The Independent Lens film Brakeless, which aired this season, was just given the great honor of winning a Peabody Award, which recognizes distinguished and meritorious public service by American radio and television stations, networks, online media, producing organizations, and individuals. The 74th annual Peabody Award winners were announced today online and by the Peabody program at the University of Georgia.
Other winners include United States of Secrets, a deeply researched FRONTLINE documentary about the alarming growth of government surveillance at home and abroad since 9/11; American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, a POV film about a remarkable Chinese-American human-rights activist;and Freedom Summer, an American Experience remembrance of a pivotal Civil Rights campaign: the life-risking voter-registration expedition to Mississippi in 1964.
Brakeless, a film by Kyoko Miyake, aired on PBS in October 2014 and looked at the tragic 2005 Amagasaki railway crash in Japan as a way to ignite a larger discussion on the value of (and obsession with) efficiency in our lives. We extend hearty congratulations to Kyoko on this prestigious honor.
