the john muir exhibit - press_releases - florentine films
John Muir, Earth-Planet, Universe
Press Release
(from the producer)
John Muir, Earth-Planet, Universe
A Dramatic Film for Children
A Hott Production of Florentine Films
Florentine Films is producing a one-hour special for
children on the boyhood of John Muir. The National
Endowment for Children's Educational Television is
partially sponsoring the production.
The Film:
This film for television will be a one-hour dramatic
feature on the boyhood of John Muir. Muir is known today
as the founder of Yosemite National Park, the Sierra Club,
and as this nation's first environmentalist. It was in his
youth that the foundation for his later love of wilderness
was laid.
The program is a production of Diane Garey and Lawrence
R. Hott of Florentine Films. They have produced twelve
award-winning PBS programs, including "The Wilderness
Idea" and the Academy Award-nominated documentary
"Wild by Law." "John Muir, Earth-Planet, Universe"
will be produced by Diane Garey and Lawrence R. Hott.
John Muir's early life is a story of immigration, of family
conflict and personal discovery. Set in the landscape of
19th century wisconsin, the story takes John from his
early days on a hard scrabble farm to his work as a
carriage factory foreman in Indiana. It is in the factory
that Muir loses his sight, and it is during his convalescence
that he relives his life and decides on a new course for his
future.
Treatment:
The film is (informally) divided into three parts. In the
first part, the dramatic battle lines are drawn:
the free-spirited boy John Muir is pitted against his well-intentioned
but unforgiving father, and the joy of nature is
John's escape from the pious solemnity of their rugged life
on a Wisconsin farm in the 1850s. In the second part, John
gets helps in his struggle from both his mother and from
an older neighbor called the Yankee - help that helps him
live with his father and learn the beautiful and just laws of
the natural world. In the third part, John begins to make
inventions, a skill that carries him away from the
backbreaking labor of the farm, but a trick of fate shows
him what he really cares about. At last he abandons
mechanical science to pursue his overwhelming love of
nature and God's creatures.
Contact:
Lawrence Hott and Diane Garey
Florentine Films
20 Kingsley Avenue
Haydenville, MA 01039
Telephone 413 268-7934
Fax 413 268-8300
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