The Art and Culture Center/Hollywood’s award-winning documentary Open Dialogues: Black Voices | Black Stories is among 24 South Florida film shorts selected to be televised during Season 5 of the South Florida PBS film-maker project.
Season 5 launched on Nov. 8 with the broadcast-television premiere of Black Voices | Black Stories on WPBT-Channel 2 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The 24-minute film reached homes from the Palm Beaches to Fort Pierce two days later on WXEL-Channel 42. Each broadcast included a “9 Questions in 90 Seconds” segment with Director Freddy Rodriguez and Producer Jeff Rusnak, who also serves as Director of Development at the Center.
Black Voices | Black Stories will air again on Jan. 10 on WPBT and Jan. 12 on WXEL before being available nationally to other PBS stations. Presented over 10 episodes, Season 5 of the film-maker project shares stories that define the South Florida community, explore diverse themes, and deepen the understanding of ourselves and our neighbors.
“Not only will South Florida PBS broadcast these films to an estimated 6.5 million viewers,” SFPBS President and CEO Dolores (Sukhdeo) Fernandez Alonso noted, “but we will also distribute the series online and offer it up for national distribution as [we] have done with previous seasons, providing filmmakers access to a significantly broader audience.”
Directed, photographed, and edited by Freddy Rodriguez, Black Voices | Black Stories focuses on what social justice looks and feels like for Black Americans, as told through the narratives and performances of eight community leaders in Broward County. To learn more, see artandculturecenter.org/black-voices-black-stories.
SOUTH FLORIDA PBS is Florida’s largest public media company, including Public Broadcasting stations WXEL-TV, serving the Palm Beaches and the Treasure Coast, and WPBT2, serving Miami-Dade and Broward counties, and the Health Channel, a 24/7 television and multi-platform health and wellness service.
Open Dialogues: Black Voices | Black Stories is funded by an Art of Community grant from the Community Foundation of Broward. Support was provided by the following Funds at the Foundation: Helen and Frank Stoykov Charitable Endowment Fund, Ruth H. Brown Fund for the Arts, Dot and Keith Cobb Fund, and Mary and Alex Mackenzie Community Impact Fund.
