On International Human Rights Day in December, The Refuge Media Project announced the launch of its new website, www.refugemediaproject.org. Ben Achtenberg (Academy Award nominee for Code Gray) and associate producer Roz Dzelzitis are producing a half-hour documentary on immigrant torture survivors in the United States, and how some individuals and organizations are working to help survivors deal both with their past trauma and with the American healthcare system. In addition to updates about this and other productions, the site will be an online information and news source for people working on issues related to torture. Achtenberg's company, Fanlight Productions (www.fanlight.com), distributes more than 400 documentaries on healthcare, mental health, aging, disabilities and related issues.

Director/cinematographer John Fiege’s Mississippi Chicken looks at questions of race, workers’ rights and exploitation among Latin American immigrants living in Mississippi working in the poultry industry. Fiege reports good news: Senator Edward Kennedy and others in Congress recently announced that they would hold hearings this spring on worker health and safety in the poultry industry. The hearings were spurred in part by a six-part special report in the Charlotte Observer called “The Cruelest Cuts,” which chronicled the plight of poultry workers at the House of Raeford Farms poultry plants in the Carolinas. The report revealed the health and safety violations on the Carolina poultry plants, similar to those that occurred in Mississippi Chicken. http://mississippichicken.com.

Rock ’n’ roll pioneer Wanda Jackson is profiled in a new documentary, The Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice, by Vincent Kralyevich and Joanne Fish. It screened at SXSW, and Jackson sang at a club the night before the screening. The film premieres May 18 on Smithsonian Channel (www.smithsonianchannel.com).

MacGillivray Freeman Films, the Academy Award-nominated producers of large-format experiential films (Everest, The Living Sea) has released its newest film, Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk. This is the company’s first-ever 3D film for IMAX Theatres. Grand Canyon Adventure takes audiences on an illuminating rafting trip through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River with two environmental heroes: world-renowned river advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and celebrated author/anthropologist/explorer Wade Davis (The Serpent and the Rainbow), each accompanied by their daughters—Kick Kennedy and Tara Davis. A stirring score and songs from the Grammy Award-winning Dave Matthews Band sets the mood for this adventure that explores the spiritual, artistic and life-sustaining powers of water—and makes crystal clear that each of us must do our part to better manage this crucial resource for our future.

IDA Trustee ITN Source, one of the world’s leading providers of professional video content, has appointed Ian CheeWah as managing director for its North American business. In his new role, CheeWah will be responsible for driving growth opportunities in America, with his more than 15 years of experience in business development, strategy and sales. He worked with Sapient from 1995 to 2007, where he headed various groups and regions as well as spearheaded the development of three new business lines: Media & Entertainment, Telecom and Government Services. Further strengthening the US team, Gerald Major will join as US sales manager in New York, reporting to CheeWah. www.itnsource.com

Ethno Pictures, a nonprofit film company headed by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary director Tod Lending, has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the Wallace Foundation to produce a feature-length documentary and outreach project targeted for a national PBS release in 2009. The documentary, produced in association with Nomadic Pictures and directed by Lending and veteran PBS director David Mrazek, will follow several principals who are working to improve the educational standards of their challenging public schools. Starting from the ground up, the film will examine the complex challenges of leading a school and raising student achievement. The film will reveal leadership issues through the voices and visions of parents, teachers, principals, administrators, city officials and state and federal legislators.

Peter von Puttkamer of Gryphon Productions Inc. premiered his new show Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey on the History Channel on April 20, 2008. The show details the untold story of the psychedelic ’60s. It traces the journey of hallucinogens from jungle shamans and Native Americans to the hippie generation, all through the work of Harvard Professor Richard Evans Schultes. The program stars Schultes protégé Wade Davis (National Geographic Explorer in Residence), Bob Weir (Grateful Dead), Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Albert Hofmann (the 100-year-old inventor of LSD). It was shot in five countries, primarily on Varicam. The production also shot on HD-Cam and hand-held Bolex.

Judith Vogelsang was nominated for a DGA Award for outstanding directorial achievement in a children's program for GOINGGREEN: Every Home an Eco-Home. The half-hour documentary is airing on PBS stations through 2009. GOINGGREEN was the only independent production and Vogelsang was the only woman among the Children's Program nominated directors.