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The Best Episodes of POV

Every episode of POV ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of POV!

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Since its 1988 premiere, this critically acclaimed documentary series has presented hundreds of films that put a human face on contemporary social issues by relating a compelling story in an intimate fashion. "POV" has won

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    POV Season 17 Episode 15 - Episode 15
    8.0/10(1 votes)

    #1 - Episode 15

    S17:E15

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. POV Season 13 Episode 7 - American Gypsy: A Stranger in Everybody's Land
    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #2 - American Gypsy: A Stranger in Everybody's Land

    S13:E7

    Exploring the secretive and largely unassimilated Romani culture as it follows one Spokane, Wash., Gypsy family. That family, the Markses, had a score to settle with the city of Spokane, which had their house raided in 1986 in search of stolen goods. The family later sued for improper police search, and writer-director Jasmine Dellal's film follows the case---and family head Jimmy Marks' obsession with it---closely.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. POV Season 19 Episode 13 - My Country, My Country
    6.5/10(4 votes)

    #3 - My Country, My Country

    S19:E13

    My Country, My Country is a 2006 documentary film about Iraq under U.S. occupation by the filmmaker Laura Poitras.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. POV Season 12 Episode 2 - Well-Founded Fear
    6.3/10(3 votes)

    #4 - Well-Founded Fear

    S12:E2

    Well-Founded Fear is a 2000 documentary film from directors Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini. The film takes its title from the formal definition of a refugee under the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, as a person who deserves protection, "owing to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.” The film analyzes the US asylum process by following several asylum applicants and asylum officers through actual INS interviews.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. POV Season 16 Episode 4 - 90 Miles
    6.3/10(3 votes)

    #5 - 90 Miles

    S16:E4

    90 Miles is a 2001 documentary film written and directed by Juan Carlos Zaldívar. The film is a recounting of the events that lead Zaldívar to become a Marielito and leave Cuba for a better life in Miami. It premiered in 2003 on PBS as part of its P.O.V. series. It won two awards: the Grand Coral, First Prize, for Documentary and the Memoria Documentary Award. 90 Miles recounts the strange twist of fate that took Juan Carlos Zaldívar across one of the world's most treacherous stretches of water. It is a journey of a family in search for healing and understanding. Probing and thoughtful, Zaldívar uncovers the emotional distance opened in thousands of families by the 90 miles between the U.S. and Cuba.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. POV Season 20 Episode 5 - The Chances of the World Changing
    6.0/10(2 votes)

    #6 - The Chances of the World Changing

    S20:E5

    A decade ago, after an epiphany at a New York restaurant, Richard Ogust began dedicating his time and resources to rescuing endangered turtles – confiscating hundreds bound for Southeast Asian food markets. When the filmmakers catch up with the 50-year-old writer, he is sharing his Manhattan loft with 1,200 turtles, including five species extinct in the wild. But his growing “ark” and preservation efforts are threatening to exhaust him, both mentally and financially. With luminous images and a haunting musical score, The Chances of the World Changing documents two years in the life of a man who finds himself struggling to save hundreds of lives, including his own. (packaged to 86:46)

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of POV

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  7. POV Season 17 Episode 5 - A Family Undertaking
    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #7 - A Family Undertaking

    S17:E5

    The movement to take the end of life process out of corporate funeral parlours and put it back into the family's hands.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. POV Season 1 Episode 1 - Acting Our Age
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Acting Our Age

    S1:E1

    "There's nobody that's not going to get old — unless they die," says Enola Maxwell at the beginning of this engaging and refreshing film. Through the eyes of six women, aged 65-75, we are treated to a variety of new perspectives on aging, along with such complex and emotional subjects as changing body image, sexuality, family life and dealing with death. Generous portions of insight and good humor provide clues to grappling with these issues that effect us all.

    Director:Michal Aviad
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. POV Season 1 Episode 2 - American Tongues
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - American Tongues

    S1:E2

    Rich in humor and regional color, this sometimes hilarious film uses the prism of language to reveal our attitudes about the way other people speak. From Boston Brahmins to Black Louisiana teenagers, from Texas cowboys to New York professionals, American Tongues elicits funny, perceptive, sometimes shocking, and always telling comments on American English in all its diversity.

    Directors:Andrew Kolker, Louis Alvarez
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. POV Season 1 Episode 3 - Fire From the Mountain
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Fire From the Mountain

    S1:E3

    Based on the autobiography of Nicaraguan author Omar Cabezas, Fire From the Mountain is the lyrical, earthy, sometimes humorous account of the author's political journey from student activist to guerrilla to government official. Shaffer's last film, Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements, won an Oscar in 1985.

    Director:Deborah Shaffer
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. POV Season 1 Episode 4 - Knocking on Armageddon's Door
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - Knocking on Armageddon's Door

    S1:E4

    Half comedy, half horror story, this disturbing film focuses on several spokesmen for America's survivalist movement as they reveal the way they think, the way they play, and the way they prepare for the next world war.

    Directors:Torv Carlsen, John Magnuson
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. POV Season 1 Episode 5 - Living with AIDS
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - Living with AIDS

    S1:E5

    If Armageddon's Door is about the explosion of community, Living with AIDS is just the opposite. It's a graceful, moving film about a community that provides both compassion and care to someone with a debilitating disease, in this case a courageous 22-year-old man with AIDS.

