PBS SoCal, Southern California’s flagship PBS organization, has announced a lineup of 17 enlightening programs in honor of Women’s History Month this March.
From the pioneering women of the past, to today’s trailblazers, the content lineup presents stories of fearless creativity and the unstoppable passion of women everywhere. Highlights of this year’s Women’s History Month slate showcase the triumphs and struggles of a young female basketball prodigy in “Home Court” on “Independent Lens” as well as the path of Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s work in “Great Performances at the Met” and the life of a renowned British cellist in the premiere of the documentary “Jacqueline Du Pre: Genius and Tragedy.” And after the recent devastating Los Angeles wildfires, PBS SoCal will encore last year’s 30-minute documentary “Women of Fire,” offering a moving tribute to the female firefighters in the region.
“Home Court” is a coming-of-age documentary about Ashley Chea, a Cambodian American basketball player, as she navigates life and sports within the dynamics of her immigrant family. Filmed over three years of Ashely’s high school career as she endured the pressures of college recruitment and faced a devastating knee injury, viewers will watch Chea as she balances her life between her lower-income home in Los Angeles and the private school where she led her basketball team to notoriety, grappling with the complexities of racial and class differences.
The 90-minute documentary will be broadcast on Monday, March 24, at 10 p.m. on PBS SoCal. For other PBS stations, check local listings.
Director, co-producer and co-writer Erica Tanamachi is an MFA Cinema graduate of San Francisco State University. Her recent film “Winn” attained a PBS distribution deal. She was creative producer for “Motherload” (2019), which won Best International Documentary from Hollywood North Film Awards. Tanamachi also won Best Documentary from The Documentary Foundation for her short “Living Poets.”
Co-producer Jenn Lee Smith is a queer filmmaker and supporter of underrepresented narrative and documentary films such as “Mija” (2022) and “Pray Away” (2021). She was a part of Re-Present Media’s Re-Take Oakland program and is the founder of Bewilder Films, a production company dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices.
Co-producer Brandon Soun is an emerging Cambodian American filmmaker and an Asian American Studies graduate of UCLA. His work highlights the Cambodian diaspora in America. He was a 2022 Armed-With-a-Camera Fellow and his short “Conversations at the Register” (2022) won the “Audience Choice Award” at the 2023 Seattle Asian American Film Festival.
For the full schedule of programs, go to: www.pbssocal.org/womens-history-month
For more information on “Independent Lens”: www.pbs.org/independentlens/coming-soon/