Every year, the YoungArts program of the National YoungArts Foundation for Advancement in the Arts offers 15- to 18-year-old emerging artists from around the country the chance to be mentored by some of the world’s greatest artists in an intimate environment. In this all-new YoungArts MasterClass presentation, four young singers participate in a memorable workshop and performance with a Grammy-winning vocalist when the HBO Family documentary special “Bobby McFerrin: A YoungArts Masterclass” debuts Tuesday, February 12 (7:30-8:00 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO.

Able to range from jazz to pop to classical as easily as he can jump octaves, Grammy-winning vocal virtuoso Bobby McFerrin (the hit single “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”) has collaborated with a diverse array of musicians, from cellist Yo-Yo Ma to pianist Herbie Hancock.

In “Bobby McFerrin: A YoungArts Masterclass,” he prepares four talented mentees – Aaron Casey (2011 YoungArts Winner in Voice), Christine Jones (2011 YoungArts Winner in Theater), Ryan McCartan (2011 YoungArts Winner in Theater and U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts) and Hannah Zazzaro (2011 YoungArts Winner in Voice) – to accompany him in a concert at Germany’s Festspielhaus in Baden Baden.

Selected by the National YoungArts Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that identifies and supports the next generation of artists and contributes to the cultural vitality of the nation, they receive individual instruction from McFerrin, create their own arrangements under his guidance and join him on stage to perform.

McFerrin asks his students to sing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” in their own styles, then performs his own version and challenges the students to “mess it up” a little, accompanying them with his trademark improvisation. In addition to musical training, the students spend downtime asking about his career and inspiration, and, finally, wondering if it’s really possible to practice improvising. “Get a timer, sing for ten minutes without stopping – do it everyday for three weeks,” replies McFerrin.

“I didn’t think I was going to be this big of a part in the show,” remarks Christine Jones, in disbelief at participating in the Festspielhaus concert in front of 2,500 people. Reflecting on his experience, Aaron Casey says, “To know that a master – a legend – like Bobby McFerrin believes in me, makes me want to believe in myself.” McFerrin feels pride too, noting, “To me, the stage is a platform for adventure, and I think they got a taste of what that feels like.”

In 2011, “Masterclass” received an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Children’s Nonfiction, Reality or Reality-Competition Program.

For more on the show, visit facebook.com/HBODocs and twitter.com @HBODocs #MasterClass.

Image Courtesy : Erinc salor

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HBO received 81 Primetime Emmy nominations, the most of any network for the 12th year in a row, for the upcoming 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, which were announced in Los Angeles.

‘Hemingway & Gellhorn’ led all HBO nominees with 15 nominations, while “Boardwalk Empire” and ‘Game Change’ received 12 nominations apiece, and “Game of Thrones” received 11 nominations.

HBO’s Emmy nominations this year include:

• 15 nominations for ‘Hemingway & Gellhorn’, including Outstanding Miniseries or Movie, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie (Clive Owen), Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (Nicole Kidman), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie (David Strathairn) and Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special (Philip Kaufman).
• 12 nominations for “Boardwalk Empire,” including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Steve Buscemi) and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (Tim Van Patten).
• 12 nominations for ‘Game Change’, including Outstanding Miniseries or Movie, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie (Woody Harrelson), Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (Julianne Moore), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie (Ed Harris), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (Sarah Paulson), Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special (Jay Roach) and Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special (Danny Strong).
• 11 nominations for “Game of Thrones,” including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Peter Dinklage).
• 6 nominations for “George Harrison: Living in the Material World,” including Outstanding Nonfiction Special and Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming (Martin Scorsese).
• 5 nominations for “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Larry David), Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (Michael J. Fox) and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (Robert B. Weide).
• 5 nominations for “Girls,” including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Lena Dunham), Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (Lena Dunham) and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Lena Dunham).
• 3 nominations for “Veep,” including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).
• 2 nominations for “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory,” including Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking and Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming (Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky).
• 2 nominations for “Real Time with Bill Maher,” including Outstanding Variety Series and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.

Other HBO nominees include “Bobby Fischer Against the World,” “Entourage,” “Game of Thrones Season Two – Enhanced Digital Experience,” “Gloria: In Her Own Words,” “Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again,” “2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony,” “The Weight of the Nation” and “The Weight of the Nation for Kids: The Great Cafeteria Takeover.” The CINEMAX series “Strike Back” also received an Emmy nomination.

The Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced September 23.

The article HBO Receives Most Emmy Nods for the 12th Straight Year appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, leaving 15,372 people confirmed dead and 7,762 reported still missing. In the wake of the largest earthquake in the country’s history, some people drew the courage to revive and rebuild from cherry-blossom season, which began within weeks of the tragedy.

Oscar-nominated this year for Best Documentary Short Subject, ‘The Tsunami And The Cherry Blossom’ shows how nature can be a rejuvenating – as well as a destructive – force when it debuts Monday, July 16 (10:00-10:40 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. Directed by Lucy Walker (the Oscar-nominated documentary feature “Waste Land”), this poignant film debuts immediately after the debut of the SXSW Film Festival hit “Birders: The Central Park Effect,” which offers a different look at how nature touches people.

HBO Documentary Films presents another weekly series this summer, debuting provocative new specials every Monday through July 30. Other July films include: “Hard Times: Lost on Long Island” (July 9); “Birders: The Central Park Effect” (July 16); “Vito” (July 23); and “About Face: Supermodels Then and Now” (July 30).

‘The Tsunami And The Cherry Blossom’ is a stunningvisual poem about the ephemeral nature of life, and the healing power of Japan’s most beloved flower. The nation is transfixed by cherry blossom season, which runs from late March through April, with many people tracking the blossoms’ short lifecycle and attending “hanami,” or viewing parties, with family and friends.

Walker had originally planned to visit Japan to make a film about cherry-blossom season, but on March 11, 2011, while she was making final preparations for her trip, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck, triggering tsunami waves of up to 133 feet on Japan’s northeastern coast. Initially unsure whether to continue, she flew to Tokyo with a small film crew and headed north to the Tohuku region, where she captured both the utter devastation and stoic resolve of survivors, many of whom had lost family members and friends.

‘The Tsunami And The Cherry Blossom’ opens with harrowing home-video footage, shot from a hill, of a huge wave destroying the town below. A month later, a young woman stands on the same hill, remembering how she “watch[ed] people being consumed by the tsunami.” An older man tells how he tried and failed to save his oldest friend, proclaiming, “I don’t want a house. I don’t want clothes. I don’t want anything. I just want his life back.”

Others tell their stories of survival, escaping in their slippers and seeing whole houses rush toward them on a wave of black water. One couple living at a community center returns to the ruins of their house, hoping to rebuild. Their town is within the 30km exclusion zone around the Fukushima power plant, and many people wear cotton masks as protection from radiation.

Amidst the despair in the days following the tsunami comes a glimmer of hope in “sakura” (cherry blossom), a harbinger of spring in Japan and a national symbol of renewal. One man explains how the cherry blossom reflects the Japanese character, saying, “Each flower is tiny, and you can’t see one individually. But it’s beautiful when you see lots of flowers together. Japanese people see themselves that way too.”

Out of respect for the victims, many viewing parties were cancelled this year, but people still visit the blossoms and take pictures. A man who lost his house shows where new plant shoots have sprouted on the beach, commenting that if plants can hang in there, humans can too. A young woman looking at the cleanup and construction adds, “Every year that the trees bloom, they’ll give us the courage to keep going.”

In addition to its Oscar nomination, ‘The Tsunami And The Cherry Blossom’ received the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Hamptons International Film Festival and BFI London.

For more information on the documentary, please visit: Facebook: facebook.com/hbodocs; and Twitter: @HBODocs #tsunamiblossom.

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HBO is showing the inspiring documentary “Vito”, debuting on July 23 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT), which tells the tale of LGBT activist Vito Russo. An accomplished journalist, Vito befriended Lily Tomlin, who supported his work as a writer and activist. She notes, “He never really tried to motivate me to come out in a big way, but I knew he would have liked it.”

In 1975, TIME Magazine offered her the cover if she would come out. Tomlin recalls consulting with Vito about the offer and agreeing instead to an interview with Vito for The Advocate, explaining, “When they offered it [the TIME cover] to me I called Vito and I said, ‘You know, it feels like I was being bought.’ They wanted somebody, and they were just out fishing around to get somebody. That’s why I wasn’t afraid to do The Advocate interview with him, because I felt his humanity was so evolved that it wasn’t like he was out to make points.”

Vito’s love of movies guided him to a job in the film department at the Museum of Modern Art, where he began taking note of gay characters in early films. The result of his research was “The Celluloid Closet,” an entertaining and informative lecture and clip show that combined his love of show business and radical gay politics, which he took on the road to gay film festivals and college campuses.

His seminal 1981 book of the same name explored the ways gays and lesbians were portrayed on film, what lessons those characters taught gay and straight audiences, and how those negative images were at the root of society’s homophobia. The book was later adapted into the 1995 HBO Peabody Award-winning documentary “The Celluloid Closet,” directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.

At the 1981 Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in San Francisco, Vito met and fell in love with Jeffrey Sevcik, a young theater hand. Though opposites in many ways, they shared a love for film. At the same time, the AIDS crisis was spreading through the community, and friends were disappearing from what was first known as “gay cancer.”

Once it was determined that the disease was spread through sexual activity, it stirred up a lot of anxiety within the gay community. Even though people were becoming rapidly sick, the federal government would not acknowledge AIDS as an epidemic. ACT UP used a variety of attention-grabbing techniques, including members chaining themselves to the VIP balcony at the New York Stock Exchange to protest the high price of AZT, at the time the only approved, effective AIDS drug.

Said Vito, “Everything I’ve done I’ve chosen to do. This is the life I wanted. I’m one of the very few people I know who can say I never did anything I didn’t want to do, and I always did exactly what I pleased. Very few people can say that abouttheir lives.”

In the early 80s, Jeffrey was diagnosed with HIV and Vito became his caretaker through his passing. In June 1985, Vito noticed a dark spot on his own leg, a sign of the disease. Undeterred, he continued writing, lecturing and speaking out – helping form ACT UP and GLAAD – until just months before his own death from AIDS on Nov. 7, 1990.

“Vito” had its world premiere at the 2011 New York Film Festival and has screened at numerous film festivals across the country, opening the 2012 Frameline Film Festival at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, the same place Vito met Jeffrey more than 30 years ago when he performed “The Celluloid Closet.” VITO will also be the opening night selection at the 2012 Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles on July 12.

Director and producer Jeffrey Schwarz won a 2007 AFI Fest Documentary Audience Award for “Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story,” about the Hollywood showman. He is currently in production on “I Am Divine,” an independent feature documentary about John Waters’ muse.

