Director's Blog
by Layton Blaylock
Community First, A Home for the Homeless will be broadcast in San Juan, Puerto Rico on the PBS station WMTJ on Tuesday March 9, 2021 at 8:00 pm. This is not the first exhibition of the film outside of the continental U.S. It has screened in Russia, Mexico, and Lebanon all in 2020 as part of the American Film Showcase.
There’s some more exciting news coming in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.
In addition to the PBS broadcasts that are listed below, March begins with a special screening of Community First, A Home for the Homeless by the Port Townsend Film Festival & the Port Townsend Public Library. It’s part of their monthly installment called PTFF Pics. Our documentary will be available to stream March 1-7 and will be free. There will be a “conversation” between myself, MLF CEO Alan Graham, and the PTFF Executive Director Janette Force following the screening. You can claim your free ticket: HERE. Port Townsend is north of Seattle, and my previous documentary Art From the Streets played there back in back in 2006. I was thrilled they invited our film to be part of this event!
Now for the PBS broadcast schedule for next week March 1-7. Its all about Mississippi:
Statewide in Mississippi:
Memphis/Oxford: MPBN/WMAV, March 4 at 4:00pm
Jackson: MPB (@mpbonline), MPBN/WMAU, March 4 at 4:00pm, MPBN/WMPN, March 4 at 4:00pm
Columbus/Tupelo: MPBN/WMAB, March 4 at 4:00pm, MPBN/WMAE, March 4 at 4:00pm
Biloxi/Gulfport: MPBN/WMAH, March 4 at 4:00pm
Meridian: MPBN/WMAW, March 4 at 4:00pm
Greenwood/Greenville: MPBN/WMAO, March 4 at 4:00pm
Before I get to the schedule for the various PBS broadcasts of Community First, A Home for the Homeless for February 21-28, I have a personal note. This week February 15-17, my wife and I, along with millions of other Texans, were without power for 66 straight hours. I know that others went longer and many lost water. Fortunately, we never lost water. I hope that you’ll keep our suffering neighbors in your hearts and reach out where you can to help. I felt so fortunate to at least have a roof over my head and some food on hand. Over 500,000 of our fellow Americans don’t have either on a daily basis. This really needs to be addressed! This not is right, just, or humane.
So for the upcoming week of February 22-28, here is the PBS broadcast schedule as we know it:
Dallas:
KERA, February 21 at 10:00am
San Francisco:
KRCB, February 22 at noon & they just added a date: February 19 at 8:00pm
Columbus, OH:
WOUB Classic Channel, February 22 at 10:00pm and February 28 at 4:00pm
Los Angeles/San Bernardino:
KVCR, February 25 at 8:00pm
Austin:
KLRU, February 25 at 7:00pm
Spokane
KWSU, February 26 at 8:00pm
And, there are dates scheduled in March as well.
Thanks!
Layton
The PBS broadcast of Community First, A Home for the Homeless for the week of February 15-21 is:
Orlando:
WEFS, February 16 at 10:00pm
San Francisco:
KPJK (Northern California Public Media), February 17 at 9:00pm
KPJK (Northern California Public Media), February 20 at 6:00pm
Statewide in South Carolina: Charlotte, Spartanburg, Greenville, Columbia, Sumter, Carleston, Myrtle Beach, Augusta, Savannah:
SCETV/WNSC,WNEH, WNTV, WRET, WRJA, WRLK, WITV, WHMC, WJPM, WEBA, WJWJ
February 16 at 8:00am
Orlando:
WEFS, February 16 at 10:00pm
Albuquerque:
KENW, February 17 at 3:00am
Dallas:
KERA, February 21 at 8:00pm
More and more cities and times are being added everyday, so stay tuned.
