National PBS is not the whole story. Despite reports to the contrary, public television in the U.S. remains a vital pathway for documentary distribution. But it's a vast, decentralized system of national strands, local stations, regional funders, open calls, commissioned series, and syndicators—and most independent filmmakers only ever knock on one door. But the pathway that didn't work for one film may be exactly right for another. Knowing how the pieces fit together can mean the difference between a broadcast and a dead end.
In this session, Emily Abi-Kheirs (Programming Manager at GBH and PTPA board member) and Nicole Tsien (independent producer and former POV staff) untangle the full public media ecosystem, tracing the real trajectories of real films to map the multiple entry points that exist. Attendees will leave with a practical mapping of how national PBS isn’t the only gatekeeper and confidence to find our own paths.
Facilitators: Emily Abi-Kheirs (GBH, PTPA), Nicole Tsien (producer)
Biographies (submitted by the speakers):
Emily Abi-Kheirs (she/they) is a nonfiction programmer and independent producer based in the Greater Boston area. She serves as Programming Manager at GBH, a renowned public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content, and as Program Director at Salem Film Fest, an independent documentary festival in Massachusetts. Beginning her career at WORLD Channel and later Women Make Movies, Emily is committed to amplifying historically excluded voices through film programming and distribution. They have been recognized as a leader in the documentary field by the Rockwood Leadership Institute (2024) and DOC NYC (2022).
Nicole Tsien is an Emmy-nominated independent producer from the Chinese diaspora and a lifelong New Yorker based in Queens. Her most recent producing credit includes the 2024 Doc NYC Audience Award winner, Slumlord Millionaire. In addition to her independent producing work, she has served as a supervising producer on Season 3 and 4 of Firelight's Homegrown documentary short film series. She worked in television for over a decade, most recently as Director of Program Development at CNN Films, and formerly as Co-Producer of POV on PBS, where she received multiple Documentary Emmys, Peabody awards, and nominations. She is a 2025-2026 Sundance Documentary Producers Fellow, part of EURODOC 2026, a 2024 Film Independent Documentary Producing Lab Fellow, a 2021 Rockwood JustFilms Fellow, and a 2020 Doc NYC Documentary New Leader. Nicole is on the Steering Committee for the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc) and serves as a board member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia.
National PBS is not the whole story. Despite reports to the contrary, public television in the U.S. remains a vital pathway for documentary distribution. But it's a vast, decentralized system of national strands, local stations, regional funders, open calls, commissioned series, and syndicators—and most independent filmmakers only ever knock on one door. But the pathway that didn't work for one film may be exactly right for another. Knowing how the pieces fit together can mean the difference between a broadcast and a dead end.
In this session, Emily Abi-Kheirs (Programming Manager at GBH and PTPA board member) and Nicole Tsien (independent producer and former POV staff) untangle the full public media ecosystem, tracing the real trajectories of real films to map the multiple entry points that exist. Attendees will leave with a practical mapping of how national PBS isn’t the only gatekeeper and confidence to find our own paths.
Facilitators: Emily Abi-Kheirs (GBH, PTPA), Nicole Tsien (producer)
Biographies (submitted by the speakers):
Emily Abi-Kheirs (she/they) is a nonfiction programmer and independent producer based in the Greater Boston area. She serves as Programming Manager at GBH, a renowned public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content, and as Program Director at Salem Film Fest, an independent documentary festival in Massachusetts. Beginning her career at WORLD Channel and later Women Make Movies, Emily is committed to amplifying historically excluded voices through film programming and distribution. They have been recognized as a leader in the documentary field by the Rockwood Leadership Institute (2024) and DOC NYC (2022).
Nicole Tsien is an Emmy-nominated independent producer from the Chinese diaspora and a lifelong New Yorker based in Queens. Her most recent producing credit includes the 2024 Doc NYC Audience Award winner, Slumlord Millionaire. In addition to her independent producing work, she has served as a supervising producer on Season 3 and 4 of Firelight's Homegrown documentary short film series. She worked in television for over a decade, most recently as Director of Program Development at CNN Films, and formerly as Co-Producer of POV on PBS, where she received multiple Documentary Emmys, Peabody awards, and nominations. She is a 2025-2026 Sundance Documentary Producers Fellow, part of EURODOC 2026, a 2024 Film Independent Documentary Producing Lab Fellow, a 2021 Rockwood JustFilms Fellow, and a 2020 Doc NYC Documentary New Leader. Nicole is on the Steering Committee for the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc) and serves as a board member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia.