For more information on the documentary, please visit: Facebook: facebook.com/hbodocs; and Twitter: @HBODocs #vito.

Image Courtesy of  Olga Besnard / Shutterstock.com

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On June 27, 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a New York City gay bar, took a surprising turn when patrons decided it was time to fight back. As a riot erupted in Greenwich Village, a new era in the gay rights movement was born. Among the crowd that day was 23-year-old film student Vito Russo. In the aftermath of the infamous rebellion, a raid on an after-hours bar he frequented ended with a young gay man impaling himself on a fence while trying to escape the police.

This is when Vito found his voice as a gay activist and critic of homosexual representation in the media. Over the next 20 years, until his death from AIDS in 1990, Vito Russo was one of the most outspoken and inspiring activists in the LGBT community’s fight for equal rights.

Recounting the life of one of the founding fathers of the gay liberation movement, the inspiring documentary “Vito” debuts Monday, July 23 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

HBO Documentary Films presents another summer series, debuting provocative specials every Monday through July 30. Other July films include: “Hard Times: Lost on Long Island” (July 9); “Birders: The Central Park Effect” and “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” (July 16); and “About Face: Supermodels Then and Now” (July 30).

Directed by award-winner Jeffrey Schwarz (“Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story,” “Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon”), “Vito” paints a touching portrait of this outspoken activist in the LGBT community’s struggle for equal rights, using period footage and film clips to capture a vibrant era of gayculture. “If you’re going to talk about the gay-rights movement, you’re going to talk about Vito,” says journalist David Ehrenstein.

The documentary features rich archival interviews with Vito, as well as insights from gay rights activists, including: Larry Kramer and Arthur Evans; film scholars, among them former MoMA film curator Jon Gartenberg; and journalists/writers such as Michael Schiavi and Gabriel Rotello. “Vito” also offers personal accounts from his many friends, including Lily Tomlin and Bruce Vilanch, and his family members, including brother Charles Russo and cousin Phyllis Antonellis.

Raised in the Italian neighborhoods of East Harlem, Vito’s family moved to suburban New Jersey in the 1960s, which he hated. At 18, Vito moved back to New York City, where he was enthralled with the sexuality and positive energy of gay liberation. He progressed to activism, and as Marsha P. Johnson, a transgendered gay rights activist states, “the energy became channeled into organizations.”

Vito was one of the pivotal players in many of these gay rights organizations during their formative years. He was an early member of GAA (Gay Activists Alliance), whose goal was to secure basic human rights, dignity and freedom for all gay people. He was one of the co-founders of GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), which was formed to ensurethat media representation of gays and lesbians was accurate.

Towards the end of his life, he was one of the founders of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), a guerilla activist group whose goal was to bring legislation, medical research, treatment and policies to ultimately eradicate the AIDS epidemic.

The article HBO Debuts “Vito” This July appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, leaving 15,372 people confirmed dead and 7,762 reported still missing. In the wake of the largest earthquake in the country’s history, some people drew the courage to revive and rebuild from cherry-blossom season, which began within weeks of the tragedy.

Oscar-nominated this year for Best Documentary Short Subject, ‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’ shows how nature can be a rejuvenating – as well as a destructive – force when it debuts Monday, July 16 (10:00-10:40 PM ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. Directed by Lucy Walker (the Oscar-nominated documentary feature “Waste Land”), this poignant film debuts immediately after the debut of the SXSW Film Festival hit “Birders: The Central Park Effect,” which offers a different look at how nature touches people.

The documentary will also show on HBO on July 18 (12:15 PM), July 24 (4:15 PM) and July 28 (6:00 AM, 3:15 PM).

The film will also be shown on HBO2 on July 18 (9:00 PM).

HBO Documentary Films presents another weekly series this summer, debuting provocative new specials every Monday through July 30. Other July films include: “Hard Times: Lost on Long Island” (July 9); “Birders: The Central Park Effect” (July 16); “Vito” (July 23); and “About Face: Supermodels Then and Now” (July 30).

‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’ is a stunning visual poem about the ephemeral nature of life, and the healing power of Japan’s most beloved flower. The nation is transfixed by cherry blossom season, which runs from late March through April, with many people tracking the blossoms’ short life-cycle and attending “hanami,” or viewing parties, with family and friends.

Walker had originally planned to visit Japan to make a film about the cherry-blossom season, but on March 11, 2011, while she was making final preparations for her trip, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck, triggering tsunami waves of up to 133 feet on Japan’s northeastern coast. Initially unsure whether to continue, she flew to Tokyo with a small film crew and headed north to the Tohuku region, where she captured both the utter devastation and stoic resolve of survivors, many of whom had lost family members and friends.

‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’ opens with harrowing home-video footage, shot from a hill, of a huge wave destroying the town below. A month later, a young woman stands on the same hill, remembering how she “watch[ed] people being consumed by the tsunami.” An older man tells how he tried and failed to save his oldest friend, proclaiming, “I don’t want a house. I don’t want clothes. I don’t want anything. I just want his life back.”

Others tell their stories of survival, escaping in their slippers and seeing whole houses rush toward them on a wave of black water. One couple living at a community center returns to the ruins of their house, hoping to rebuild. Their town is within the 30km exclusion zone around the Fukushima power plant, and many people wear cotton masks as protection from radiation.

Amidst the despair in the days following the tsunami comes a glimmer of hope in “sakura” (cherry blossom), a harbinger of spring in Japan and a national symbol of renewal. One man explains how the cherry blossom reflects the Japanese character, saying, “Each flower is tiny, and you can’t see one individually. But it’s beautiful when you see lots of flowers together. Japanese people see themselves that way too.”

Out of respect for the victims, many viewing parties were canceled this year, but people still visit the blossoms and take pictures. A man who lost his house shows where new plant shoots have sprouted on the beach, commenting that if plants can hang in there, humans can too. A young woman looking at the cleanup and construction adds, “Every year that the trees bloom, they’ll give us the courage to keep going.”

In addition to its Oscar nomination, ‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’ received the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Hamptons International Film Festival and BFI London.

‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’ was directed by Lucy Walker with executive producers Tim Case and Charles V. Salice and producers Kira Carstensen and Lucy Walker. The director of photography was Aaron Phillips, the editor was Aki Mizutani, and the music was produced by Moby.

Image Courtesy of   Kasper Nybo

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Each year, more than a million birds make a migratory pit stop in New York City’s Central Park – and they don’t go unnoticed. The revealing documentary ‘Birders: The Central Park Effect’ chronicles one year in the life of the extraordinary array of wild birds that grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green, and the equally colorful New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration, when it debuts Monday, July 16 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. The debut of the Oscar-nominated documentary short “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom,” which shows how nature can be a rejuvenating as well as destructive force, follows at 10:00 p.m.

Other HBO playdates are July 19 (5:00 PM), July 21 (10:00 AM, 5:20 AM), July 24 (11:30 AM, midnight) and July 29 (2:00 PM).

It will also be showed on HBO2 with playdates on July 18 (8:00 PM), July 22 (5:25 AM) and July 26 (8:00 AM).

HBO Documentary Films presents another weekly series this summer, debuting provocative new specials every Monday through July 30. Other July films include: “Hard Times: Lost on Long Island” (July 9); “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” (July 16); “Vito” (July 23); and “About Face: Supermodels Then and Now” (July 30).

Devoting equal time and affection to birds and birders, first-time filmmaker Jeffrey Kimball explores a distinctly New York phenomenon, telling a story of humanity, nature and the precarious balance between the two. ‘Birders: The Central Park Effect’ captures an astonishing number of species – from hummingbirds and herons to owls and hawks – with stunning HD photography that does justice to the birds’ amazingly diverse patterns, hues and personalities. The film also celebrates devoted NYC birders who find a paradise within the urban chaos, among them author Jonathan Franzen and Starr Saphir, the “matriarch” of Central Park birdwatching.

It’s springtime in New York City, and the city’s biggest park is hosting a community of several hundred birders. As veteran birder Lloyd Spitalnik notes, “If you get tired of looking at the common birds, you might as well just pack it in.” Chris Cooper says his friends don’t see him from April 15 through Memorial Day; if they question his annual obsession, he counters by rattling off his “seven pleasures of birding.” Anya, a 15-year-old birder, wants to protect birds because they are “so alive, active, varied and beautiful.”

As the birders describe their passion, the pleasure they derive from the birds is both contagious and poignant. To a birder, finding a feathered friend is like a celebrity sighting. Scientists call the concentration of birds funneling into this oasis of nature amid a sea of steel and cement the Central Park Effect.

Septuagenarian Starr Saphir, who has been giving bird tours almost daily for 20 years, wasdiagnosed with terminal breast cancer a few years ago. She talks about her heightened joy in birding, which eases her pain, and shares lists of birds she’s seen, which she has kept in journals every day since she was a child, looking at them fondly like a photo album or scrapbook. Jonathan Franzen says that when he began birding, it was like an addiction; a morning without birding gave him a sense of unease that could only be fixed by the first spotting of the day, like a smoker craving a cigarette.

Central Park is a magnet for millions of birds who need a rest stop as they migrate along the Eastern Seaboard twice a year, in spring and fall. While this migration is a dangerous process, during which millions of birds die each year, many survivors remember stopovers in the fall and return to the Park, where devoted birders await them.

By early June, all the migrants have passed through New York City, but a couple of dozen species linger. Birds have adapted to human urbanization, and though Central Park is entirely man-made, it appears no different to birds than most natural parks in the country, which are also managed landscapes. Unfortunately, notes birder Jonathan Rosen, the Effect can lead some to believe that the world and the environment is doing just fine.

In winter, species that tend to migrate north in warmer months often fly south to Central Park. At the annual Christmas bird count, citizen scientists help produce the official “Birds in Decline Report” by going out in teams and counting every bird in the Park. Though a seemingly impossible task, patterns can be found in the results. One depressing statistic for bird lovers is that nearly a quarter of all species have had a 50% decline.

Sitting on a park bench the next spring, Jonathan Rosen says he doesn’t think of his birding as a hobby “any more than raising my children would be considered a hobby.” Perhaps, he concludes, as all sorts of animal populations slowly diminish, people are hungry to touch something that may be slipping away.

A 2012 SXSW selection in Documentary Feature Competition, ‘Birders: The Central Park Effect’ is directed and produced by Jeffrey Kimball; executive produced by Pamela Hogan and Tom Casciato; edited by Daniel Baer; co-produced and co-edited by Nick August-Perna; cinematography by Tony Pagano, Nick August-Perna and Chris Dapkins; bird and nature cinematography by Jeffrey Kimball; music by Paul Damian Hogan.

