David has been nominated for a Prime Time Emmy for The Buddha in the category of Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming.

David has begun production on an independent feature film, Downtown Express.

Inspired by the real life stories of two young New York musicians, DOWNTOWN EXPRESS revolves around a classically trained, virtuoso violinist from Russia – Sasha - and a quirky, multi-talented singer/songwriter – Ramona - in the downtown club scene. Ramona (Nellie McKay) performs with her band on the subways as well as the clubs, scratching out a living, although she once had a promising career. Sasha (Philippe Quint) is on a scholarship to Julliard, in America for little more than a month, naive but open to the musical wonders of New York. Sparks begin to fly when Vadim, his self-assured father, eager to promote his son’s career, falls in love with Marie, Sasha’s mentor and pianist, and Sasha joins Ramona’s band - and falls in love with Ramona.

Shot entirely on location on the streets of New York, DOWNTOWN EXPRESS is a gritty, authentic musical love story turning on a conflict between a father and son, dramatizing the struggle to be a creative artist as well as an immigrant in a time of economic and political uncertainty - a story where the stakes are high and music becomes an expression of freedom.

The score features the original music of Nellie McKay, Philippe Quint, Michael Bacon, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and street musicians all over New York City, the music capital of the world.

David will be speaking about his film, The Buddha and signing DVDs at the Borders book store at Columbus Circle Thursday evening, April 29th at 7 pm.

Buddha DVDs are now on sale in stores and through the PBS website.

April is National Poetry Month, and PBS stations all over the country are airing eight new poems as part of the POETRY EVERYWHERE series - a collection of poems produced by David Grubin Productions and WGBH/Boston in association with The Poetry Foundation. Individual poems will appear between regular PBS programs.

By placing poems in the interstices of the PBS schedule, we are hoping to make poetry a regular part of the television landscape, offering viewers moments throughout the day of introspection and even revelation.

If you don’t want to wait for the poems to turn up on your television screen, you can find all 32 poems at www.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere/

Some of the poems will also be screened this month at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA.

David was interviewed about The Buddha by Melvin McLeod for the May issue of the Shambhala Sun. The article is available online here.

You can read one of the first reviews of The Buddha by Paul Knitter in this week’s issue of America Magazine.

There will be a number of opportunities to preview The Buddha prior to its April 7th air date on PBS at screenings around the United States.

March 10, Houston, TX — Museum of Fine Arts — Highlights from the film followed by a panel discussion with David and other experts on Buddhism.

March 12, Washington, DC — Freer Gallery — Complete screening of The Buddha as the opening film of the International Buddhist Film Festival. There will be a question and answer session with David following the film.

March 16, Seattle, WA — Seattle Asian Art Museum — Highlights from the film followed by a panel discussion with David and other experts on Buddhism.

March 17, San Francisco, CA — Special private screening for KQED.

March 18, Los Angeles, CA — Chinese American Museum — Highlights from the film followed by a discussion with David.

March 23, New York, NY — Asia Society (sold out) — New York premiere of The Buddha followed by a question and answer session with David.

April 1, Los Angeles, CA — Pacific Asia Museum — Highlights from the film.

The Buddha will air on PBS at 8:00 PM on April 7.

The New York premiere of David’s new film, The Buddha will be at the Asia Society (725 Park Avenue at 70th Street) on Tuesday March 23rd at 6:30 pm.

The screening of the film will be followed by a question and answer with David and a reception.

This event has sold out. There are no more tickets available at this time.

David has won The Writer’s Guild prize for documentary writing for The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer. This is David’s 5th prize in documentary writing from the WGA for films other than current events.