American Documentary (POV)

American Documentary (AmDoc) is a national nonprofit media arts organization based in New York City that works to make essential documentaries accessible as a catalyst for public discourse. Filmmaker Marc Weiss founded it to give independent documentaries a consistent home on national public television; its flagship series POV launched on PBS on July 5, 1988.

POV, which stands for point of view, has presented more than 400 films and describes itself as American television's longest-running showcase for independent nonfiction film. POV Shorts, launched in 2018, is devoted to short-form documentaries and won Best Short Form Series at the IDA Documentary Awards in 2020, 2022 and 2023. America ReFramed, a co-production with WORLD, presents independent documentaries about American experiences. AmDoc counts 52 Emmy Awards, 29 Peabody Awards, 17 duPont-Columbia Awards and three Academy Awards among its films. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations including KQED San Francisco, WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET, with major funding from PBS and foundations.

Beyond broadcast, AmDoc runs the POV Community Network and Our America, facilitating more than 150 free community screenings, discussions and educational events a year in schools, universities, libraries, prisons and public spaces, and offers filmmaker fellowships and resources. About 25 staff work in programming and production, external affairs, impact and engagement, communications, education and community engagement, and finance and operations under Executive Director Erika Dilday.