We now pause for a celebrity sighting

OK, Masterpiece "Wallander" fans, here are a few on-location photos of star Kenneth Branagh snapped during filming in Latvia last week. Enjoy.

Berenstain Bears to premiere in Lakota language in September

The Lakota version of The Berenstain Bears, Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe — The Compassionate Bear Family, will debut at 9 a.m. Sept. 11 on South Dakota Public Broadcasting and Prairie Public Television in North Dakota. The idea came more than a year ago from the Lakota Language Consortium (LLC), a group dedicated to restoring the Native language. LLC board member and Rosebud Sioux Tribe member Ben Black Bear is the voice of Papa Bear. The new show will get a special preview screening Sept. 7 at the Tribal Leaders’ Summit Banquet during the 42nd Annual United Tribes Powwow in Bismarck, N.D.

KQED extends offer for pledge-free listening

San Francisco's KQED Radio will re-launch its pledge-free stream for donors seeking respite from on-air pitches during its fall fundraising drive. Listeners and members who contribute $45 to the station before Sept. 8 will gain access to a web-based alternative channel of regularly scheduled KQED Radio programming delivered to their computers or mobile devices. When KQED first offered its pledge-free alternative channel during its spring drive, it was a big hit with donors. In a survey of contributors, 98 percent of those who used the stream asked KQED to bring it back, according to the station.

ITVS, NCME partnering to bolster Community Cinema engagement

The Independent Television Service and the National Center for Media Engagement are partnering up this fall on ITVS's tremendously successful Community Cinema engagement work. In six years, Community Cinema has expanded to more than 100 communities nationwide, with more than 150,000 participants so far attending some 2,500 screenings and discussions. ITVS's commitment to bringing communities and local organizations together through documentary film "aligns perfectly with NCME’s CPB-funded mission to support public media in working collaboratively with their communities to discover, understand, and address community concerns," NCME Executive Director Charles Meyer said in announcing the collaboration.

NCME will focus on "developing and delivering impact strategies and collaborating with stations to capture and convey stories that demonstrate the program’s overall performance and impact in communities," Meyer said. Jennifer MacArthur, NCME's director of television and digital media engagement, will host monthly webinars and coach stations on leveraging films for local impact.

"By integrating Community Cinema into other station-led engagement work, we can help stations grow the pie bigger locally — and that’s a win-win-win for stronger stations, stronger stories, and stronger communities," Meyer noted.