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HBO Documentary Films is releasing a new documentary about the financial crisis in the United States and how it has affected American families. The new film will debut on July 9 on HBO.

Families featured in “Hard Time: Lost on Long Island” include:

Alan Fromm and his wife Susan, who grew up in Brooklyn, met at Brooklyn College and moved to Plainview, where they raised two children. He has a master’s degree and spent his career in corporate education and training, but lost his job in summer 2009. No stranger to hardships, Alan was struck by lightning at age 15, had just started a new job as at the World Trade Center when it was first bombed and, most recently, was in the World Trade Center when it collapsed. At the time of filming, he has been out of work for more than a year and despairs for his family’s future after falling behind on his mortgage.

Anne and Mel Strauss, who grew up on Long Island, and met commuting on the Long Island Railroad. She works in public relations and was laid off in summer 2008; he has a master’s degree in operations research and worked in finance before moving into the mortgage industry. They separate when his stopgap commission-only mortgage broker job moves him to Albany, three hours away. In 1999, Mel was diagnosed with cancer and had a great support system, but when they both lost their jobs, people were nervous and disappeared. As Anne notes, “Having cancer was easier than being unemployed.”

Nick Puccio, who grew up in Queens, and his wife Regina, who grew up in Brooklyn. They met at Merrill Lynch, where he spent the bulk of his Wall Street career. He was laid off from an asset-management firm owned by Lehman Brothers after Lehman’s collapse and has been unemployed since. Facing foreclosure, Regina considers selling her engagement ring for cash and visits a local food pantry.

Heather and David Hartstein, who were living a fairy-tale life “right down to the white picket fence.” They married right after college, settling back in Long Island, where Heather worked as a teacher and David as a chiropractor. Together, they face a series of job-related crises that jeopardize their home and marriage.

“Hard Time: Lost on Long Island” belies the notion that unemployed people are lazy or complacently collecting unemployment checks. Like Alan Fromm, many wake up every morning and pound the pavement looking for work. “I’m not sitting home and doing nothing,” he says. “A day does not go by that I’m not looking for work.”

Complicating matters is a legislative change that could shorten New York unemployment benefits from the current 99 weeks. For many people in their 50s, prospects are especially dim at a time when out-of-work job seekers are often told by employers not to apply. At a diner where unemployed locals meet to find support, Alan states FedEx turned him down when he applied to drive a truck to deliver holiday packages, saying, “They told me I was overqualified. I just want to drive a truck!”

While they continue to search for jobs, some have been out of work so long that they are no longer eligible to receive benefits and thus aren’t even included in monthly unemployment statistics.

Anne says, “I don’t want to be helped. I want to just help myself, but what we want are jobs.”

“Hard Time: Lost on Long Island” is the third in a series of HBO documentaries by Marc Levin and Daphne Pinkerson on the human impact of the economy. “Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags” (2009) examined the rise and fall of New York City’s garment industry, while “Triangle: Remembering the Fire” (2011), winner of a duPont-Columbia Award, looked back at one of the worst industrial catastrophes in U.S. history, the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York City. Also winners of several other major awards, Levin and Pinkerson received an Emmy for their 1999 HBO documentary “Thug Life in D.C.”

Image Courtesy of  Hard Times: Lost on Long Island

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Though the recession officially ended in summer 2009, the fallout continues for some 25 million unemployed and underemployed Americans, many of whom worked their way up the corporate ladder, achieving the American Dream, only to see it slip through their fingers.

Directed by Emmy winner Marc Levin and produced by Emmy winner Daphne Pinkerson, “Hard Time: Lost on Long Island” follows four families on Long Island – often labeled the birthplace of the post-war suburban American Dream – as they struggle to find work amidst shrinking finances and declining morale. The timely film debuts Monday, July 9 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

HBO Documentary Films presents another weekly series this summer, debuting provocative new specials every Monday from June 18 through July 30. Other July films include: “Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present” (July 2); “Birders: The Central Park Effect” (July 16); “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” (July 16); “Vito” (July 23); and “About Face: Supermodels Then and Now” (July 30).

Starting in summer 2010, when many hoped an era of recovery would begin, and continuing through the holiday season six months later, “Hard Time: Lost on Long Island” spotlights the challenges facing highly skilled, well-educated Long Islanders who lost their jobs. Public relations professional Anne Strauss notes, “Being unemployed for two years is not just a financial loss. It’s an emotional loss. It’s a loss of friendships. People disappear. You can’t socialize. It changes every facet of your life.”

When both people in a couple suffer economic hardships, it can cause considerable strain on their relationship, as Heather and David Hartstein testify. “Things between Heather and I became really difficult,” admits David.“I didn’t know how to handle and deal and feel emotion.” Compounding their crisis, the bank rejected their application for a loan modification on the same day their son tested positive for Down syndrome. They subsequently filed for bankruptcy. “That was when we decided…we’re done with all this,” explains Heather.

Image Courtesy of  Hard Time: Lost on Long Island

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Revealing sobering and often shocking realities behind America’s relationship with dogs, “One Nation Under Dog: Stories Of Fear, Loss & Betrayal” takes an unflinching look not only at how far some dog lovers will go for their pets, but also how far the nation must still go before all dogs are treated humanely. The documentary explores the conflicted and passionate relationships between dogs and humans, and the daunting odds that face millions of unwanted shelter dogs, when it debuts Monday, June 18 (9:00-10:15 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, launching the HBO Documentary Films summer series.

This program contains some graphic footage. HBO will present a version edited for daytime audiences at the times indicated by *.

Other HBO playdates: June 22 (7:30 a.m.*), 27 (10:00 a.m.*, midnight) and 30 (8:15 a.m.*), and July 8 (4:00 p.m.*) and 16 (5:15 p.m.*)

HBO Documentary Films presents another weekly series this summer, debuting provocative new specials every Monday from June 18 through July 30. Other films include: “Me @The Zoo” (June 25); “Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present” (July 2); “Hard Times: Lost on Long Island” (July 9); “Birders: The Central Park Effect” (July 16); “The Tsunami & the Cherry Blossom” (July 16); “Vito” (July 23); and “About Face: Supermodels Then and Now” (July 30).

Americans have always had a love affair with canines, but lost amidst the pampering are unpleasant truths about dog ownership, care and commerce. “One Nation Under Dog: Stories Of Fear, Loss & Betrayal” offers an eye-opening, three-part portrait of America’s complex relationship with dogs.

“Part One – Fear”: In the opening segment, Dr. Robert Taffet is taken to court by neighbors after several bite incidents involving his Rhodesian Ridgebacks in suburban New Jersey. Despite the severity of some of the attacks, he is deeply committed to his pets and wins his cases, including one in which a three-year-old girl’s ear was bitten off. Eight months later, after the same dog bites a teenager, Dr. Taffet puts him down.

“Part Two – Loss”: The second section focuses on people coping with the loss of beloved pets. This segment features a group of mourners sharing deep grief over recently deceased dogs in a pet-loss support group at the San Francisco SPCA; two women laying their dog to rest in the oldest pet cemetery in the U.S.; and a couple attempting to replace a beloved dog by cloning him. Also featured is Julie Adams, whose own love and loss of dogs has inspired her rescue work; with no shelters in her rural area, she’s taken it upon herself to care for and shelter more than 100 stray and abandoned dogs.

“Part Three – Betrayal”: The final section explores issues of overpopulation, shelters, rescuing, spaying and neutering. Approximately two million dogs are destroyed in animal shelters each year. This segment features three minutes of graphic footage shot by a film student showing dogs and puppies being euthanized.

Many people do not know that 25% of dogs in shelters are actually purebreds, and many pet store dogs come from mass breeding operations known as puppy mills. For many dogs from mills and animal shelters, rescue is the only hope of survival. This segment follows volunteers saving some 200 puppy mill dogs from these dire conditions, including rescuer-trainer John Gagnon, who rehabilitates aggressive, difficult-to-adopt dogs and works with an organization to find them good homes, and Shawn South-Aswad, who raises money to rescue dogs and place them with foster families.

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“Marina Abramović  The Artist Is Present,” new documentary to play on HBO this month, includes extensive archival footage and images of her life in the year leading up to the MoMA extravaganza. Revisiting her controversial beginnings in the early 1970s, the film features documentation of her earlywork, including video of Abramović driving a van around a public square while shouting numbers from a megaphone, taking psychoactive drugs to challenge social attitudes towards female mental illness, and mutilating and flagellating herself.

The MoMA retrospective exhibit occupies several floors of the museum, most of them dedicated to earlier chapters in Abramović’s career, with images and videos of installations, many involving fellow performance artist and former romantic partner Ulay. She also trains 41 young artists to “re-perform” some of her early installations. For example, in “Imponderabilia,” two artists stand face-to-face, completely naked on opposite sides of a doorway, which others can only squeeze through by brushing against the couple’s naked flesh, a piece originally performed by Abramović and Ulay.

In the new exhibit, Abramović sits in a chair under bright spotlights opposite an empty chair, where members of the public can sit as long as they want, gazing into her eyes. A seemingly endless number of people line up for the opportunity to sit with her, many sitting multiple times on different days, several for as long as ten hours, some even after waiting all night. It is the longest-duration solo work of her career, and by far the most physically and emotionally demanding one she has ever attempted. When she conceived it, Abramović says she knew instantly it was the right piece, because the mere thought of it “made me nauseous.” Exceeding the museum’s and the artist’s own expectations, the exhibit becomes a blockbuster, must-see event.

One of the most emotional scenes occurs when Ulay, the man with whom she shared an intense and colorful history spanning more than 12 years, occupies the seatopposite Abramović. The two lived in a van in Europe and performed together before their relationship ended in suitably dramatic fashion: They walked from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China, met in the middle after covering over 1,500 miles apiece, and then said good-bye.

Sitting opposite each other in the MoMA exhibit, neither can hold back tears. Eventually, to cheers from the crowd, she reaches across and extends her hand to touch him, something none of the other sitters are permitted to do, and they hold each other. This moving moment highlights the two sides of Marina Abramović — the flesh-and-blood woman and the art-world icon — who is driven by passion, hungry for admiration and riven by contradictions.

“Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present” received the Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival. It will open at the Film Forum in New York City on June 13 and the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles on June 15, courtesy of HBO Documentary Films and Music Box Films.

Matthew Akers was the producer and a lead cinematographer on the series “Circus,” a producer and camera operator on the Emmy-winning series “Carrier,” and a producer and camera operator on the Peabody-winning series “Nimrod Nation.” His previous HBO credits as cinematographer include “Back in the Hood: Gang War II,” “Heir to an Execution” and “Elaine Stritch at Liberty.”

