was commissioned by the International Institute to chronicle the journey of a group of Eritrean-Kunaman refugees making the transition from life in the Shimelba Refugee Camp in Northern Ethiopia to their new home in Rhode Island.

The Kunama featured in the film fled their native Eritrea and spent years in the confines of the camp, until they were granted refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The film focuses on their journey to Rhode Island and their journey to becoming self-reliant, invested participants in their new home.

The film was shot over a one year period and features footage and interviews from various locations in Ethiopia and Rhode Island. The experience for the filmmakers was a challenging one as the U.S. State Department had issued a warning for travelers within 50 km of the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The refugee camp was located 45 km south of the Eritrean border.

“Our goal was to present viewers with a first-hand visual representation of the journey, while giving a voice to those who live in the camp,” said director John Lavall, who produced the one hour documentary in conjunction with executive producer Mary Copp, cinematographer Jessica Jennings, and editor Julie Lewis/editor.

The film takes viewers on the odyssey from the camp on the arid northern border of Ethiopia and Eritrea to Rhode Island’s Spring House Hotel and Resort on Block Island. Home Across Lands illustrates the ways the International Institute bridges the vast divide from life in a refugee camp to life in Rhode Island as they help the Kunama in making sense of apartment living, public transportation, employment and health care, while nurturing their own community as they adapt to a larger and very foreign one.

Home Across Lands is a production of Devlo Media and Vision Wink Films. For more information, visit www.devlomedia.com or www.iiri.org.

Find WSBE Rhode Island PBS on

• Over-the-air digital 36.1
• Cox/Verizon/Fullchannel: 08
• ComCast: check listings for local channel
• DirecTV: 36
• Dish Network: 7776

Find WSBE Learn on

• Over-the-air digital 36.2
• Cox: 808
• Verizon: 478
• ComCast: 294

source: http://www.film.ri.gov/HomeAcrossLands.html

"Festa" this weekend!

Every August, hundreds of thousands of people from all parts of the globe descend on New Bedford, Massachusetts, for one of the largest parties on earth - the celebration of the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament.

The festival is this weekend - July 30-August 2 - and marks the 95th such celebration of rich Portuguese tradition, culture, food, and music.

If you can't make it to the real thing (or before or after you do attend), WSBE Rhode Island PBS gives you an insider's view during a 30-minute documentary entitled, FESTA on Saturday, August 1 at 7 PM. Two local filmmakers visit with organizers and vendors who return year after year to honor the traditions. The filmmakers then travel beyond the New Bedford feast to explore its origins on the Portuguese island of Madeira, Azores. (Beautiful scenery!)

It's on as part of Rhode Island Stories - the exclusive WSBE program that presents stories about or by Rhode Islanders. At 7:30 PM, stay tuned for the The Home of Rumford Baking Powder: Past, Present, and Future. Archival photos and the reminiscences of former employees tell the history of the manufacturing source of the familiar staple in every cook's kitchen: a tall red tin of Rumford Baking Powder. Once a manufacturing powerhouse that shaped Rumford Village, Rumford Center is now reshaping itself, through adaptive reuse as a community of apartments, offices, and shops.

WSBE "Learn" More

The digital conversion earlier this year was rocky for some, and no sweat for others. But how ever you weathered the revolution, all of your local television stations emerged with new channel choices for your enjoyment. WSBE Rhode Island PBS, for example, broadcasts on two over-the-air channels: its main schedule on 36.1 (formerly known as analog "36"), and WSBE Learn on 36.2. Of course, those channel numbers are only meaningful to you if you watch TV over-the-air, but it's a pure, basic starting point. Cable and satellite TV services have WSBE all over the place channel number-wise. More on that - and a clear Finder's Guide - in an upcoming blog!