Unfortunately, I failed to post the broadcast times, dates, and locations for the first week of February, but here is the current schedule for the week of February 8-14:
Dallas:
KERA, February 9 at 8:00pm
KERA, February 10 at 11:00pm
KERA, February 13 at 5:00am
KERA, February 14 at 4:00am
Memphis/Oxford, MS:
MPBN/WMAV, February 9 at 2:00pm
Jackson, MS:
MPBN/WMAU, February 9 at 2:00pm
MPBN/WMPN, February 9 at 2:00pm
Columbus/Tupelo, MS:
MPBN/WMAB, February 9 at 2:00pm
MPBN/WMAE, February 9 at 2:00pm
Biloxi/Gulfport, MS:
MPBN/WMAH, February 9 at 2:00pm
Meridian, MS:
MPBN/WMAW, February 9 at 2:00pm
Greenwood/Greenville, MS:
MPBN/WMAO, February 9 at 2:00pm
Denver:
KBDI 12.1/Colorado Public Television, February 10 at 8:00pm
KBDI 12.1/Colorado Public Television, February 11 at 1:00am
Marquette, MI:
WNMU, February 14 at 7:00pm
Many of these cities will be airing it again later in February. Next week, I’ll post the schedule for February 15-21.
I am beyond thrilled to announce that our documentary will begin its PBS broadcast debut next week, February 1, 2021! At this point, these are the cities that will be broadcasting our documentary: Los Angeles/San Bernardino, Dallas, San Francisco, Denver, San Antonio, Columbus OH, Austin TX, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Marquette MI, statewide in Mississippi, and statewide in South Carolina. More and more stations are starting to slot the film into their schedules, so we plan to update this list soon.
It’s been several months since my last post, but it wasn’t because there wasn’t anything happening! Where to start? The biggest news is that we have recently secured a licensing agreement with PBS, and the film will make its broadcast debut on PBS in February of 2021. More on that to come.
I’m excited to announce that the Bullock Museum (in Austin) has selected Community First, A Home for the Homeless to be part of their Texas Focus Film Series. Because of Covid, it will be a virtual event and the film will be available to watch November 1-6. There will be a Zoom Q&A on November 5 at 7:30pm.
Also, since our film was selected by the American Film Showcase in 2019 to be one of the 35 films on their roster, the documentary will be shown in Mexico, Lebanon, and Russia in October of 2020. I’m so proud to know that people around the world will be introduced to the innovative and successful model of Community First! Village.
Sorry for the long absence, and I’ll try to keep to keep developments more up to date!
Bullock Museum Texas Focus Film Series
Community First, A Home for the Homeless will be screening as part of the now online New Story Retreat which is part of the New Story Festival. The New Story Retreat is “a three-day experiment in discovering together the New Story of compassionate Action, collective liberation and radical reconciliation!”. There are a variety of speakers and activities over the three days. Check out the website and schedule. There will be an online moderated Question & Answer session at 2:15 on Saturday, March 28 which will feature producer/director Layton Blaylock. You can register for the retreat here.
On January 29, 2020, the Charter for Compassion hosted a webinar with Karen Yang, Director of Education at Mobile Loaves & Fishes and Layton Blaylock, Producer/Director of Community First, A Home for the Homeless. If you are interested in seeing this webinar, click here to see it.
I’m thrilled to announce that Community First, A Home for the Homeless will be featured in a webinar by Charter for Compassion on January 29, 2020 at 8:00am. Charter for Compassion is committed to making the world a better place. They work to establish and sustain cultures of compassion locally and globally through diverse sectors—arts, business, education, the environment, healthcare, interfaith communities, peace, restorative justice, science and research, social justice, social services, science and research and women and girls. They are a network of networks, connecting organizers and leaders from around the world, providing educational resources, organizing tools, and avenues for communication; sharing lessons, stories, and inspiration; providing the umbrella of the Charter for Compassion for conferences, events, collaborations, conversations and initiatives to create compassionate communities and institutions.
The webinar will feature Producer/Director Layton Blaylock and Karen Yang, Director of Education with Mobile Loaves & Fishes. You can register for the webinar here.
