Don’t miss the opportunity to ask questions of Niall Ferguson, the author and host of THE ASCENT OF MONEY.

Niall Ferguson, a financial historian and Harvard professor, will put the economic crisis of the past year in its historical context. His perspective of these economic cycles provides all of us with a better understanding of the world we are living in today.

The live Q&A begins on Tuesday, November 24 at 6pm EST. Ask your questions now.

This exclusive event was made possible by T. Rowe Price.

“Woody Guthrie: Ain’t Got No Home” airs Wednesday, November 25 at 9pm

Essentially every American who has listened to the radio or gone to summer camp knows Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.” The music of the nation’s signature folk singer/songwriter has been recorded by everyone from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to the Irish rock band U2. Originally blowing out of the Dust Bowl in 1930s Depression-era America, he blended vernacular, rural music and populism to give voice to millions of downtrodden citizens. Guthrie’s prolific music, poetry and prose were politically leftist, uniquely patriotic and always inspirational. He joined music with traditional oral history and was central to the folk music revival. His is a complex story filled with frenetic creative energy and a treasure trove of cultural history - as well as personal imperfections and profound family tragedy.

Read a timeline of Woody Guthrie’s career and more at the American Masters website.

Watch a preview of “Woody Guthrie: Ain’t Got No Home” now:

“A Death in Tehran” premieres Tuesday, November 17 at 9pm on THIRTEEN

At the height of the protests following Iran’s controversial presidential election this summer, a young woman named Neda Agha Soltan was shot and killed on the streets of Tehran. Her death — filmed on a cameraphone, then uploaded to the web — quickly became an international outrage, and Agha Soltan became the face of a powerful movement that threatened the hard-line government’s hold on power. With the help of a unique network of correspondents in and out of the country, FRONTLINE investigates the life and death of the woman whose image remains a potent symbol for those who want to keep the reform movement alive. The film also explores a number of unanswered questions in the aftermath of the greatest upheaval in Iran since the 1979 revolution: How many were arrested and killed as the security forces attempted to contain the growing protest movement? To what extent was the presidential vote manipulated? What is the future of the movement that seems to have been silenced?

Watch a preview of “A Death in Tehran” now:

No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos tells the story of two Hungarian film students who escaped communist Hungary in 1956, with little more than a camera and a shopping bag full of film. Over the next 50 years, Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond would reinvent Hollywood movies for an entire generation, shooting some of the most notable films in American cinematic history: The Deer Hunter; Close Encounters of the Third Kind; Deliverance; Paper Moon; Five Easy Pieces; What’s Up, Doc; New York, New York; Heaven’s Gate; Frances; and dozens more. The two also maintained an iron-clad friendship along the way.

No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos premieres on Independent Lens on Tuesday, November 17th at 9 p.m. Inside THIRTEEN spoke with the film’s director, James Chressanthis.

Q. Was it intimidating for you to film two men who practically defined a genre of American cinema?

A. Though I am an experienced cinematographer (2 Emmy® Nominations, Additional Photography on the Oscar-winning Chicago) it was a daunting task. I felt a great responsibility to get their story right while doing justice to their amazing canon of work.

Q. So why profile Laszlo and Vilmos? Why now?

A. I met Laszlo first as a student then apprenticed to Vilmos early in my career as a cinematographer. I saw them together during the filming of The Witches of Eastwick (1987) commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution and said to myself: “What an amazing story, someone should do that.” However, the stars and circumstances did not align until twenty years later when I decided to do the film in 2006. I believe their fiercely independent artistic approach, coupled with an optimistic faith in themselves, was the reason they had such an impact on American cinema. In their story, I believe young people can see a path to their own future in these uncertain times which is ripe for new innovative ways of making films.

Q. Laszlo and Vilmos worked on classics like Easy Rider, Deliverance, Paper Moon, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, to name a few … which of their films inspire you the most, and why?

A. McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Paper Moon, Close Encounters of The Third Kind, Frances, The Deer Hunter are some of my favorites. All share the trait of portraying unique individual stories without romanticizing their characters and without sentimentality. At their best, the films of both cinematographers achieve what Vilmos Zsigmond calls Poetic Realism.

Q. What challenges did you face making the film?

A. Dealing with the staggering number of masterpieces or notable films they each shot; structuring the film which has several layers/storylines: The Hungarian Revolution; the struggle of two outsider immigrants trying to achieve the American dream; the change in American cinema and how Laszlo & Vilmos were critical to the “American New Wave”; and most importantly the evolution of a deep friendship that spanned more than fifty years.

Q. How did you get access not only to Laszlo and Vilmos, but all the other big names featured in the film – Dennis Hopper, Peter Bogdanovich, Peter Fonda, Jon Voight, and others?

A. All these film artists have a great love of their craft and for their two colleagues and they were very generous with their time. All participants wished to correct the record, so that history will recognize the terrific contribution Laszlo & Vilmos made to our movies.

I wish to thank not only the those mentioned but also give a shout out to Sandra Bullock, John Williams, Richard Donner, Graeme Clifford, Allen Daviau, Owen Roizman, Haskell Wexler, Sharon Stone and the late “Grindhouse King” Ray Dennis Steckler. For me the unanticipated pleasure was having so many wonderful conversations with filmmakers I have been influenced by and admire.

For those that miss both this advanced screening and the November 25th broadcast on the anniversary of the attacks, the entire episode will be available online at pbs.org/secrets the following day.

Secrets of the Dead: MUMBAI MASSACRE

Please join us for a special press screening

THIRTEEN, in partnership with the New York chapter of the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA), presents a special press screening of MUMBAI MASSACRE on Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 6 to 8:30 p.m., at the Columbia Journalism School
(third floor lecture hall) on 116th St. and Broadway (#1 train to 116th St.).

The event will begin with a one-hour screening of the film, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A from members of the media.

Panelists are:

Victoria Pitt, Writer/Director of the film
Jared Lipworth, Executive Producer, Secrets of the Dead
Todd Baer, Freelance Journalist - Al Jazeera English; covered Mumbai Massacre from Mumbai, Kashmir & Gujarat
Mira Kamdar, Author “Planet India” and Foreign Policy Analyst

Panel moderated by SAJA Co-founder Sree Sreenivasan,
Dean of Student Affairs, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism,
Contributing Editor DNAinfo.com

Light refreshments will be served before the screening

Kindly reply by November 16th to:
Jitin Hingorani at 212.560.6609 or HingoraniJ@wnet.org

Synopsis of MUMBAI MASSACRE

On November 26, 2008, 10 young Pakistani men sailed into Mumbai, India’s thriving financial heart and home of the Bollywood film industry. The men were armed with AK47s, grenades and plastic explosives, as well as satellite phones and global positioning systems connecting them to their controllers. They spread out across the city. Quick-fire strikes on the Victoria Station Railway Station, the busiest train terminus in India, the legendary Leopold Café and Cama Hospital saw more than a hundred dead in only an hour. But this was just the beginning. The gunmen had come for a longer engagement, in targets chosen to grab and hold the world’s attention: the historic Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, the ultra-modern, five-star Trident-Oberoi Hotel and Nariman House, a Jewish Community center nearby. Sixty hours later, the Indian security forces brought the attacks to a close.

MUMBAI MASSACRE brings together candid and very personal accounts from the ordinary and extraordinary people who were caught up in the siege. Actual text of intercepted telephone calls between the gunmen and their commanders and CCTV footage from the hotels give a chilling, real-life edge to their stories. The film also explores the dramatic role that modern communications played: mobile phones, the internet and 24-hour television news gave vital information not just to those in hiding – but to the killers’ commanders in Pakistan.

