MPT recognizes the importance of local and independent filmmakers and their unique ability to capture truths about the world with artistic integrity, intelligence, and balance. MPT supports these artists and gives viewers access to their voices and viewpoints. These producers' programs provide viewers with a better understanding of the world, an open door to the arts, and actionable information to improve their daily lives.

Welcome, producers! Please scroll to the bottom of this page for special information about submitting your work or program ideas to MPT.

Happy Campers

Monday, June 23rd @ 9:00 PM (premiere); Tuesday, June 24th @ 2:00 AM

In a waterfront campground off the coast of Virginia, tenants live spitting-distance apart in rows of rust-bitten RVs. And while blue collar Inlet View is nothing like The Hamptons, beneath a few trailer park stereotypes lies an improbable utopia where anyone who makes it past the gate is welcome. When their shabby Shangri-La is sold for luxury development, the residents face eviction and risk losing their neighbors. In the process, they reveal what it truly means to live a rich life.

Lou's Legacy: A Reporter's Life at the Washington Blade

Saturday, June 28th @ 10:00 PM (premiere); Sunday, June 29th @ 2:00 AM

A look at the story of two DC icons: legendary newspaper reporter Lou Chibbaro Jr. and Donnell Robinson, a beloved drag performer who has been entertaining Washington’s LGBTQ community as “Ella Fitzgerald” since 1975. The documentary traces DC’s LGBTQ history through the lens of Lou’s nearly five-decade career at the Blade, where he chronicled stories the mainstream media often ignored or erased. As Lou reports a news story about Ella’s triumphant return to the stage after a three-year hiatus due to Covid, the two trailblazers reflect on their parallel journeys — and discuss the rising backlash facing the LGBTQ community, including laws targeting drag performers.

Headwaters Down: Ep. 101  (aired locally as Headwaters Down)

Monday, June 23rd @ 8:00 PM  (MPT2/Create)

Five friends take a 13-day, 250-mile journey from the headwaters of the James River to the fall line in Richmond, VA, exploring the troubled history of the river's environment and the lives that have been lived along the banks. Along their journey, they struggle to stay positive through threats of violence, the loss of a boat, and news of sewage leaks and coal train derailments along the river.

Headwaters Down: Ep. 102 (aired locally as Headwaters Down: Tidal River)

Monday, June 30th @ 8:00 PM  (MPT2/Create)

A sequel to the 2022 film, Headwaters Down, this documentary follows five friends as they attempt to finish their multi-year journey of documenting Virginia's James River, one of the most consequential waterways in North America. Picking up the story in Richmond, Virginia and continuing for 110 miles to the Chesapeake Bay, the film crew uses sea kayaks to explore the tidal waters and the historical impact of the James river.

To Dine For with Kate Sullivan, Season 7 (10 eps.)

Premieres weekly on Thursdays @ 7:00 PM starting May 1st

Four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist Kate Sullivan accompanies 10 different guests to their favorite restaurants.  Over dinner, Kate's guests - entrepreneurs, change agents, musicians, actors, newsmakers and others - discuss their early lives, their struggles, and their successes. This season looks at how people are redefining the American dream, often with a focus on entrepreneurship and service. Guests for Season 7 include Alice Walton, Eva Longoria, Michael Flatley, Cesar Milan, Alli Webb, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

The Last Independent Automaker (6 eps.)

1st three episodes premiere weekly on Saturdays @ 5:30 PM starting May 10th

At half the size of its Big Three competitors, American Motors Corporation had to innovate throughout its 30-year history to survive. AMC factories provided new opportunities and a pathway to the middle class for thousands of minorities, women and immigrants. However, the perfect storm of economics, mismanagement, and betrayal would eventually bring everything crashing down.

P.O.W.: Passing on Wisdom

Sunday, May 25th @ 3:00 PM

Vietnam Prisoners of War recall their experiences and the inspirational story of how they not only survived their imprisonment, but found growth and gratitude afterwards. In their reflections can be seen the humanity that belies the unfathomable circumstances they survived, and how the Naval Academy's principles of leadership and camaraderie helped guide them through the darkness. Their stories are juxtaposed with those of recent Naval Academy Midshipmen who are facing the COVID pandemic and applying those same foundational values to their own experiences of trauma and post-traumatic growth, of communication and disinformation, of the trials of solitary confinement and isolation.