PBS Film Festival to feature Arnel Pineda of Journey, '56 Up'

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PBS' Online Film Festival, accessible beginning March 4 via all PBS digital platforms, YouTube and PBS social media channels, will showcase 25 short films that feature a diversity of subjects, voices and viewpoints. The featured films were produced by a number public media partners, Viewers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite short film from March 4 through March 22; the film with the most votes will receive the People's Choice Award. The winning film will be announced in early April. "As we've seen with PBS Digital Studios, the appetite for well-produced video on the web is growing substantially. Last year, Americans viewed more than 38 billion videos online a month,"said Jason Seiken, PBS General Manager, Digital. "The Online Film Festival is a great example of how we can leverage the web's reach to showcase the terrific work of our producing partners, including the work of PBS member stations. We see the Online Film Festival as another example of how PBS and our partners are innovating and experimenting with different formats and platforms."

BTW, if you have never watched the "7 Up" series, do so now! The featured films include the following (air dates are TBD): "56 Up"– POVA film by Michael Apted "56 Up" is the eighth film in a series of landmark documentaries that began 49 years ago when UK-based Granada's World in Action team, inspired by the Jesuit maxim "Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man," interviewed a diverse group of seven-year-old children from all over England, asking them about their lives and their dreams for the future. Michael Apted, a researcher for the original film, has returned to interview the "children" every seven years since, at ages 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, and now at age 56. In this latest chapter, more life-changing decisions are revealed, more shocking announcements are made and more of the original group takes part than ever before, speaking out on a variety of subjects including love, marriage, career and class. "Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey" – INDEPENDENT LENSA film by Ramona Diaz For Arnel Pineda, the past five years have been the stuff that dreams are made of. In 2007, hisfriend began uploading videos of the aspiring Filipino singer covering classic rock songs onto YouTube. One of the videoswas seen by Neal Schon, guitarist for the iconic rock band Journey. Blown away by Pineda's talent and uncanny vocal similarity to former Journey front man Steve Perry, Schon flew Pineda from Manila to San Francisco to audition for the band.The rest is history. But Pineda's personal journey had just begun. His mother died when he was 12 and he ended up on the streets. And with no classical music training, he was anything but prepared for the grueling physical and emotional strains that come from fronting a rock band on a whirlwind world tour. Can a man who has already overcome so many obstacles deal with the demands of his newfound fame?