ouis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker, twice winners of both the Peabody Award and the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, have over the past 20 years produced critically praised documentaries for their production companies, Kingfish Productions and The Center for New American Media. Their most recently completed project was "MOMS" (1999), a poignant and hilarious look at motherhood starring more than 40 mothers who dish about what one calls "the hardest job in the world - raising children".
Their previous credits include "Vote for Me -- Politics in America," a four-hour examination of politics, politicians and voters that the Chicago Tribune called "the standout in a season of documentaries"; USA Today said was "pure Americana, merry and marvelous and authentic"; and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called "a masterpiece -- unmatched by anything you'll see this political season in the breadth and depth with which it makes you laugh, makes you enraged, and -- most remarkable of all -- makes you care about politics." Seen on prime time PBS, "Vote for Me" was awarded the George Foster Peabody Award, the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award and a News and Public Affairs Emmy Award in 1997. The series was co-produced with Paul Stekler.
Alvarez and Kolker won their first Peabody in 1988 for "American Tongues," about the differences in the way Americans speak and the attitudes people have about regional and social accents. It launched the PBS anthology series "P.O.V," and since then has become something of a classic. The Washington Post described it as "celebratory and swell, right down to the closing credits" and The Los Angeles Times wrote that "this is the perfect example of a film that begins with a simple-enough subject and expands it seductively -- it's enthralling."
In 1993, Alvarez and Kolker received the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award for their documentary "Louisiana Boys -- Raised on Politics," a rollicking look at Bayou State politics that The Washington Post called "as insightful as it is entertaining ... the first documentary within memory to see the American political process for what it really is -- cultural anthropology." "Louisiana Boys" was produced with Paul Stekler and broadcast on "P.O.V."
Other recent work includes "L.A. Is It with John Gregory Dunne," a meditation on the culture of Los Angeles produced for PBS' "Travels" series that Entertainment Weekly called "deft, sharp and pointed ... one of "Travels'" best hours"; and "The Japanese Version," an exploration of what happens when American popular culture gets to Japan.
Shorter works include "The News Doctors," a look into TV news consultants produced for the 1996 ITVS/PBS series "Signal to Noise," and a series of short films on permanent exhibit at the Ellis Island Museum of Immigration in New York.
Alvarez and Kolker are currently at work on a new project for public television: "Class in America," a miniseries about the American social class system.