The prime time programming on WSBE Learn has evolved nicely since we first started broadcasting almost two years ago. (That's right, two years! But most of that was in obscurity until Cox finally picked up the channel in February.) As for the schedule itself, it's different from WSBE Rhode Island PBS - both in broadcast dates/times as well as content. Learn airs some series that are not broadcast on WSBE Rhode Island PBS: Austin City Limits, NewsHour, plus Tracks Ahead, Africa Trek, and From the Top at Carnegie Hall. Some main channel favorites are featured, of course, but on different days and at different times: American Experience, Scientific American Frontiers, P.O.V, Independent Lens, Great Performances, and a variety of How-To series from This Old House, to Everyday Edisons, to America's Test Kitchen, and more.

Visit www.ripbs.org and click TV SCHEDULE (your second option from the left on the menu under the welcome banner) for the schedules for both channels!

As always, your comments and questions are always welcome - post it here, or send an email to public @ the station Web site.

- LMR
Public Information Manager

"PAWTUCKET RISING" July 11 at 7 P.M.

[RE-POST]

Imagine the nerve. With behemoth Boston to the north, and prominent Providence to the south, could an obscure, small, tired, old mill city – derogatorily known as "The Bucket" – really expect to become an artistic hub?

The answer is, yes. And, after talking to Herbert Weiss, Pawtucket's economic and cultural affairs officer, put an exclamation point at the end of that sentence.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes to live again, so is Pawtucket Rising. In fact, that's the name of the new documentary by local filmmaker Jason Caminiti about the historic city's renaissance. WSBE Rhode Island PBS will air the film on Saturday night, July 11 at 7 P.M. (and on Sunday, July 12 at 11 P.M.) on digital 36.1, Dish 7776, DirecTV 36, and on cable channel 8 in RI (Massachusetts cable subscribers should check their cable listings for the local channel number for WSBE).

The documentary profiles the birth and evolution of Pawtucket's arts district through adaptive reuse of empty century-old factory buildings as an engine of economic revival.
The birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution grew in prominence and wealth during the manufacturing decades in the first half of the 20th Century. But decline in domestic manufacturing left numerous structurally sound but unwieldy brick giants abandoned and unused.

Designer Morris Nathanson advocated for preserving and converting the mills – with their wide open spaces and massive windows and natural light – into living and working spaces for artists. He started the community ball rolling in the late 1980s when he acquired one of the city's 17 vacant mill buildings. Located on Exchange Street, across from Tolman High School and behind City Hall, the mill's high profile location on a hill is an inspiring metaphor for Pawtucket.

Officially, this city of just over 72,000 has been incubating visual and performing arts venues for about a decade. Pawtucket Mayor James Doyle and the visionary team he assembled - led by Herb Weiss for the past 9 and a half years – have put real city-side muscle behind the dream. No fruitless and insincere glad-handing; Pawtucket initiated the state and municipal legislation necessary to permit the arts and entertainment district to exist and flourish in its borders, and continues to allocate necessary resources years later.

For the city, the municipal and community partnership spurs purposeful economic development, turning abandoned real estate liabilities into assets. For artists, the partnership enhances art education and awareness, and encourages development of affordable live-work spaces. Finally, the partnership preserves the historic character, architecture, and charm of Pawtucket – that benefits the whole city and even the state.

Although the film focuses on Pawtucket, its valuable message applies to urban cities anywhere. In fact, that's how the film came to be, according to Caminiti. Interested in documenting the history and arts culture of his own adopted city of Fall River, the Newport, RI, native was told about Pawtucket by a friend. What Caminiti found in Pawtucket was a great story with a greater lesson: cities past their manufacturing prime can flourish and grow in new directions - if elected officials sincerely support the effort and collaborate with leaders in the community.

For more information about Pawtucket Rising, visit www.pawtucketrising.info

Pawtucket Rising is shown as part of Rhode Island Stories, a feature of WSBE Rhode Island PBS Saturday nights at 7 PM. Enjoy independent documentaries by and about Rhode Islanders!