Home

On PBS: "P.O.V.: Election Day"

Submitted by dspilko on July 1, 2008 - 1:19pm.
Jul 1 2008 - 10:00pm
Etc/GMT-5
Link:
Website

P.O.V. INTERACTIVE NEWSLETTER – June 30, 2008
==================================================
** Election Day Premieres on Tuesday, July 1 at 10 PM **
** Watch Election Day Online During the Month of July **
** Filmmaker Interview Podcast: Katy Chevigny **
** Help Others Find the Best News: Join Us for a News Hunt **
** Community Organizers and Educators: Hold a P.O.V. Screening! **
** Local P.O.V. Events & Screenings Around the Country **
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Election Day Premieres on Tuesday, July 1 at 10 PM *

“We set out to depict portraits of real people who make our democracy
work, whose actions are not the kind of thing that would make the evening news."
— Katy Chevigny, filmmaker
 
Forget the pie charts, color-coded maps and hyperventilating pundits.
What's the street-level experience of voters in today's America? In a triumph of
documentary storytelling, Election Day combines 11 stories — shot simultaneouslyon November 2, 2004, from dawn until long past midnight — into one. Factory workers,ex-felons, harried moms, Native American activists and diligent poll watchers, fromSouth Dakota to Florida, take the process of democracy into their own hands.
The result: an entertaining, inspiring and sometimes unsettling tapestry of citizensdetermined on one fateful day to make their votes count. A co-production of
Independent Television Service (ITVS).
“Chevigny’s well-established vérité style reveals the profound stake that citizens
across the country have in the voting process.” — Pat Aufderheide, In These Times
 
"You don’t need to be told that we need serious election reform in this country.
What you might need, though, is a refresher on how badly our voting system is
damaged. For that, turn to Election Day, a documentary made for the P.O.V. series
on PBS." — Marc Allen, Orlando Weekly
 

The Election Day companion website offers a video trailer of the film, an interview
with filmmaker Katy Chevigny (video, podcast and text), a list of related websites,
organizations and books, a downloadable discussion guide, a classroom activity
and the following special features:
 
Additional Video
Follow the story of a disabled voter and find out more about what frustrated Jim Fuchs,
the Republican poll watcher in Chicago, on Election day. Watch two clips not shown
in the broadcast version of the film.

Making Elections Better
We ask a roundtable of election experts: What's the one thing you would tell people todo to make the American election system better?  They weigh in with what you can doto improve thing at the polls.

Election FAQ
Why are voting laws so different from state to state?  What's a poll watcher, and how
can you become one?  We answer frequently asked questions about the election system.
If you have a related question, ask it in the comments.  An expert will answer select viewer
questions on the P.O.V. Blog during the week after Election Day is broadcast on P.O.V.
 
Ask the filmmaker: Katy Chevigny will respond to viewer questions on the Blog for a
few days after the broadcast this week.

Interact with all these features and check your local listings at
http://www.pbs.org/pov/electionday

TIP: Days and times for P.O.V. broadcasts do vary, so be
sure to check local listings for dates and airtimes on your
PBS station on our website.

»