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-- WITH PHOTO -- TO ENTERTAINMENT, FILM, AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
THIRTEEN's American Masters Series Presents the National Broadcast
Premiere of A Fierce Green Fire in Honor of Earth Day, Tuesday, April
22 on PBS
NEW YORK, April 1, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- THIRTEEN's American
Masters series presents the first big-picture exploration of the
environmental movement in A Fierce Green Fire, premiering nationally
Tuesday, April 22, 2014, 9-10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) in
honor of Earth Day. The one-hour documentary chronicles one of the
largest movements of the 20th century, and one of the keys to the
21st. Written, directed and produced by Academy Award-nominee Mark
Kitchell (Berkeley in the Sixties), American Masters: A Fierce Green
Fire spans 50 years of grassroots and global activism from the
1960s-2009 and connects the major causes of environmentalism, from
conservation to climate change. Narrated by Robert Redford, Meryl
Streep, Ashley Judd, Van Jones and Isabel Allende, the film premiered
at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and has won acclaim worldwide.
Inspired by the book of the same name by environmental journalist and
film interviewee Philip Shabecoff, and informed by advisors like
conservation biologist E.O. Wilson, A Fierce Green Fire unfolds in
five acts, each with a central story and character, featuring vivid
archival footage and new interviews that shed light on the battle for
a living planet. The first four acts include success stories of people
fighting for causes against enormous odds, and the fifth concludes
with climate change.
Act 1, narrated by Redford, focuses on the conservation movement of
the 1960s, the Sierra Club and its Executive Director David Brower's
battle to halt dams in the Grand Canyon. Act 2, narrated by Judd,
looks at pollution in the 1970s, spotlighting the fight led by film
interviewee Lois Gibbs and other Love Canal (Niagara, N.Y.) residents
to save their children from toxic waste. Act 3, narrated by Jones,
features alternative ecology strands like Greenpeace and its famous
campaigns to save whales and baby harp seals, including interviews
with co-founders Paul Watson and Rex Weyler. Act 4, narrated by
Allende, charts the rise of global resource crises in the 1980s with
the struggle to save the Amazon rainforest, led by Chico Mendes and
his fellow Brazilian rubber tappers, as its centerpiece. Act 5,
narrated by Streep, tackles climate change and the 25-year effort to
address this ongoing, global problem, featuring author/activist Bill
McKibben, founder of 350.org, a movement dedicated to solving the
climate crisis.
The film's title is derived from pioneering ecologist Aldo Leopold'sA
Sand County Almanac (1949), which describes his awakening after
shooting a wolf while working as a U.S. Forest Service ranger: "We
reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her
eyes."
"The environmental movement is the biggest movement the world has ever
seen, yet so broad and diffuse that we lack a larger sense of what it
was about," explains Kitchell. "A Fierce Green Fireis meant to take
stock, explore the historical meaning, where we've come from and where
we're heading. A hugely ambitious undertaking, it has proved to be the
greatest challenge of my career."
"A Fierce Green Firefurthers the story of the environmental movement
that American Masters began exploring in 2011 with John Muir in the
New World, which won an Emmy," said Stephen Segaller,
executive-in-charge of American Masters and vice president of
programming for WNET. "The film is a series first because there is no
'American Master,' per se. Instead, we are featuring a movement made
up of individuals and organizations worldwide that have left an
indelible impression on America's cultural landscape, and beyond."
Launched in 1986 by series creator Susan Lacy, American Masters has
earned 26 Emmy Awards - including nine for Outstanding Non-Fiction
Series since 1999 and five for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special - 12
Peabodys, an Oscar, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards, and
many other honors. Now in its 28th season on PBS, the series is a
production of THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC for WNET. WNET is the parent
company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21, New York's public television stations,
and operator of NJTV. For more than 50 years, THIRTEEN has been a
partner with the tri-state community, using its rich resources to
inform and inspire the passionate people of New York and the world to
better understand and address the issues that challenge our diverse
communities.
To take American Masters beyond the television broadcast and further
explore the themes, stories and personalities of masters past and
present, the companion website (http://pbs.org/americanmasters) offers
streaming video of select films, interviews, photos, outtakes, essays,
and other resources. American Masters is also seen on the WORLD
channel, a 24/7, full-service multicast channel featuring public
television's signature nonfiction documentary, science and news
programming, broadcast in nearly two-thirds of the United States.
A Fierce Green Fire is a production of Mark Kitchell. Mark Kitchell is
director, producer and writer. Marc N. Weiss is executive producer.
Ken Schneider, Veronica Selver, Gary Weimberg, Jonathan Beckhardt and
Robert Dalva are editors. Vicente Franco is cinematographer. Original
music is by George Michalski, David Denny, Garth Stevenson, Randall
Wallace and Todd Boekelheide. For American Masters: Susan Lacy is
executive producer. Stephen Segaller is executive-in-charge.
American Masters is made possible by the support of the National
Endowment for the Arts and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Additional funding for American Masters is provided by Rosalind P.
Walter, The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, Rolf and Elizabeth
Rosenthal, Jack Rudin, Vital Projects Fund, The André and Elizabeth
Kertész Foundation, Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation, and public
television viewers. Funding for A Fierce Green Fire is provided in
part by Gould Family Foundation; Farvue and Wallace Genetic
Foundations; Sundance Institute Documentary Program and Fund with the
Wallace Global Fund; California Council for the Humanities; Rick
Rosenthal & Nancy Stephens; Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation; LEF
Foundation; Nu Lambda Trust; Patagonia; Josephine Merck; Joshua
Mailman; David Greenberg; Fred Gellert Family Foundation; Marion Hunt;
Charlie Pendergast; James Kimo Campbell; Dan Gabel; Susan Schindler;
Gary Ferdman; Steven Cohen; Sam & Betty Kitchell; and Tides
Foundation.
About WNET As New York's flagship public media provider and the parent
company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21 and operator of NJTV, WNET brings
quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than 5
million viewers each week. WNET produces and presents such acclaimed
PBS series as Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, PBS
NewsHour Weekend, Charlie Rose and a range of documentaries,
children's programs, and local news and cultural offerings available
on air and online. Pioneers in educational programming, WNET has
created such groundbreaking series as Get the Math, Oh Noah! and
Cyberchase and provides tools for educators that bring compelling
content to life in the classroom and at home. WNET highlights the
tri-state's unique culture and diverse communities through NYC-ARTS,
Reel 13, NJTV News with Mike Schneider and MetroFocus, the
multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region. WNET is
also a leader in connecting with viewers on emerging platforms,
including the THIRTEEN Explore iPad App where users can stream PBS
content for free.
Websites: http://pbs.org/americanmasters,
http://facebook.com/americanmasters, @PBSAmerMasters,
http://pbsamericanmasters.tumblr.com, #AmericanMasters
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131218/DC35560LOGO
SOURCE WNET
-0- 04/01/2014
/CONTACT: Natasha Padilla, WNET, 212.560.8824, padilla@wnet.org; Press Materials: http://pbs.org/pressroom or http://thirteen.org/pressroom
/Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131218/DC35560LOGO
CO: WNET
ST: New York
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