Inventing Tomorrow Receives the Peabody Award for Documentary Film
Los Angeles (June 10, 2020) - Inventing Tomorrow, the acclaimed documentary feature that premiered on the award-winning PBS series POV has been honored with the Peabody Award for Documentary Film. Selected from among 60 nominees that represent the most compelling and empowering stories released in broadcast and digital media during 2019, the film continues to inspire and engage both teachers and students with a national STEM education campaign funded by Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Tangled Bank Studios.
“We are absolutely thrilled and deeply grateful to be recognized by the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors for this outstanding honor,” said the film’s director Laura Nix. “We are so proud that Inventing Tomorrow’s urgent message of youth leadership advocating for environmental sustainability is being recognized by this distinguished community.”
Building on the film’s 2018 launch at Sundance, and followed by its August 2019 premiere on the widely acclaimed PBS series POV, which drew more than 2.2 million viewers, Inventing Tomorrow continues to engage audiences through its ongoing availability on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming platform and encore national broadcasts on WORLD Channel (most recently April 24, 2020). To deepen the learning, the focus of the film’s ongoing outreach and engagement activity is a national STEM education campaign funded by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios and several private funders.
“We are extremely proud to be associated with this film and the accompanying outreach efforts, said Head of HHMI Tangled Bank Studios Sean B. Carroll. “Congratulations to the incredible team of filmmakers, scientists and educators who have come together to inspire the next generation about how science can heal and restore our natural world.”
The campaign includes new short format video modules to accompany an updated curricular package for primary and secondary schools (both will be released later this summer) in conjunction with HHMI BioInteractive’s “Understanding Global Change” interactive, which helps students understand how Earth’s systems are affected by human activities. The new materials will be rolled out nationally through a series of Teacher Town Hall events this Fall and Winter in partnership with at least 20 local PBS stations, who are exceptionally strong education partners with schools and districts at the local level. All the materials will also be made widely available online at no charge.
“The new round of funding from HHMI Tangled Bank Studios is an incredibly smart and generous investment,” said producer Diane Becker of Fishbowl Films. “We will be able to reach tens of thousands of teachers with our new curricular materials and we’ll be training hundreds of them in-person (or via webinar, pending near-term developments with the COVID-19 pandemic),” added Melanie Miller, also a producer with Fishbowl Films.
In addition to the availability on Amazon Prime, Inventing Tomorrow streaming links and DVDs are available to educators for FREE through Good Docs courtesy of HHMI Tangled Bank Studios. The film will also be presented for FREE through periodic online screening events hosted by POV and WORLD Channel utilizing OVEE, public media’s proprietary online screening platform. Screenings include live video panel discussions with filmmakers, documentary subjects, and STEM education experts where viewers can ask their questions in real time via chat. The next online screening event is scheduled for June 11 at 3:00 pm Eastern / 12:00 pm Pacific. Register in advance or click-thru at screening time: https://ovee.itvs.org/screenings/n7lb6
Ongoing updates about these and other activities are available on Inventing Tomorrow’s social media accounts: https://www.facebook.com/InventingTomorrowMovie/, https://twitter.com/InventingTmrw
About Director Laura Nix
Laura Nix is a director, writer and producer working in non-fiction and fiction. She was nominated for a 2020 Academy Award for her documentary short WALK RUN CHA-CHA. Laura also directed award-winning feature documentaries INVENTING TOMORROW, THE YES MEN ARE REVOLTING, and THE LIGHT IN HER EYES. She was named a 2018 Chicken & Egg Breakthrough Filmmaker, was awarded the Sundance Institute/Discovery Impact Fellowship in 2017, and is a former fellow at the MacDowell Colony and Film Independent. Raised in New York state and based in Los Angeles, Laura is a film expert for the U.S. State Department’s American Film Showcase and a member of the Academy for Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
About Fishbowl Films
Founded by Diane Becker & Melanie Miller, FISHBOWL FILMS is a full-service entertainment company with a primary focus on creating and producing documentary and narrative projects for film, television, and new media. The collective background and experience we bring in development, production, independent financing, and distribution across all media platforms drives our passion and commitment to nurture and discover original voices in the ever-changing world of entertainment.
About P.O.V.
POV (a cinema term for “point of view”) is television’s longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films. POV premieres 14-16 of the best, boldest and most innovative programs every year on PBS. Since 1988, POV has presented over 500 films to public television audiences across the country. POV films are known for their intimacy, their unforgettable storytelling and their timeliness, putting a human face on contemporary social issues. POV films have won every major film and broadcasting award including 38 Emmys, 26 George Foster Peabody Awards, 13 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Broadcast Journalism Awards, and three Academy Awards, among others. As a series broadcast on the national PBS schedule, POV can be seen by over 97% of the American viewing public, with a cumulative audience average of 2.5 million per program. In addition, POV works with thousands of educators and community groups, reaching over 15,000 people directly.
About WORLD Channel
WORLD Channel tells stories that humanize complex issues. WORLD shares the best of public media in news, documentaries, and fact-based informational programming that helps us understand conflicts, movements and cultures that may be distinct from our own. WORLD's Emmy® Award-winning original content offers a national platform to makers examining issues too often ignored by mainstream media. These emerging and master filmmakers spotlight a diversity of voices, telling stories not heard elsewhere. Carried by 165 partner stations in markets representing almost 67% of US TV households, WORLD can also be experienced via WORLDChannel.org and social media platforms.
About HHMI Tangled Bank Studios
HHMI Tangled Bank Studios is a mission-driven production company that crafts exceptional films about science and scientists for broadcast, theatrical and digital distribution. As storytellers within a world class science organization, we are uniquely positioned to shine a light on some of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of our time – and explain why they matter. Recent films include The Farthest – Voyager In Space, which won an Emmy for best science documentary; The Serengeti Rules, a NY Times ‘critic’s pick’ which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and broadcast on PBS/Nature; and Peabody Award-winner Inventing Tomorrow, which premiered at Sundance and aired on PBS/POV. For more information, please visit WWW.TANGLEDBANKSTUDIOS.ORG.