Brainstorm Media, Time Life, TV One & MarVista Entertainment Collaborate To Produce Feature-Length Civil Rights Documentary
“LET FREEDOM SING: How Music Inspired the Civil Rights Movement” to Premiere on TV One on Feb. 15 during Black History Month 2009
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ — Brainstorm Media, Time Life, TV One and MarVista Entertainment announced today the production of LET FREEDOM SING: How Music Inspired the Civil Rights Movement, a full-length documentary featuring iconic songs of the period.
LET FREEDOM SING will trace the interaction among the music, the movement and the people involved. It begins in the era between the wars when segregation was often brutally enforced in Southern states, and when jazz and blues evolved from songs sung by African-Americans in church and in the fields. It will feature never-before-seen footage from the 1960’s, while tracing the influence of Civil Rights-inspired music around the world and revealing the enduring impact it retains on today’s popular music.
The film includes interviews with musicians, civil rights activists, music industry executives, historians and others involved in the movement, including former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young; actress Ruby Dee, influential musicians Pete Seeger, Gladys Knight, Jimmy Carter and the Blind Boys of Alabama, Ruth Brown, Jerry Butler and Chuck D; and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) co-founder Dr. Bernard Lafayette.
TV One will premiere the documentary during Black History Month on Sunday, February 15 from 8-10 PM ET (repeating at midnight), and Time Life will subsequently release the film on DVD.
The project represents a unique collaboration between Time Life and Brainstorm Media. Time Life was already developing a 3-CD box set, LET FREEDOM SING: The Music of the Civil Rights Movement (available January 27, 2009), when Brainstorm Media President Meyer Shwarzstein suggested the project deserved a visual companion and secured the interest of TV One, along with other financing partners.
Shwarzstein, in partnership with feature film and documentary producer Charles Hannah, brought distinguished Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Jon Goodman to the project. Goodman, the son of African-American radio personality George W Goodman Sr., has written, produced, directed or supervised more than 300 hours of documentary programming for broadcast in the U.S. and abroad, including the Explorer series for National Geographic Television.
“Jon brought everything we could have hoped for and more – intellect, passion and a wonderful personal perspective,” said Shwarzstein. Adds Mike Jason, Sr. Vice President of Audio & Video Retail at Time Life, “We at Time Life are deeply committed to telling this story and we were immediately struck by how Jon’s vision complimented the way we approached the music box set.”
“I consider myself fortunate to have grown up during one of the most turbulent periods in our nation’s history,” said Goodman. “For a kid who always loved music and wanted to make television shows, the times were as exhilarating as they were often frightening and bewildering. But there was never any doubt that I was a young eyewitness to history. It was hard to miss. I vividly recall my father telling me, ‘Son, mark my words. Things will be different for your generation.’ And indeed they have been, perhaps beyond his wildest dreams.”
“As a person who marched for civil rights as a young student and covered the movement as an adult journalist, I am especially proud to be part of this project,” said TV One President-CEO Johnathan Rodgers. “We knew then we had to march to the beat of a different drummer; but what a beat it was! The music of that time is still the music of our time.”
MarVista Entertainment (www.marvista.net) is producing the project in association with Brainstorm Media and will distribute the film outside of the U.S. Michael Jacobs, President of MarVista Entertainment, said, “The American Civil Rights movement not only influenced American politics, it was felt around the world. We anticipate strong interest for the film across many territories.”
Source: McReynolds Elek Communications