    Director:Tina DiFeliciantonio
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. POV Season 1 Episode 6 - Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo

    S1:E6

    During the late 1970s, tens of thousands of men, women and even children were abducted by the right-wing military government in Argentina. While most of the population was terrorized by these actions, a small group of mothers of the disappeared began staging weekly demonstrations to demand that their children be released and the kidnappers be brought to justice. This is the dramatic story of their courageous struggle, which ultimately served as a catalyst for the toppling of the dictatorship. Las Madres has won multiple awards at film festivals around the world and was nominated for an Oscar.

    Directors:Lourdes Portillo, Susana Blaustein Muñoz
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. POV Season 1 Episode 7 - The Good Fight
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - The Good Fight

    S1:E7

    Five years before the United States entered World War II, 3,200 Americans went off to Europe to fight the spread of fascism. At 18, 19 and 20 years old, they volunteered to risk their lives defending a democratically elected government in the Spanish Civil War. Fifty years later, in their own words, the survivors recount a vivid story of those years — and what's happened to them since.

    Directors:Sam Sills, Noel Buckner, Mary Dore
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. POV Season 1 Episode 8 - Louie Bluie
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Louie Bluie

    S1:E8

    A lively portrait of 76-year-old Harold "Louie Bluie" Armstrong, musician, artist, raconteur and rogue.

    Director:Terry Zwigoff
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. POV Season 1 Episode 9 - Gates of Heaven
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Gates of Heaven

    S1:E9

    On the surface, this is a somewhat unusual film about pet cemeteries and their owners. But then it grows much more complicated and bizarre, until in the end it is about such large issues as love, immorality, failure, and the dogged elusiveness of the American Dream. Featured at major film festivals like New York, Cannes, and Berlin, Gates of Heaven was included in Roger Ebert's all time 10 best list.

    Director:Errol Morris
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. POV Season 1 Episode 10 - Best Boy
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Best Boy

    S1:E10

    Hailed by many critics as a classic, Best Boy is the moving story of Philly, a 53-year-old mentally-disabled man who adapts to an independent life as he prepares to move away form his elderly parents.

    Director:Ira Wohl
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. POV Season 1 Episode 11 - Rate It X
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Rate It X

    S1:E11

    Rate It X is a bitingly funny and disarming journey through the landscape of American sexism. Men only are interviewed by the two filmmakers in a witty montage of free-wheeling encounters. Pornographers, corporate executives, a funeral parlor director and Santa Claus are among those who reveal more than they intended. A surprisingly candid view of men's feelings towards women 15 years after the birth of the women's movement.

    Directors:Lucy Winer, Paula de Koenigsberg
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. POV Season 1 Episode 12 - Metropolitan Avenue
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - Metropolitan Avenue

    S1:E12

    Metropolitan Avenue is an inspiring contemporary story about women who strive to combine new roles and old values in our rapidly changing society. We are introduced to a lively Brooklyn neighborhood which, like many urban areas, faces problems caused by racial tensions and cuts in municipal services. But in this case, a group of "traditional" homemakers from varied ethnic backgrounds rise to the challenge and become leaders in the effort to save their community.

    Director:Christine Noschese
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. POV Season 2 Episode 1 - Girltalk
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - Girltalk

    S2:E1

    A heartbreaking yet hopeful portrait of three runaway girls with histories of abuse and neglect. Pinky, a Puerto Rican girl, refuses to go to school. Mars, on the streets since age 13, works as a stripper. Martha, who has lived in a dozen foster homes, confronts teenage motherhood. Music, humor, and intimate conversations play against the disturbing reality of these girls' lives.

    Director:Kate Davis
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. POV Season 2 Episode 2 - Who Killed Vincent Chin?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - Who Killed Vincent Chin?

    S2:E2

    On a hot summer night in Detroit, Ronald Ebens, an autoworker, killed a young Chinese-American engineer with a baseball bat. Although he confessed, he never spent a day in jail. This gripping Academy Award-nominated film relentlessly probes the implications of the murder in the streets of Detroit, for the families of those involved, and for the American justice system.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. POV Season 2 Episode 3 - Coming Out
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - Coming Out

    S2:E3

    The debutante tradition is alive and well. Witness the annual Debutante Cotillion in Washington, DC -- a meticulously planned ritual where networking and meeting people who can help you later are as important to today's debs as the style of the gown or the height of the escort.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. POV Season 2 Episode 4 - Wise Guys!
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - Wise Guys!

    S2:E4

    A stamp dealer from Los Angeles, a former school teacher form Miami, a born again Christian from Las Vegas, and a whiz-kid law student square off in the Jeopardy! $100,000 Tournament of Champions. Peek behind the scenes and into the fact-filled minds of contestants in one of America's favorite game shows.

    Director:David Hartwell
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. POV Season 2 Episode 5 - The Family Album
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - The Family Album

    S2:E5

    Home movies and tape recordings collected from 60 different American families comprise a composite lifetime which moves from childhood to adulthood, from innocence to experience.

    Director:Alan Berliner
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. POV Season 2 Episode 6 - Dark Circle
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - Dark Circle

    S2:E6

    Denounced by officials and shunned by broadcasters when it was first released, this exploration of the personal and immediate impacts of the nuclear age carries a chilling thesis: The Bomb is killing ordinary Americans, even in the absence of a nuclear war.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"Episode 15" is the best rated episode of "POV". It scored 8/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 6/29/2004. This episode scored 1.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "American Gypsy: A Stranger in Everybody's Land".