The film airs on THIRTEEN’s Secrets of the Dead series on PBS stations nationwide on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 8 p.m. EST (check local listings), the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

THIRTEEN’s Secrets of the Dead: Mumbai Massacre was produced by Electric Pictures and Furnace for THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG, Screen Australia, ScreenWest Inc., Channel 4 (UK), The History Channel UK and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Victoria Pitt is writer/director, Andrew Ogilvie is executive producer for Electric Pictures and Phil Craig is executive producer for Furnace. At THIRTEEN, Jared Lipworth is executive producer. William R. Grant is executive-in-charge.

Ev’rybody’s talkin’ ’bout
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, that-ism, ism ism ism
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

- Lyrics from Give Peace a Chance, John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band

John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s famous song was written and performed during their “Bed-In” in a hotel room in Montreal in June of ‘69. But it didn’t become a true anti-war anthem until Pete Seeger led nearly a quarter of a million people to sing the song during the largest anti-Vietnam war protest in America in November of that year in Washington, D.C.

This is just one example of the power that music, and the artists that create it, can have to change the world. And it’s the message of How The Beatles Rocked the Kremlin, a documentary coming to THIRTEEN on November 9th. The film tells the surprising story about how The Beatles and their music instilled rebelliousness in Eastern Bloc youth, ultimately bringing down the Soviet Union.

To celebrate music as a force for social change, THIRTEEN is asking viewers to go online – www.thirteen.org/beatles — to nominate bands or musicians that have changed the world. Read More …

Allan Miller has produced and directed over 35 films and television programs around the world, documenting some of the most important musical events of the last two decades. He has won 2 Academy Awards: best Feature Length Documentary for his 1979 film “FROM MAO TO MOZART - Isaac Stern in China,” and in 1975 for “THE BOLERO,” best short feature, with Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. “SMALL WONDERS,” the story of a violin program in the public schools of East Harlem, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1996. His newest film, YOU CANNOT START WITHOUT ME – Valery Gergiev – Maestro, a co-production of Thirteen in association with White Nights Foundation of America and WNET.ORG premieres at Symphony Space on November 2nd thru Nov 7th 2009 with Sunday screenings on Nov 8th, 15th and 22nd. The film is an intimate portrait of Russian dynamo Valery Gergiev, one of the leading conductors of our time. The film moves between rehearsal and performance sequences in major capitals around the world, and provides a glimpse of Gergiev’s demanding life as administrator of the enormous Mariinsky theater in St. Petersburg. Read More …

Season premieres Tuesday, October 13 at 9pm on THIRTEEN

FRONTLINE examines U.S. counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan — a fight that promises to be longer and more costly than most Americans understand — through interviews with top commanders on the ground, embeds with U.S. forces and fresh reporting from Washington.

Watch a 24-minute rough cut of the first act of FRONTLINE’s season premiere,
“Obama’s War.”

The second season of the Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning series Craft in America , a filmed journey of the history, artists and techniques of the nation’s rich craft culture, continues the excursion into the diverse and ever-evolving world of American craft. Season two premiere on THIRTEEN on Wednesday, October 7 at 8 pm with “Origins” and “Process.” Inside THIRTEEN spoke with Carol Sauvion, the creator and co-executive producer of Craft in America, and a potter in her own right.

Q. Many of the crafts that you explore – pottery, beadworking, blacksmithing – are rooted in hundreds of years of American history. What are some ways that these craft traditions are passed down from generation to generation?

As potter Mark Hewitt says in the “Origins” episode of the new Craft in America series, the best way to pass craft traditions down is through family. He is referring to Jugtown Pottery on Seagrove, North Carolina, where Travis Owens, a fourth generation potter receives information from his father. Through working with his parents and being surrounded with early North Carolina pots, Travis will learn methods of making pots and firing the kiln that are the product of generations of experimentation and knowledge.

This method of passing down information exists in many craft practices, from bead working to quilt making to woodworking.

Q. You do you own craft, in a way, by creating the “Craft in America” series; but is there a craft you’ve come across during your production work that you wished you could do?