Image Courtesey of  Andrew Russeth

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Seductive, fearless and outrageous, Marina Abramović has been redefining the meaning of art for nearly 40 years. Using her own body as a vehicle, pushing herself beyond her limits, and at times risking her physical safety, she creates performances that challenge, shock and move.

From first-time director Matthew Akers, “Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present” follows “the grandmother of performance art” as she prepares for a major retrospective of her work at Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 2010, highlighted by a new exhibit that is breathtaking in its simplicity: two chairs facing each other, with Abramović sitting in one and audience members taking turns sitting in the other, gazing into each other’s eyes in silence. In true Abramović style, she remains in the chair for seven and a half hours each day – every day the museum is open for three months – without eating, drinking or moving, a feat of mental and physical endurance that is challenging even for a veteran of such performances.

“Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present” debuts Monday, July 2 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, as part of the HBO Documentary Films summer series. The film had its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Other HBO playdates: July 5 (12:45 a.m.), 10 (12:30 a.m.) and 18 (2:45 a.m.)

Other July films in the summer series include: “Hard Times: Lost on Long Island” (debuting July 9); “Birders: The Central Park Effect” (July 16); “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” (July 16); “Vito” (July 23); and “About Face: Supermodels Then and Now” (July 30).

Known for her extreme performance-art installations, many involving nudity and punishing bodily deprivation, Marina Abramović is one of the few artists of her generation still active in the field. A glamorous art-world icon, a lightning rod for controversy and a myth of her own making, she’s tired of the “alternative” label after four decades of skepticism, and happy that the retrospective is the crowning achievement of her career, providing her the best opportunity to put performance art on the mainstream map. “Performance art has never been a regular form of art,” she says. “It’s always been alternative since I was born, so I want it to be a real form of art and respected before I die.”

In addition to Abramović herself, the film features interviews and scenes with collaborators, art commentators, friends and fans, including: art critic Arthur Danto; Chrissie Iles, curator of the Whitney Museum of American Art; Abramović’s gallerist, Sean Kelly; writer Tom McEvilley; illusionist David Blaine; and actor James Franco.

Image Courtesey of  Andy Miah

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The first documentary to tell George Herbert Walker Bush’s story in his own words, the exclusive HBO presentation ‘41’ is a rare, intimate glimpse at the life and times of the 41st president of the United States. Featuring unprecedented access to Bush as he reflects on the highs and lows of his life from his beloved summer home in Kennebunkport, Me. and presidential library in Texas, ‘41’ debuts Thursday, June 14 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT), commemorating the president’s 88th birthday on June 12.

One of the most experienced politicians ever to achieve the presidency, George H.W. Bush shares anecdotes from his childhood, family, service in World War II and political career, including his roles as U.S. envoy to China, director of the CIA and vice president of the United States in the Reagan administration, as well as his term as president.

Written and directed by Jeffrey Roth, ‘41’ was filmed over a 17-month period, from Sept. 2009 to Feb. 2011. The film is executive produced by Jerry Weintraub, a long-time personal friend of the Bushes, and himself the focus of “His Way,” an acclaimed HBO documentary.

“I am so proud to be a friend of George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara Bush,” comments Weintraub. “And so proud that our friendship includes this wonderful film about two wonderful people.”

‘41’ captures the personal side of a very public figure who cherishes his family life, in particular wife Barbara, his spouse for 67 years, a record among presidential marriages. President from 1989 to 1993 and father of the 43rd president, George W. Bush, the elder Bush continues to make public appearances today and spends much of his time on his boat or with children and grandchildren. An avid fisherman, Bush last parachuted on his 85th birthday and swears he will do it again on his 90th, which he says proves that “old guys can still do fun things.”

Born June 12, 1924, George H.W. Bush spent much of his childhood at his family’s summer home, built by his grandfather in 1902, at Walker’s Point in Kennebunkport, Me. His close-knit family was fortunate to avoid the hard times of the Great Depression, with George attending boarding schools, where he excelled in sports, serving as captain of the soccer and baseball teams and playing basketball. At 17, he met 16-year-old Barbara Pierce at a Christmas dance. “We fell in love. Old fashioned, falling in love,” he recalls.

After Pearl Harbor was bombed, the 18-year-old Bush became a naval aviator. He describes the events of Sept. 2, 1944, when his plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire; he ejected and parachuted into the sea, and was rescued by a sub. Bush went home and married Barbara, and when the war ended a short time later, like many G.I.s, he entered college – at Yale – where they had a son, George Walker.

Following the advice of a family friend, he went to work in the oil fields of West Texas. Their family continued to grow with the birth of daughter Robin, who died of leukemia at age three. Robin’s death remains an emotional subject for Bush. Though they had three more sons and another daughter, he admits he couldn’t talk about losing her for years.

In Texas, despite the fact that the state at the time was overwhelmingly Democratic, Bush decided to run for Senate. He lost, but rebounded by running for the House of Representatives and won, becoming a rising star in Washington. President Nixon subsequently appointed Bush ambassador to the U.N. and later, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Then came Watergate. “I wanted to believe Nixon as long as I possibly could,” he notes, but with evidence mounting that the White House lied, he wrote a memo suggesting the president resign. In hindsight, Bush has mixed emotions about Nixon, reflecting, “On the one hand you can never get over the lie. On the other, in many ways, he was a very good president.”

After serving as U.S. envoy to China and director of the CIA, Bush ran for president unsuccessfully, but became Ronald Reagan’s vice president. Ascending to the presidency in 1989, his years in office were marked by numerous historic events, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Cold War and the protests in Tiananmen Square.

When Iraq invaded Kuwait, Bush says he knew America would have to act. He considered Iraq’s invasion an “overt, crystal-clear wrong,” and despite opposition, felt the war was just. Bush was heartened when Saddam Hussein was driven out of Kuwait.

After losing his bid for reelection to Bill Clinton, George returned with Barbara to a “normal” life in Houston and Kennebunkport. He calls his beloved summer home the “anchor” to his “windward.” It’s where the memories are, where his family comes to visit and where he’s been coming his whole life. “And where,” he says, “I will remain until my last days.”

The president, who to this day has not written a memoir telling his life story, agreed to participate in the documentary after meeting Roth and seeing his first film, “The Wonder of It All,” a documentary about the Apollo moon walkers. 41 is Roth’s second documentary film.

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‘The Weight of the Nation’ debuts May 14 and 15, but this groundbreaking multi-part documentary series is just one part of the effort to raise public awareness on the growing health, economic and social issues associated with the obesity epidemic.

The project also includes nationwide dissemination of screening kits, which include the complete DVD box set with companion discussion guides, to more than 40,000 community-based organizations, as well as a marketing campaign focusing on providing healthy options at school, a robust online and social media presence and a book published by St. Martin’s Press.

Bringing together the nation’s leading research and health institutions, ‘The Weight of the Nation’ is a presentation of HBO and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and in partnership with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Kaiser Permanente.

To facilitate community action, HBO and its partners began distributing 40,000 screening kits to community-based organizations and coalitions, many of which focus on obesity prevention, including libraries, schools, doctor’s offices and public health departments across the country on April 24.

The kits, which consist of 14 films, discussion guides in English and Spanish, and tips and supplemental materials for hosting screenings, provide essential tools to catalyze and support local efforts in communities that combat obesity across the country. These kits will also be available for downloading at hbo.com/theweightofthenation.

Launching in early May, the expansive companion website for ‘The Weight of the Nation’ (hbo.com/theweightofthenation) will detail 75 simple steps people can take to improve their health, as well as the health of their families and communities. The “take action” section of the site will give people the ability to pledge their commitment to curbing the obesity epidemic, with acts ranging from planting a garden, to walking more, to eating a healthy breakfast every day.

HBO will leverage a full slate of social media platforms – from Twitter and Facebook to YouTube and GetGlue – to showcase these practical actions. In addition, a social media-fueled Pledge for Progress will rally awareness through easily shared calls to action on Facebook and Twitter.

May 1, ‘The Weight of the Nation’ Day, marked the beginning of a marketing campaign to raise awareness, educate community members about obesity prevention and provide resources for a healthier life.

HBO, in association with Whole Kids Foundation and Global Tap, is working to provide 100 salad bars and 100 permanent water stations in schools across the country, giving thousands of students access to fresh fruits and vegetables and clean water. The campaign begins with 12 markets; by September, 88 additional salad bars and/or water stations will be in place for the start of the new school year.

“The Weight of the Nation: Surprising Lessons about Diets, Food, and Fat from the Extraordinary Series from HBO Documentary Films,” from St. Martin’s Press, is written by John Hoffman, executive producer of the series, and Judith A. Salerno, MD, MS, executive officer at the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

Published April 24, the book is based on the rich research from the series and offers unvarnished truths about weight loss: that it is hard, that keeping it off is even harder and that there is no quick fix. Weight loss takes a lot of work and a lifetime commitment, but thousands have been successful.

The book explores the overwhelming factors that undermine efforts to reach a healthy weight, from a person’s unique biology, to the food industry that makes less healthy inexpensive food readily available 24 hours a day, to the inactivity that keeps people at their desks, in their cars and on their couches for most waking hours.

On May 8, “Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention,” the report on a study conducted by the IOM and featured in the HBO film series, will be publicly released at the CDC’s Weight of the Nation conference in Washington, D.C. The report will identify strategies to speed up progress in curbing the rise in obesity rates.

Starting May 14, all four films will be available in their entirety for free for an unlimited time at the companion website (hbo.com/theweightofthenation). Following the premiere of ‘The Weight of the Nation’ May 14 and 15, viewers will be able to engage many of the films’ featured experts in live Q&As at HBO Connect (hbo.com/connect), the network’s innovative social-forward extension of HBO.com.

Three years in the making, ‘The Weight of the Nation’ offers an unflinching look at the severity of the obesity crisis, highlighting the groundwork for the societal transformations that must take place in order to slow, arrest and eventually reverse the prevalence of obesity and bring the nation to a healthier weight.

It is one of the most far-reaching public health campaigns on this epidemic to date. The multi-part, multi-platform series comprises four documentary films, a three-part series for families, 12 bonus shorts, a robust website and social media campaign, a book published by St. Martin’s Press and the free distribution of DVDs and comprehensive discussion guides to more than 40,000 community-based organizations working to fight obesity around the country.

To reach the broadest possible audience, HBO will use all of its services, including the main HBO channel, multiplex channels, HBO On Demand, HBO GO and more. All films will be available in English and Spanish, and will also stream free of charge on HBO.com, as well as on multiple platforms by participating TV service providers.

For more information on ‘The Weight of the Nation’ and the screening kits, please visit hbo.com/theweightofthenation.

