Join Panhandle PBS for a celebration of the beloved Fred Rogers, and help collect needed items for Eveline Rivers Christmas Project and High Plains Food Bank.
A free Indie Lens Pop-Up screening of the acclaimed 2018 documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor? will begin at 6:30 p.m. April 1 in the Skyline Room on the 16th floor of Amarillo National Bank Plaza One. (Because of construction, enter on Fifth Avenue.)
One of the most celebrated theatrical releases of 2018, Neighbor takes an intimate look at America’s favorite neighbor and tells the story of the soft-spoken minister, puppeteer, writer and producer whose show was beamed daily into homes across America for more than 30 years.
In his beloved television program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Rogers and his cast of puppets and friends spoke directly to young children about some of life’s weightiest issues in a simple, direct fashion. There hadn’t been anything like Mister Rogers on television before, and there hasn’t been since.
In the spirit of Mister Rogers, Panhandle PBS will conduct a food drive for High Plains Food Bank and a sweater drive for Eveline Rivers Christmas Project (hoodies and fleeces also are sought).
Fred Rogers’ career represented a sustained attempt to present a coherent, beneficent view of how television could be used as a positive force in society. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? explores his legacy, focusing on these radically kind ideas. While the nation changed around him, Rogers stood firm in his belief about the importance of protecting childhood.
This intimate portrait goes beyond zip-up cardigans and the land of make-believe, into the heart of a creative genius who inspired generations of children with compassion and limitless imagination.
Since its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2018, the film has become the top-grossing biographical documentary of all time, earning more than $22 million at the domestic box office. It received three Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, including Best Documentary, Best Director and Best Editing, as well as the Audience Award at the IFP Gotham Awards. Neville’s film was also nominated for the IDA Documentary Award for Best Feature, nabbed five Cinema Eye Honors, including Best Documentary, and won both the Producers Guild of America Award for Documentary and the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary.
The film premiered on Independent Lens on PBS in February.
Panhandle PBS Indie Lens Pop-Up screenings are supported by ITVS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Local support is provided by the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health.
Future Indie Lens Pop-Up screenings will include Charm City on April 23 at the Amarillo Public Library downtown branch and Wrestle in May (date and location to be announced later).
For information, call 806-371-5224
