A work-in-progress screening of a new PBS documentary by Vanessa Warheit. Presented as part of DOCScreens – a monthly event showing local documentaries and works-in-progress.
MEDIA RELEASE
– for immediate release-
DOC SCREENS: The Insular Empire A PBS Documentary Work-in-Progress About America’s Pacific Territories
Raw Canvas
1046 Hamilton, Vancouver, BC
January 21, 7:30pm
(Vancouver, January 16, 2009) – The Documentary Organization of Canada, BC chapter presents a rough-cut screening of The Insular Empire: America in the Marianas at Raw Canvas, 1046 Hamilton St., January 21 at 7:30 pm, as part of its DOC SCREENS
program featuring the work of BC documentary filmmakers.
Join producer/director/editor Vanessa Warheit and editor Laurie MacMillan for a special sneak preview of the latest film from Vancouver-based Horse Opera Productions. Seven years in the making, The Insular Empire is a PBS documentary about America’s Mariana Islands. Six thousand miles west of California, the Marianas are home to over 200,000 US citizens who do not share the same rights as their fellow Americans in the States.
What is it like to be a colonial subject of the ‘greatest democracy on Earth’? From the beaches of Guam to the White House, from the CIA to the Peace Corps, from beauty pageants to the UN, The Insular Empire takes us on a journey to discover what it really means to belong to America’s ‘insular empire’ in the Pacific. Ultimately, it is a story of loyalty and betrayal, about a patriotic indigenous people struggling to find their place within the American political family.
The film is supported in part by Pacific Islanders in Communications (part of the
PBS/CPB Minority Consortium), the Guam Humanities Council, the Pacific Pioneer
Fund, and the Northern Marianas Council for the Humanities.
Film’s total run time is 65 minutes. There will be a Q&A with the filmmakers after the
screening.
For more information and photos please contact:
Vanessa Warheit
604-628-0454
vanessa@horseopera.org
www.horseopera.org
theinsularempire.blogspot.com