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HBO Documentary Films heats up the summer with thought-provoking new films on Monday nights, kicking off a new seven-week series Monday, June 18, exclusively on HBO.

From an unflinching study of America’s complex relationships with canines, to a mesmerizing portrait of preeminent performance artist Marina Abramović, to an inside look at the phenomenon of internet celebrity, to the lives of legendary supermodels, HBO documentaries take subscribers to worlds others rarely see.

This year’s summer series features the work of a wide range of directors, from veterans such as Marc Levin, Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders to exciting first-time filmmakers, including Matthew Akers, Chris Moukarbel and ValerieVeatch.

Upcoming documentaries include (in chronological order):

‘One Nation Under Dog: Stories of Fear, Loss and Betrayal’ (debuting June 18) reveals the sobering realities behind America’s obsession with dogs, using startling images to show not only how far some dog lovers will go for theirpets, but how far the nation has to go before it treats all dogs humanely.

Americans have conducted a long love affair with canines, but lost amidst all the pampering are unpleasant truths about dog ownership, care and commerce, not to mention the daunting odds that face millions of unwanted shelter animals. Directed by Ellen Goosenberg Kent, Amanda Micheli and Jenny Carchman.

‘Me @The Zoo’ (June 25) is an in-depth exploration of the phenomenon of internetcelebrity. Profiling teenage video blogger Chris Crocker, who captured the international spotlight with his infamous “Leave Britney Alone” YouTube declaration, the film reveals how video sharing and social platforms have shaped the way people tell their stories and mediate their lives. An official selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Documentary Competition; directed by Chris Moukarbel and Valerie Veatch.

‘Marina Abramović the Artist is Present’ (July 2) is an exclusive, behind-the-scenes portrait of “the grandmother of performance art” as she prepares for a blockbuster retrospective exhibit of her controversial work at The Museum of Modern Art. This mesmerizing cinematic journey inside the world of radical performance reveals an astonishingly magnetic, endlessly intriguing woman who draws no distinction between life and art. Directed by first-time filmmaker Matthew Akers.

‘Hard Times: Lost on Long Island’ (July 9), directed and produced by Marc Levin (HBO’s duPont Award-winning “Triangle: Remembering the Fire” and Emmy-winning “Thug Life in D.C.”), looks at the long-term unemployed and the shrinking of the middle class. Chronicling the lives of four families over a six-month period, beginning in summer 2010, the film chronicles the growing problems and despair of subjects searching in vain for employment.

‘The Tsunami & The Cherry Blossom’ (July 16), recently nominated for a Documentary Short Oscar, follows survivors of Japan’s March 2011 tsunami, who find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins. The film is an allegory about the transient nature of life and the healing power of Japan’s most beloved flower. Directed by Lucy Walker (the Oscar-nominated documentary feature “Waste Land”).

‘Birders: The Central Park Effect’ (July 16), reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green and the equally colorful New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration. A 2012 SXSW selection in Documentary Feature Competition, it focuses on seven subjects who have discovered a profound connection with this hidden natural world and regularly visit the park, including author Jonathan Franzen, Anya, a teenager fascinated with the birds because they are “so alive, active, varied, and beautiful,” and Starr Saphir, the “matriarch” of Central Park bird watching. Directed and produced by first-time filmmaker Jeffrey Kimball.

‘Vito’ (July 23) recounts the life of Vito Russo, one of the founding fathers of the gay liberation movement. Playing a pivotal role in the formative years of the GAA (Gay Activists Alliance), GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), he was also a writer, best known for “The Celluloid Closet,” the first book to examine how LBGT people were portrayed in the movies. Just months before his death from AIDS in 1990, Russo remained an active lecturer on gay issues, traveling to college campuses and gay film festivals. Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz (“Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story”).

‘About Face: Supermodels, Then and Now’ (July 30), directed by portrait photographer and filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (HBO’s “The Black List” and “The Latino List”), explores the lives of some of the fashion world’s most legendary models, highlighting the complex relationship between physical appearance and the business of beauty.

The film features conversations with such celebrated supermodels as Carol Alt, Marisa Berenson, Karen Bjornson, Christie Brinkley, Pat Cleveland, Carmen Dell’Orefice, Jerry Hall, Bethann Hardison, Beverly Johnson, China Machado, Paulina Porizkova, Isabella Rossellini, Lisa Taylor and Cheryl Tiegs, revealing their role in defining — and redefining — beauty over time. An official selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

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According to a survey published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2009, roughly 94% of schools served a lunch that failed to meet federal standards for healthy school meals, and 80% of the lunches served in those schools exceeded federal recommendations for total fat and saturated fat.

Armed with these startling facts, a group of New Orleans kids – who dubbed themselves the Rethinkers – set out to make a difference in their community during the post-Katrina rebuilding period. ‘The Great Cafeteria Takeover’ shows how they transformed their school lunch menu when it debuts Wednesday, May 16 (7:00-7:30 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

‘The Great Cafeteria Takeover’ is the first film in the three-part series ‘The Weight of the Nation for Kids’, which is a companion to the four-part, multi-platform documentary series ‘The Weight of the Nation’, spotlighting the facts and myths about America’s obesity epidemic.

‘The Weight of the Nation’ is a presentation of HBO and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and in partnership with the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Kaiser Permanente.  All three films in ‘The Weight of the Nation for Kids’ will air during back-to-school season this fall.

In their campaign to change school lunch menus, the Rethinkers surveyed students at schools in their community and issued annual report cards to attract media coverage and capture the attention of decision-makers. The Rethinkers met with school officials and corporate executives from Aramark, one of the nation’s largest food service providers, to get them thinking about the quality of school meals and how they could be improved.

Using the report cards and survey results, the kids negotiated with Aramark to provide healthier food choices. When a general agreement to provide more local, healthy food did not result in change, the kids held the school officials’ and the company’s feet to the fire and finally arrived at a specific agreement to serve fresh, locally produced food at least two times a week.

Among the young people featured in the film are:

Lucy Tucker – A passionate student who is dedicated to presenting adult decision-makers with student survey data that they can use to provide healthier food options.

Victoria Carter – A student who cares deeply about the goals of the Rethinkers and wants adults to listen and act.

Ron Triggs – A younger student who is pleased to deliver the results of the report card at a Rethinkers’ press conference highlighting each school’s “grade.”

“Thirty-three percent of people within the State of Louisiana are obese,” says Johanna Gilligan, an adult advisor to the Rethinkers. “People are finally realizing that they have no idea where their food has come from, they have no idea what’s happened to it before it got to them.”

“We, as Rethinkers, know that adults will listen to us if we have great ideas and solutions, instead of just complaining,” says Carter.

“We are very excited about our new agreement,” adds Rethinker Jada Cooper. “We hope as the years go on, school food will continue to improve, and that every child in New Orleans will have a healthy school lunch with fresh local food, school gardens and food education.”

Three years in the making, ‘The Weight of the Nation’ offers an unflinching look at the severity of the obesity crisis, highlighting the groundwork for the societal transformations that must take place in order to slow, arrest and eventually reverse the prevalence of obesity and bring the nation to a healthier weight.

It is one of the most far-reaching public health campaigns on this epidemic to date. The multi-part, multi-platform series comprises four documentary films, a three-part series for families, 12 bonus shorts, a robust website and social media campaign, a book published by St. Martin’s Press and the free distribution of DVDs and comprehensive discussion guides to more than 40,000 community-based organizations working to fight obesity around the country.

To reach the broadest possible audience, HBO will use all of its services, including the main HBO channel, multiplex channels, HBO On Demand, HBO GO and more. All films will be available in English and Spanish, and will also stream free of charge on HBO.com, as well as on multiple platforms by participating TV service providers.

For more information on ‘The Weight of the Nation’ and the screening kits, please visit hbo.com/theweightofthenation.

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In an effort to increase awareness of the obesity epidemic which could very well cripple the health of Americans, HBO, in an unprecedented collaboration with the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is showing a special documentary series across all their services called ‘The Weight of the Nation’. On May 14, part 1 and part 2 will show the first facets of the rapidly developing health crisis. The third and fourth part will air on the following day.

Part 3: ‘Children in Crisis’ – Tuesday, May 15 (8:00-9:10 p.m.)

America’s children may be the first generation in history to have a shorter lifespan than their parents. Approximately 32% of America’s young people are overweight or obese.

‘Children in Crisis’ tells the heart-wrenching stories of young people struggling with excess weight and facing serious medical complications at an early age, and takes a hard look at the marketing practices of the food and beverage industry, which often undermine efforts of parents and others committed to keeping children healthy.

“If you were told your child is at risk for cancer, that would get your attention,” comments NIH director Collins. “If you were told your child is at risk for some sort of brain disease, that would get your attention. Well, obesity ought to be on that list.”

While the food and beverage industry has voluntarily made some progress in improving the nutritional value of the products it markets to children, an ongoing debate over the definition of good nutrition continues among industry, researchers and government. ‘Children in Crisis’ highlights efforts to persuade policymakers to do more to protect children.

“Government has a responsibility to act, but they’re not the whole answer,” says Margo Wootan, DSc, director of Nutrition Policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “We also need companies to step up, to reformulate their products, to change their marketing practices and to make healthy options available in restaurants.”

Families face an uphill battle in getting their children to be physically active and eat the right amount of healthy foods. Dr. Elsie Taveras, MD, who runs the One Step Ahead Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, says that “more and more research is showing actually that children are exposed to pretty toxic advertising.”

This advertising, combined with little advertising for fruits and vegetables, fuels cravings for sugary food and beverages. Sodas and fruit drinks are the largest sources of added sugar in the diets of American children and adolescents.

America’s schools are a great place to set strong examples about healthy eating and living, but a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) study found that 94% of schools served a lunch that failed to meet their own standards for healthy school meals. Students have access to a variety of foods and beverages high in calories, added fats and sugars at school. Furthermore, most U.S. school districts have eliminated physical education programs, while there is no federal law requiring physical education.

Part 4: ‘Challenges’ – Tuesday, May 15 (9:10-10:15 p.m.)

Some experts project that by 2030, between 32% and 52% of American adults may be obese. ‘Challenges’ examines the driving forces behind the obesity epidemic, including agriculture, economics, evolutionary biology, racial and socioeconomic disparities, physical inactivity and the strong influence of the food and beverage industry. “In the future, it wouldn’t surprise me if people look back on the early part of the 21st century and call this the obesity era,” says Dr. Thomas Farley, New York City’s health commissioner.

The film shows how food is produced and marketed, which can have severe consequences for the nation’s health. For example, national farm policies, including subsidies for corn and soy, have contributed to an abundance of processed foods that are high in calories and low in nutrients.