After producing two seasons of Craft in America, I know that filmmaking is definitely a craft and I have enjoyed learning it. Filmmaking reminds me of craft production because several people – the producer, director, director of photography, assistant cameraman, sound recordist, gaffer, grip, and editor - collaborate on a film, each bringing skills and artistry to the project. The collaboration and dedication to the final product are reminiscent of the processes craft workshops have used for thousands of years.

I have made pottery since 1969, when I learned to throw on the wheel and fell in love with clay. However, producing the Craft in America series has brought me into the studios of many artists working in the other craft mediums of wood, glass, metal and fiber. I have felt a strong attraction to weaving after visiting the studio of Jim Bassler, who is featured in the “Origins” episode. Jim pares weaving down to its most simple form. I would love to learn discontinuous weave, the technique he is now using, which, as he says, only requires two sticks and thread. It is quite different from the complicated, and I think, difficult process of setting up a loom. If I could learn to weave, I would also want to learn wedge weave, anther technique Jim uses that allows for diagonal weaving. Jim learned this technique from studying Navajo rugs.

Q. We live in an age where most of the everyday objects around us are produced quickly and cheaply. Do you think that the traditional ways of handmade crafting are in danger of dying out?

Rather than dying out, I think there are several reasons why traditional crafting techniques are experiencing a rebirth now, at the beginning of the 21st century.

The first and most important reason is the universal urge to create that seems stronger than ever in this time of political and financial uncertainty. People, and especially young people, are turning to handwork for emotional and economic reasons.

Making something by hand gives one a sense of accomplishment and individuality that buying something does not. As Scott, the violin maker in the “Process” episode says, it is amazing to start with a piece of wood and end up with a violin.

In this time of disconnection with the sources of the objects we use, it is wonderful to make something by hand and incorporate that personal expression into our lives.

Q. So what inspires people in this day and age to pursue a career in craft? Is there a particularly inspiring story from your series that comes to mind?

There are several factors that inspire people to pursue a career in the crafts. A person who decides to work with their hands has the satisfaction of being able to express their creativity in a life that offers independence. In the “Process” episode of the new Craft in America series, Miguel Gomez Ibanez at the North Bennet Street School says it is quite different to finish a workday having made something as opposed to finishing the day having returned any number of phone calls.

Craft objects, the physical manifestations of the artist’s creativity, stand as a positive force that enriches the lives of the people who acquire them. If the objects are functional, the owners interact with them in a way that changes and humanizes their lives. The sense of touch is important to both the maker and the user of these objects. Touch is the one of our seven senses that is all but missing from contemporary experience.

Additionally, artists making craft objects are a part of the continuum that started with the first humans who learned to use tools to make things to improve their daily lives. This continuum, which is present in the pots, quilts, glass vessels, jewelry, ironwork, furniture, books and clothing being produced by craft artists today, is a vital part of who we are as a culture. In addition, the traditions of ornamentation and embellishment that accompanied the earliest crafts also exist today in objects that may not have a functional purpose but are created to inspire or satisfy emotional needs.

Eudorah Moore, who was instrumental in presenting the crafts in California in the last decades of the 20th century, commissioned a book entitled Craftsman’s Lifestyle: The Gentle Revolution. The last thing I’d like to mention is the importance of the lifestyle that accompanies a career in the crafts. Independence and an environment filled with beauty are essential elements of the craft artist’s world. The relationships a craft artist has with friends and family are the cornerstones of a community that thrives on creativity and independence. That means a lot nowadays.

What’s the #1 issue in New Jersey’s race for Governor?

On October 6 at 10 p.m. TUNE in for On the Line: Decision 2009. Emmy Award-winning anchor Steve Adubato will be joined by Governor Jon Corzine, Republican candidate Chris Christie and Independent candidate Chris Daggett. Broadcast LIVE on THIRTEEN, NJN Public Television , WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM and on the web at NJ.com and NJN.net.

Submit your question for the candidates below.