Wednesday,
September 19, 2007
Ken Burns "WAR": 15 hr TV Epic
Gives Italian Americans Positive Portrayal: Premieres on September 23 on PBS
The
ANNOTICO Report
The
topic is the 15 hour TV Epic "WAR", (referring
to World War II), airing in seven episodes from Sunday night September 23 to
26 and then from September 30 to October 2 at 8:00pm. It will also
be repeated at various times on your local PBS
stations. Check Local Listings.
In
the film, "WAR", Mr. Burns studies the war by following the
experiences of some men and women both at home and in battle, focusing on the
lives of Americans from four towns in
During
the production of the film a Member of the Italian American Community spoke
to a Film company representatives and expressed his concerns about
the portrayal of the Italian American Community, particularly in view of the
deluge of negative stereotypying of Italians in
popular culture (By the way, they totally agree with us!) I was told that this
film would include much positive information on Italians and their patriotism
because as one researcher said, for instance you
could not look at a Waterbury CN newspaper of that era that wasn't
plastered with stories of Italian-Americans serving overseas.
During
the Preview presentation in
You
may be pleasantly surprised that Mr. Burns included so much about the
contributions of the Italians of Waterbury and by extension all
Italian-Americans. You may even agree that this film is the most
positive portrayal of Italian-Americans ever seen on television.
Mark
your Calendars and alert your friends. It will be Special!!!!
SEE:
PBS Web Site, "The War" : http://www.pbs.org/thewar/
Allow
me to refresh your memory of the stature and achievements of Ken
Burns, the Producer.
Kenneth
Lauren Burns
(b. July 29, 1953 is an American director and producer of documentary films
known for his style of making use of original prints and photographs. Among his
most notable productions are the The Civil War (1990),and is generally considered to be his masterpiece..Burns filled many other roles, serving as
director, producer, co-writer, chief cinematographer, music director and
executive producer.The Civil War. series
has been honored with more than 40 major film and television awards,
including two Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, Producer
of the Year Award from the Producers Guild of America, People's Choice Award, Peabody Award, duPont-Columbia Award,
D.W. Griffith Award, and the US$50,000 Lincoln Prize, among dozens of others.
The
nine episodes explore the Civil War through personal stories and photos
that create a very different kind of experience from watching nearly any other
modern movie today. During the creation of the movie Burns filmed thousands of
archived photographs. This resulted in the coining of the aforementioned term
the -Ken Burns Effect-. The Civil War has
been viewed by more than 40 million people.
Additionally,
Burns's documentaries have been nominated for two Academy Awards Brooklyn Bridge (1981) andThe Statue of Liberty (1985)
and six of hi s documentaries have been nominated for one or more Emmy Awards. He won three Emmy Awards for The Civil War,
for Baseball (1994) and for Unforgivable Blackness.: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
(2004). He also received widespread critical acclaim for JAZZ
(2001)
Some
of his other productions were: Remembering
Chicago and World War 2
(1982); The Shakers:
Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1984) ;The Statue of Liberty
(1985); Huey Long
(1985); Congress
(1988);Thomas Hart Benton
(1988) Empire of the
Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991); Thomas Jefferson
(1997); Lewis & Clark:
The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997)
Frank
Lloyd Wright (1998); Not
For Ourselves Alone: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
(1999)
Mark
Twain (2001); and Horatio's Drive (2003)
.
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Annotico
Email: annotico@earthlink.net