List of POV (TV series) episodes
Title Premiere Director Synopsis
Through the Wire June 26 , 1990 Nina Rosenblum In 1986 , three women convicted of politically motivated nonviolent offenses were transferred to a secret , subterranean prison where they were kept in constantly lit near isolation , watched 24 hours a day and strip-searched routinely for nearly two years . The women were not imprisoned in Turkey or Iran or Chile , but in Lexington , Ky
Police Chiefs June 30 , 1990 Alan Raymond , Susan Raymond How can we curb crime ? Three big city police chiefs reveal sharply differing philosophies of law enforcement . From Daryl Gates , who introduced SWAT to Los Angeles , to Anthony Bouza , who ruffled feathers in Minneapolis , to Lee P. Brown , who recently left Houston for New York , these top cop 's ideas about the causes and cures of crime are as varied as their personalities
Metamorphosis : Man Into Woman July 3 , 1990 Lisa Leeman Gary , a 39-year-old successful animation artist and devout Christian , is pursuing a lifelong dream - to become a woman . Metamorphosis is a candid , non-sensational and sometimes humorous journey of nearly three years as Gary prepares physically and emotionally for sex reassignment surgery . Along the way , the film raises provocative questions about what really makes us men and women
Larry Wright July 10 , 1990 Ari Marcopoulos , Maja Zrnic With a subway platform as his stage and a plastic can as his instrument , 14-year-old Larry Wright is a self-taught drummer with astonishing talent . Larry Wright is a rousing tribute to the Harlem youth and the rich culture of the urban streets
On Ice July 10 , 1990 Grover Babcock and Andrew Takeuchi Cryonics - the freezing of human beings after death for future revival - is the focus of this off-beat film by two science buffs-turned-film-majors . With commentary from Timothy Leary , a theologian and skeptical scientists , On Ice is alternately deadpan and dead serious
Letter To The Next Generation July 17 , 1990 Jim Klein Are college students today apathetic and self-centered ? Twenty years after National Guardsmen opened fire on student antiwar demonstrators , Jim Klein , a 60 's radical-turned-filmmaker ( Union Maids , Seeing Red ) visits the campus of Kent State to probe behind the stereotypes . Together with young patrons of the local tanning salon , activists-turned-professors , and an ROTC captain , Klein ponders the social forces that are changing campuses and the country in the 90 's
Salesman July 24 , 1990 Albert Maysles , David Maysles , Charlotte Zwerin In its national broadcast premiere , this bittersweet classic from pioneering filmmakers follows four door-to-door Bible salesmen as they walk the line between hype and despair
Kamala And Raji August 7 , 1990 Michael Camerini The textures and complexities of everyday life in India unfold in Michael Camerini 's richly observed story of two poor women and their efforts to improve their lives
Golub August 14 , 1990 Jerry Blumenthal and Gordon Quinn Golub is more than a portrait of the socially committed painter Leon Golub , whose massive canvases are intended to provoke viewers . It is about media and contemporary society , social responsibility and creativity , art and information
Days of Waiting August 15 , 1990 Steven Okazaki Artist Estell Peck Ishigo went with her Japanese American husband into an internment camp during World War II , one of the few Caucasians to do so . Vividly recreated from Ishigo 's own memoirs , photos and paintings , Days Of Waiting reveals the shattering relocation experience from an outsider 's perspective
Going Up ( TV episode ) August 21 , 1990 Gary Pollard In Going Up , the creation of a skyscraper is transformed by director Gary Pollard into a breathtaking visual experience as time-lapse photography , hard hat banter and construction worker choreography are set to a score by 15 new music composers in an urban ballet forty stories above New York harbor
Green Streets August 21 , 1990 Maria De Luca If a tree can grow in Brooklyn , can an eggplant flourish in the Bronx ? Maria De Luca 's Green Streets charts the spontaneous emergence of community gardens in New York City and how they 've helped to nourish neighborhood pride , racial tolerance and a budding sense of hope for hundreds of enthusiastic gardeners in the urban jungle
Motel August 28 , 1990 Christian Blackwood Behind the faded signs of three motels in the American Southwest lay entire worlds of passion , loyalty , adventure and fate . Veteran filmmaker Christian Blackwood winds his way into the soul of remarkable people in uniquely American subculture
¡Teatro ! September 4 , 1990 Ed Burke and Ruth Shapiro Founded by a Jesuit priest from St. Louis , a grassroots theatre company takes its shows on the unpaved roads of Honduras to enlighten and inspire villagers in the impoverished countryside
Ossian : American Boy , Tibetan Monk September 4 , 1990 Thomas R. Anderson Ossian Maclise is not an average American teenager . Born in Massachusetts , he has been living in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery since the age of four . At seven , his monastic order recognized Ossian as a tulku - a reincarnation of a high Tibetan lama
' People Power September 11 , 1990 Ilan Ziv After years of witnessing first hand the horrors of guerrilla wars , Israeli-born producer Ilan Ziv traveled to Chile , the Philippines and the West Bank to explore the development of People Power and to reexamine his own long-held belief in the necessary evil of violence to overthrow repressive governments
Season 3
The following is a list of episodes from PBS series POV, a production of American Documentary, Inc. Since 1988, POV has presented over 400 independently produced documentary films to public television audiences across the country. The series started its 30th season in mid-2017.