However, fruit and vegetable farmers get little support, and only 3% of American crop land is used for fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, the vast majority of Americans fall short of meeting recommendations for daily servings of fruits and vegetables. High-calorie food is often much cheaper than vegetables and fruit.

‘Challenges’ also reveals that the industry’s emphasis on taste and cost has resulted in large, low-price, high-calorie portions, fostering a culture of excess and contributing to the spread of obesity.

Philip Marineau, former president of the Quaker Oats Company, Pepsi-Cola North America comments, “Food companies are trying to sell more today than they did yesterday. And if they don’t, then they’re not considered successful. And ultimately, if we are going to be successful in reducing obesity, people are going to consume less. And that’s the conundrum.”

Experts draw a compelling comparison with the fight against tobacco companies in the interest of public health. “If the tobacco industry can be taken on successfully by the public health world, then I don’t see any reason why the food industry can’t be the same,” says Kelly Brownell, PhD, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.

Refusing to accept what many call the new normal of obesity, individuals and communities across the nation are rising up to meet the challenge.

Stories include: the company-wide wellness program of the largest commercial construction company in Nabholz, Ark., which lowered employees’ pre-diabetes rates 13.4% in three years; Good Natured Family Farms, an alliance of 150 farms in the Kansas City area created to more effectively reach consumers with “wallet-friendly” produce; and Nashville mayor Karl Dean, who leads an innovative effort that leverages the city’s own resources to make it a healthier place to live, constructing more sidewalks, bike trails and greenways.

CDC director Frieden closes the film on a note of optimism, observing, “We are seeing changes. They’re not going to be overnight, they’re not quick, but they’re happening. And they are going to help control the weight of the nation.”

For more information on ‘The Weight of the Nation’ and the screening kits, please visit hbo.com/theweightofthenation.

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HBO and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has worked together to show an unprecedented series of documentaries, aimed at raising awareness of the dire situation for millions of Americans, suffering under the weight of their own obesity. ‘The Weight of the Nation’ will show the harsh realities of America, starting on May 14 with two out of four films.

Part 1: ‘Consequences’ – Monday, May 14 (8:00-9:10 p.m. ET/PT)

America is on the brink of a public health crisis that affects not only individuals, but the entire society. With more than 68% of American adults overweight or obese, ‘Consequences’ examines the scope of the obesity epidemic and explores the serious health consequences of being overweight or obese.

Obesity can lead to such health problems as: heart disease; type 2 diabetes; many cancers; high blood pressure; stroke; joint problems; sleep apnea; kidney, gallbladder and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; infertility; and depression.

“Today, there are almost 26 million Americans with diabetes – seven million of whom don’t even know they have it – and more than 79 million Americans are pre-diabetic,” says Anthony Iton, MD, JD, MPH, senior vice president of the California Endowment. “A child born in 2000 has a one in three lifetime chance of having diabetes. If that child is African-American or Latino, it’s one in two.”

America’s collective weight has risen dramatically since the 1980s, with adult obesity rates more than doubling. All Americans pay the price in one way or another, from higher insurance premiums and lost productivity to higher taxes and unemployment.

‘Consequences’ includes a look at a community in Bogalusa, La, which is home to the historic NIH-funded Bogalusa Heart Study, the first investigation to link early childhood weight problems with adult heart disease. The film also profiles Sam Klein, MD, who is conducting a novel study looking at the negative impact of excess weight on liver function at Washington University, and explores the work of David Nathan, MD as he explores the risks and dangers of weight gain and diabetes at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“This is preventable,” comments Jack Shonkoff, director, Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University. “This is not one of those unfortunate acts of nature that we just have to accept as reality. This is not the product of a tsunami.”

Part 2: ‘Choices’ – Monday May 14 (9:10-10:25 p.m.)

Obesity is commonly thought of as simply a matter of lifestyle and personal choice, but there are many factors that contribute to the problem – and many solutions are needed to fix it. In the meantime, millions of overweight and obese Americans struggle to lose pounds and keep them off. ‘Choices’ provides “the skinny” on fat, sharing scientific insights into how to lose weight, and explores what needs to change in people’s lives, including where they work, eat, learn and play, while spotlighting individuals who are waging those battles successfully.

“Fad diets — diets that haven’t been scientifically tested and that promise miracles — shouldn’t be trusted, because there really isn’t such a thing as a miracle here,” says Kelly Brownell, PhD, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University.

Scientists understand that maintaining weight loss is about more than willpower –bodies and brains sometimes work against such efforts. Why and how this happens is still being studied. Highlighting the work of Rudy Leibel, MD, co-director of the New York Obesity Research Center at Columbia University Medical Center, ‘Choices’ examines the “set point” theory, which suggests that after an individual gains weight, the body establishes a new set point that it considers its new weight, or “new normal.”

According to the set point theory, because bodies fight to maintain the highest weight, or set point, it’s necessary to consume fewer calories and burn more just to keep that weight off.

‘Choices’ also spotlights: weight-loss tips from a supervised program at Washington University; the history and myths of dieting; the benefits and drawbacks of bariatric surgery, which can reduce stomach size; and the importance of losing weight, even just a little, to prevent or reverse diabetes.

The film also looks at how stress can affect eating habits and contribute to obesity. “It’s really not just about what we’re eating, but it’s about what is eating you,” says Elissa Epel, co-director of the Center for Obesity Assessment, Study & Treatment at the University of California, San Francisco. “We have an epidemic of obesity. We also have an epidemic of stress. And the two are feeding each other.”

For more information on ‘The Weight of the Nation’ and the screening kits, please visit hbo.com/theweightofthenation.

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The obesity epidemic is one of the most pressing health issues facing the nation today. More than two-thirds of U.S. adults age 20 and over are overweight or obese, while nearly one-third of the nation’s children and adolescents age two to 19 are overweight or obese. Obesity contributes to five of the ten leading causes of death in America, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, stroke and kidney disease.

An unprecedented collaboration of HBO and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ‘The Weight of the Nation’ takes an unflinching look at the severity of the crisis and its crippling effects on our health care system.

Made in partnership with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Kaiser Permanente and three years in the making, it is one of the most far-reaching public health campaigns on this epidemic to date, comprising four documentary films, a three-part series for families, 12 bonus shorts, a robust website and social media campaign, a book published by St. Martin’s Press, and nationwide outreach to more than 40,000 community-based organizations.

‘The Weight of the Nation’ kicks off with ‘Consequences’, debuting Monday, May 14 (8:00-9:10 p.m. ET/PT), immediately followed by ‘Choices’ (9:10-10:25 p.m.), with ‘Children in Crisis’ debuting the next night, Tuesday, May 15 (8:00-9:10 p.m.), immediately followed by ‘Challenges’ (9:10-10:15 p.m.).

In addition, the first part of the three-part series “The Weight of the Nation for Kids,” entitled “The Great Cafeteria Takeover,” debuts Wednesday, May 16 (7:00-7:30 p.m.), with all three parts to be presented during back-to-school season this fall.

“Obesity has become one of the most serious threats to the health of the American people,” comments Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD, president of the IOM, whose work, including a new study on accelerating progress in obesity prevention, is featured in the HBO series.

“If we don’t succeed in turning this epidemic around, we are going to face, for the first time in our history, a situation where our children are going to live shorter lives than we do,” says NIH director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD

“Obesity-related health care costs about $147 billion annually, and on average, it costs $1400 more a year to care for someone who is obese,” notes Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “To get healthy, we’re all going to have to do our part – individuals, communities, local, state and the federal government…We’re going to face steadily increasing health care costs, as well as more lives lost to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, many cancers and other complications from obesity.”

To reach the broadest possible audience, HBO will use all of its services, including the main HBO channel, multiplex channels, HBO On Demand, HBO GO and more. All films will be available in English and Spanish and will stream free of charge on HBO.com, as well as on multiple platforms by participating TV service providers.

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HBO Documentary Films has acquired the domestic TV rights to ‘The Central Park Effect’, it was announced today by HBO and Submarine Entertainment. A 2012 SXSW selection in Documentary Feature Competition, the film will debut on HBO this summer.

Featuring Chris Cooper, Jonathan Franzen and Starr Saphir, among others, the film is directed and produced by Jeffrey Kimball and executive produced by Pamela Hogan and Tom Casciato. The deal was negotiated by Josh Braun of Submarine Entertainment on behalf of the filmmakers with HBO Documentary Films.

‘The Central Park Effect’ reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green and the equally colorful New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration. The film focuses on seven main subjects who regularly visit the park and have found a profound connection with this hidden natural world.

“HBO is the ideal home for ‘The Central Park Effect’ and gives us the ability to tell an important story to millions of people,” says filmmaker Jeffrey Kimball. “Even though it’s set in the middle of New York City, this is a story about people’s connection to nature. It’s important for us to realize that as the world becomes more urbanized, nature doesn’t have to entirely disappear from cities.”

‘The Central Park Effect’ is an Other Noises production; directed and produced by Jeffrey Kimball and executive produced by Pamela Hogan and Tom Casciato.

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The HBO Documentary Films presentation ‘Saving Face’ received an Academy Award in the category of Best Documentary Short at the 84th annual Academy Awards, presented at the 2012 ceremony of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Feb. 26.

Every year in Pakistan, many people – the majority of them women – are known to be victimized by brutal acid attacks, while numerous other cases go unreported. With little or no access to reconstructive surgery, survivors are physically and emotionally scarred, and many reported assailants, typically a husband or someone else close to the victim, are let go with minimal punishment from the state.

Debuting Thursday, 8 (8:30-9:15 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, ‘Saving Face’ chronicles the arduous attempts of acid-attack survivors Zakia and Rukhsana to bring their assailants to justice, and follows the charitable work of Dr. Mohammad Jawad, a plastic surgeon who strives to help them go beyond this horrific act and move on with their lives.

It was a very happy directional team who accepted the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. They were up against ‘The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement’; ‘God is the Bigger Elvis’; ‘Incidents in New Baghdad’; and ‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’. After leaving the stage, Daniel Junge and first time Pakistani directional winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, had an extra opportunity to express their gratitude

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Filmmaker Michael Mann and documentary director David Frankham will collaborate to produce a new limited documentary series, ‘Witness’, for HBO. The series will follow a new generation of young combat photographers into conflict zones in Mexico, Brazil, Uganda and Libya. By following these photojournalists’ immersions, their relations with the people on the ground and their closeness in battle, ‘Witness’ will show audiences why, when everyone else seeks cover, the war photographer stands.

“David Frankham and I share an admiration for combat photography that captures the universal – and sometimes the indescribable – in a single frame in the midst of chaos and danger,” said Mann.

