From the President

For ten years The Paley Center for Media has kept its commitment to bringing documentary filmmakers to our New York screening theaters to show their work and to lead interactive conversations with our audiences about the important issues that their films explore and expose. Our annual PaleyDocFest has brought you such award-winning films as Born into Brothels, Street Fight, and Lalee's Kin, as well as a look at the Cold War series with Mikhail Gorbachev and the then work-in-progress of Ken Burns's The War.

This year the films we selected are united under the idea “Where Politics Meets Culture.” They include an evening with Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof about his reporting on the issues of women worldwide and the opportunities that exist in further empowering half the world’s population; a look at U.S. politics and celebrity with Barry Levinson in his film Poliwood; and an examination of the lives of brave teenage girls in Iran reaching out for help in The Glass House. For more about this framework, read curator Ron Simon’s piece.

The documentary art form, like no other, brings the viewer to realities they might never otherwise experience, and through narrative has the power to interpret and add meaning to images. It’s important cultural work that we at the Paley Center are proud to spotlight.

This Festival would not be possible without the support of our longtime sponsor, The Hearst Corporation. And I'd like to recognize SnagFilms, the Paley Center's official documentary online distribution collaborator.

Pat Mitchell
President & CEO
The Paley Center for Media