“‘Witness’ will not provide a historical context. The direction Michael and I took in creating ‘Witness’ was to immerse the audience via intimacy with the photographer into the intensity of a situation as it’s developing, as they risk their lives to capture one piece of the truth,” said Frankham.

The first episode of ‘Witness’ was shot in Juarez, Mexico. The next three are currently in production.

Michael Mann is an acclaimed filmmaker recognized for innovative and successful motion pictures and television. Mann directed the pilot for and is executive producing HBO’s new series “Luck,” a provocative drama set in the world of horse racing. Mann’s first work in television was to direct and co-write 1979’s “The Jericho Mile,” which won four Emmys and a Directors Guild Award.

Mann’s other work in television includes executive producing “Miami Vice” and “Crime Story.” Mann made his feature directorial debut with “Thief,” following it with acclaimed films such as “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Heat” and “The Insider,” which received seven Academy Award nominations, “Ali,” “Collateral” and “Public Enemies.” Films he has produced include “Hancock” and “The Aviator,” with 11 Academy Award nominations and five wins.

David Frankham is an acclaimed documentary and commercial director. He has created commercials for such noted brands as NIKE, UPS, Adidas, FOX Sports, Fiat and Citicard as a director for Smuggler, a film, TV, commercial and music video production company.

Image Courtesy of  magicinfoto / Shutterstock.com

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In many ways, Richard and Mildred Loving were a typical couple. They grew up in the same Virginia town, fell in love and decided to cement their relationship by marrying.  Because she was part-black and part-Native American, and he was white, however, their 1958 marriage was declared illegal by their home state.

But the Lovings fought back and ultimately changed history through a watershed Supreme Court case that overturned bans on interracial marriage in 16 states. The exclusive HBO documentary The Loving Story, the uplifting saga of these unlikely Civil Rights heroes, debuts on Valentine’s Day, Tuesday, February 14 during Black History Month.

Married in Washington, D.C. on June 2, 1958, Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter were arrested in their home state of Virginia five weeks later and subsequently convicted of the felony crime of miscegenation. To avoid a one-year jail sentence, they agreed to leave the state, and could only return to Virginia separately. But that was just the beginning of their story.

he Loving Story features never-before-seen vintage film and stills of the Loving family shot in 1965 and 1966, as well as compelling present-day interviews with the Lovings’ daughter Peggy, neighbors, police and their intrepid ACLU lawyers Bernard S. Cohen and Philip J. Hirschkop, who argued the landmark 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case that finally brought justice to the Lovings.

The luminous, newly discovered 16mm footage of the Lovings and their lawyers, which was shot by filmmakers Hope Ryden and Abbot Mills, and photographs by acclaimed LIFE photographer Grey Villet capture the intimate realities of the Lovings’ daily lives. The prints were given to the Loving family by the photographer 45 years ago and given to the filmmakers in 2010. (A selection of these photos is currently on view at the International Center of Photography in New York through May 6.)

After the Lovings failed to have their convictions overturned at the state level, ACLU attorneys Cohen and Hirschkop sought a federal forum, and Loving v. Virginia was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on April 10, 1967. Through his attorneys, Richard Loving said to the justices, “Tell the court that I love my wife, and it is unfair that I can’t live with her in Virginia.”

On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the Lovings, striking down the prohibition of interracial marriage in 16 states in a breakthrough decision that continues to shape America’s attitude towards marriage to this day.

Neither dedicated activists nor participants in the protests of their time, the Lovings spent nine years simply trying to be able to live legally in their home state, and on their journey became little-known heroes of the Civil Rights era. They didn’t ask to be heroes. They just wanted to be happy.

Director and producer Nancy Buirski says the message of the film is both timeless and timely. Although depicting a universal love story, it comes at a time when, she says, “white supremacy groups are growing in the U.S. – in the very communities that perpetuated and maintained anti-miscegenation laws up to the 1967 Supreme Court ruling. While we’ve elected the first mixed-race president, we also recently witnessed a Louisiana justice of the peace refusing to marry a mixed-race couple.

“Contemporary parallels are gently embedded in the Lovings’ fight for marriage equality.  Today, 45 years after Loving v. Virginia, Perry v. Schwarzenegger is making its way to the Supreme Court. This is a story not of just civil rights, but of human rights and the pursuit of happiness, regardless of religion, race or gender.”

The Loving Story was an official selection at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and Heartland Film Festival, and won the WGA Screenplay Award at the 2011 SilverDocs Festival.

Nancy Buirski is the founder and former director of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Her credits include producing five collections of documentary shorts, as well as “Time Piece,” an omnibus documentary combining stories of Turkish and American filmmakers. The film has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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The Ricky Gervais Show, the animated comedy series based on the record-breaking podcast, returns to HBO for its 13-episode third season on Friday, April 20, with other new episodes debuting subsequent Fridays at the same time. The voices are recorded by Ricky Gervais, his longtime collaborator, Stephen Merchant, and Gervais’ colleague and friend, Karl Pilkington, whose offbeat musings inspire many of the storylines.

The Ricky Gervais Show animates the podcast that first appeared on the Guardian website, subsequently earning a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most downloads. In March 2011, the podcast reportedly passed the 300 million download mark.

Topics covered in season three include: Karl ruminating on museum collections, his invention of the mug coaster, a movie pitch, and Karl, Stephen and Ricky shedding new light on charitable causes.

The Ricky Gervais Show has inspired critical praise, with the New York Times saying the series is “proof that big laughs can come in small doses,” while the New York Post described the show as “crazy fun,” and the Houston Chronicle observed that the show’s “pointless conversations will keep you in stitches.”

The Ricky Gervais Show is produced for HBO Entertainment by Media Rights Capital in association with Wildbrain Entertainment; executive producers, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Karl Pilkington, Glyn Hughes, Bob Higgins, Lisa Ullmann and Steve Patrick; supervising producers, Margaret M. Dean and Shannon Nettleton; producer, Pamela J. Arseneau and director, Dan Fraga.

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Painter Beverly McIver was enjoying a skyrocketing career when she promised her mother, Ethel, that she would take care of her mentally disabled sister, Renee. Years later, following Ethel’s death, that promise came due.

Filmed over the course of six years, the compelling HBO2 documentary ‘Raising Renee’ chronicles Beverly McIver’s efforts to make good on her promise. A testament to the power of family bonds, this thought-provoking film is produced and directed by Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan (the Oscar-nominated “Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern”).

Marked by drama, humor and unexpected twists, Raising Renee begins in 2003, as Beverly McIver is savoring opening night of her first solo art show in New York, joined by her mother, Ethel, and mentally disabled sister, Renee, a 43-year-old who functions at the level of a third grader. When Ethel dies the next year, Beverly’s pledge to care for Renee is put to the test.

Beverly grew up in a Greensboro, NC housing project with her sisters, Renee and Roni, and their mother, Ethel, who singlehandedly raised them while working as a maid for white families. Segregation in Greensboro was notorious: When Beverly was 17, an anti-KKK rally resulted in five people being shot dead by the Klan in front of the McIvers’ home.

Though most of her relatives stayed in the area, Beverly’s talent led to fellowships in New York and a professorship at Arizona State University. The politics of race would inform her art, and she vowed never to live in the South again.

Renee had lived with Ethel her whole life, making colorful potholders and doing good deeds with her mother. After Ethel’s death from cancer, Beverly moved Renee to Arizona to live with her. She was concerned that this added responsibility would end her life as an artist, but Renee was happy to be with her sister.

After a few years, Beverly decided she needed help caring for her sister, so she and Renee moved back to North Carolina, where she has been offered a position at North Carolina Central University, to be closer to their sister Roni and her family.

Though her sister seemed happy, Beverly worried that Renee was at home much more than when she lived with their mother. In fall 2009, shortly after Renee turned 50, an opportunity arose for her to live independently in an assisted-living apartment complex, something that was unthinkable when their mother was alive. Renee’s astonishing response to this challenge at age 50 raises key questions about disability and ability.

Beverly McIver is currently the Suntrust Endowed Chair Professor of Art at North Carolina Central University. Her work is in the collections of the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro and the Baltimore Museum of Art, among other institutions, and has been reviewed in Art News, Art in America and the New York Times.

Critic Irving Sandler has described McIver’s art as a merger of “personal confession and social commentary, photography and painting, and realism and expressionism.” Husband and wife team Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan have been making documentary and fiction films for more than 20 years.

Their feature documentaries include 1995’s “Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern,” which won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance, the Prix Italia, and Peabody and IDA awards, and received an Academy Award nomination. Their documentary “So Much So Fast” premiered at Sundance and was broadcast worldwide.

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HBO Documentary Films’ Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, the conclusion of the award-winning trilogy that spawned a world-wide movement to free three convicted men – Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley – known as The West Memphis 3, tells the complete story of one of the most notorious child murder cases in U.S. history.

Provocative and timely, the film chronicles stunning new developments, culminating in the startling and unexpected conclusion just a few months ago, when Echols, who was on death row, and Baldwin and Misskelley, who were serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, were finally freed from prison after more than 18 years.

“Almost 20 years and three films ago, HBO’s Sheila Nevins sent us on this journey to document the terrible murders of three innocent boys and the subsequent circus that followed the arrests and convictions of Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley,” says filmmaker Joe Berlinger. “To see our work culminate in the righting of this tragic miscarriage of justice is more than a filmmaker could ask for.”

On May 5, 1993, the bodies of three eight-year-old boys were found next to a muddy creek in the wooded Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Ark. A month later, teenagers Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were arrested and later convicted of brutally raping, mutilating and killing them.

Following trials fraught with innuendoes of satanic worship, emotionally charged statements and allegations of coerced confessions, the defendants were convicted, despite a lack of physical evidence linking them to the crime.

With the support of HBO, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky have followed the story for almost two decades.  Arriving on the scene just days after the arrests, the filmmakers assumed they were making a film about guilty teenagers, as the local media was reporting an open-and-shut case.

They embedded themselves in the community for seven months prior to the 1994 trials and came to question the guilt of The West Memphis 3. By the time the trials were over, Berlinger and Sinofsky were convinced they had witnessed a modern-day witch-hunt.

Their first film, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996), shocked audiences around the world with its portrayal of a rush to judgment, and was followed by Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000), which revealed a flawed appeals process. The two films fueled a public and legal battle, raising awareness of the case and helping spark the worldwide movement Free The West Memphis 3, supported by celebrities such as Johnny Depp, Eddie Vedder and Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks.

Encouraged by the growing international support movement, HBO and the filmmakers began production on Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory in 2004. Says director and producer Berlinger, “We tried to make the film a self-sufficient viewing experience, so that you don’t have to have seen the previous films to fully comprehend this complicated case.”

Adds co-director Sinofsky, “We re-tell the early days of the case with footage we have never used before, so fans of the first two films will be viewing past events with a fresh perspective.”

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory reveals recent DNA and other forensic evidence (unavailable at the time of the murders), as well as other troubling developments, including allegations of juror misconduct, that suggest the trio did not receive a fair trial.  The film includes new interviews with Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley, who are now in their 30s, and many of the subjects of the first two documentaries, including John Mark Byers and Terry Hobbs, stepfathers of two of the victims and frequent targets of the media (and each other).

Besides drawing on 150 hours of footage shot since 2004, the filmmakers pored over hundreds of hours of original video and 16 mm footage from the first two productions, discovering compelling full-length scenes with new relevance.

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory also contains rarely seen news footage that is no longer available to the public, but had been meticulously archived by the filmmakers, as well as previously unseen photographs taken by Berlinger and director of photography Bob Richman over the course of 18 years.

The documentary ends with a stunning denouement, when Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley entered rarely used Alford pleas and were finally released from prison on Aug. 19, 2011, agreeing to plead guilty while asserting their innocence in order to secure their freedom, and most urgently, to get Echols off death row.

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory had its world premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival in its original form, and was subsequently updated and lengthened by 12 minutes to include The West Memphis 3’s remarkable release.

On Oct. 10, 2011, the three men, together in public for the first time since they left the Arkansas courthouse, were greeted with a standing ovation and the thunderous applause of 1,200 filmgoers at the conclusion of the world premiere of the longer version at the New York Film Festival.

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With its images of mountains and edelweiss, “The Sound of Music” might not seem like a natural fit for India’s “maximum city,” but the Bombay Chamber Orchestra begs to differ. Recruiting kids from the slums – home to half the city’s population — the Orchestra sets out to stage a one-time-only choral performance of the Rogers & Hammerstein score.

The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical tells the story of the tenacious, musically inclined Indian street children who are enlisted to perform a concert with members of the elite orchestra.  For 11-year-old Ashish, like many of the other kids, performing in the concert means more than singing in a world-class theater; it also offers the hope of rising above his social and cultural limits.

Highlighting the gap between dreams and reality while showing the power of music to transform lives, the uplifting documentary debuts November 23, exclusively on HBO2. The film is one of four documentaries about contemporary India debuting on HBO and HBO2 in November.

The others are: “Marathon Boy,” the story of a four-year-old marathon runner whose rags-to-riches saga morphs into a tale of greed, corruption and broken dreams, which debuted Nov. 3 on HBO; “The Bengali Detective,” a portrait of Rajesh Ji, who solves crimes in the city of Kolkata while following his dreams of being a professional dancer, debuting Nov. 16 on HBO2; and “Pink Saris,” profiling the unlikely female activists of Northern India’s Gulabi Gang, who battle violence against women, debuting Nov. 30 on HBO2.

At the center of The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical is 11-year-old Ashish, whose wide smile and optimism stand in sharp contrast to his family’s constricted slum shelter. He admits sometimes lacking confidence as he repeatedly writes and speaks the affirmation, “I will not be self-conscious,” but his natural charisma suggests he could go far, given the right opportunity.

Ashish’s greatest strength, like many of the street kids vying to make the cut, is the ability to look beyond his deplorable living conditions, remain positive during adversity, and continually seek a better life.

Now, Ashish has been tasked to perform a solo piece from “The Sound of Music” at Mumbai’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, normally inaccessible to the poor. He can’t help but attach dreams to the event, because he hopes to win the affections of an upper-class girl and inspire a patron to sponsor his education. With so many hopes riding on this single performance, the stakes are high.

The documentary captures the timeless international appeal of such tunes as “Do-Re-Mi” and “My Favorite Things.” For Ashish, “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” and “I Have Confidence” speak directly to his experience. Even in his challenging urban landscape, he can relate to the sentiments conveyed by the lyrics “Climb ev’ry mountain, ford ev’ry stream/Follow ev’ry rainbow, ‘til you find your dream.”

In telling his story, The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical never glosses over the difficulty of closing the gaps that lie between dreams and reality, rich and poor, but joyfully celebrates those who try. In addition to Ashish, The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical features Mangesh, Ashish’s best friend, who becomes jealous when Ashish is asked to be a soloist;

Nandini, a nine-year-old girl also given a solo, whose parents were once offered money by an American couple looking to adopt her and take her abroad; Kimberly, a well-spoken, supremely confident student at a posh Mumbai school, on whom Ashish develops a crush;

Johannes Steinwender, an Austrian music professor who has travelled to Mumbai to conduct the show; and Jini Dinshaw, the well-heeled founder of the Bombay Chamber Orchestra, who conceived the performance.

Notes Sarah McCarthy, the director, “Ashish has the sort of life force about him which makes him stand out. He’s ferociously intelligent and pretty much fearless.  In the first rehearsal all the kids were pretty scared, but not Ashish. He got so excited about singing the final note of ‘Do-Re-Me’ that he threw his hands in the air like some sort of evangelical preacher, which made Johannis, the conductor, notice him for the first time.

We’d always known he was going to be a character in the film, but when the conductor picked him to end the concert with ‘The Sound of Music,’ that pretty much secured his spot as the star.”

Sarah McCarthy made her directorial debut with “Murderers on the Dance Floor,” the story behind the YouTube clip of 1500 Filipino prisoners dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” which has been viewed by more than 43 million people. She also developed and produced the documentary “Black Widow Granny.”

The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical had its world premiere at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and has a special screening at DOC NYC this Nov. 8.

Image Courtesy of   http://soundofmumbaimovie.com

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The concluding documentary in HBO and HBO2‘s month of documentaries about modern-day India is the story of women’s rights in rural India. As a young girl in rural India, Sampat Pal was married into a family where she was often beaten. But she fought back, leaving her in-laws and eventually becoming famous as a champion for beleaguered women throughout Uttar Pradesh.

The latest foray into the lives of extraordinary women from director Kim Longinotto (Rough Aunties), Pink Saris profiles the unlikely political activists of Northern India’s Gulabi Gang and their fearless leader, Sampat Pal, who battle antiquated caste traditions that produce lives of verbal, physical and sexual abuse. The moving documentary debuts November 30, exclusively on HBO2.

Sampat Pal is the leader of the Gulabi Gang (aka the Pink Gang), a vigilante group of women in Northern India distinguished by their distinctive bright pink saris. Like many other women, Pal was married as a young girl into a family that made her work hard and often beat her. Unlike most other Indian women, she overcame her problems to become an outspoken, self-described “messiah” for women.

Though domestic abuse is illegal in India, tradition and the caste system are steadfastly upheld by many, especially in the rural areas where the Pink Gang operates. By tradition, women are not allowed to live with their own parents once they are married, and are at the mercy of the husband’s family.

If a woman comes from a lower caste, she is often not allowed to marry a man of higher rank. Pal’s strategy is to expose abusive husbands, in-laws and other offenders by settling family matters out in the open, turning the tables on those who did the damage.

Among the women who see her and the Pink Gang as their only hope are Rekha, a 14-year-old homeless “untouchable” (the lowest caste, whose members are now known as Dalits) who is three months pregnant and unable to marry her unborn child’s father because of her low caste, and 15-year-old Renu, whose husband from an arranged marriage has abandoned her and whose father-in-law has been abusing her.

Pal says, “Forget tradition. Women won’t suffer in silence. They won’t keep quiet any more.” While Pink Saris highlights Sampat Pal’s strength and passion as a leader, as well as her unique way of resolving disputes, it also sheds light on her private troubles. Her partner, Babuji, who has watched Pal change over the years, is less certain about her high-profile methods.

Kim Longinotto, the world-renowned director of Pink Saris, has won awards at festivals worldwide, including the World Cinema Jury Prize in Documentary at Sundance for Rough Aunties, which aired on HBO2 in May 2010; a 2008 Peabody Award and two Cannes awards for Sisters in Law; and an Amnesty International DOEN Award at IDFA and Best Doc UK Spotlight at Hot Docs for The Day I Will Never Forget, which premiered at Sundance in 2003 and debuted on Cinemax that year.

The Museum of Modern Art honored her with a film retrospective of her body of work in 2009 and she received Hot Docs’ Outstanding Achievement Award in 2010.

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The life-confirming documentary about Dee Dee Ricks and her emotional rebirth as a cancer survivor will debut on October 27, exclusively on HBO in conjunction with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The 39-year-old mother-of-two was living her dream as a self-made millionaire on New York City’s Upper East Side when she was diagnosed with aggressive stage II breast cancer.

Insured and affluent, she could afford the best treatment money could buy, but was shocked to realize how difficult it is for uninsured women in the same situation, and determined to do something about it. So there she was; a successful woman who finally made her full potential in the face of breast cancer.

The honest story of The Education Of Dee Dee Ricks tracks the transformation of Dee Dee from successful businesswoman to determined advocate for poor breast-cancer patients, even as she faces her own battle with the disease.

According to HBO’s press release, the story begins in 2008, when this self-described “vain” woman and single parent was diagnosed with aggressive stage II breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. She decided to document her experience for her children, in case anything happened to her.

During her successful recovery, Ricks receives her first medical bills. Although able to afford the payments, she is disturbed by the realization that many women are bankrupted by the expense.

Ricks subsequently meets with Dr. Harold P. Freeman, founder and president of Harlem’s Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care, believed to be the only cancer center in the nation to provide or ensure access to timely cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment to all patients, irrespective of their ability to pay, and she pledges to raise $2.5 million for the clinic.

At the clinic, Ricks bonds with Cynthia Dodson, an uninsured African-American breast cancer patient whose resilience and optimism are an inspiration. According to the American Cancer Society, African-American women are less likely to develop breast cancer, but 37 percent more likely to die, from the disease than their white counterparts.

The two become as close as sisters, supporting each other through treatment. As Ricks celebrates her last chemotherapy session, she learns that Dodson has spots on her liver and resolves to make sure her friend receives the best care possible, while stepping up her support for the Center.

Unfortunately, because Dodson’s diagnosis and treatment came late due to her financial status, her future is in doubt. Reflecting on her new priorities in life, Dee Dee concludes, “Cancer was the best thing that ever happened to me.” The Education Of Dee Dee Ricks showed at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year and will screen at the Paley Center’s DocFest later this month.

The filmmakers have also joined a major National Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign. Perri Peltz, the documentary’s director, is a former news correspondent and longtime public health advocate who reported on health-related issues for NBC and CNN and has worked for the Robin Hood Foundation supporting organizations that fight poverty.

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