the john muir exhibit - press_releases - in the new world
John Muir in the New World
2011 Film Documentary
Premiering April 18, 2011 on the American
Master series on PBS.
Source: pbs.org and
Global Village Media
February 23, 2011
About the Film
Preservationist, naturalist, author, explorer, activist, scientist, farmer,
John Muir (4/21/1838 - 12/24/1914) was all these things and more. Nearly
a century after his death, this Scottish American is remembered and revered
as the father of the environmental movement and the founder of the Sierra
Club, the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization in the
United States. American Masters continues its 25th anniversary
season with John Muir in the New World, airing
nationally Monday, April 18 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check
local listings) in honor of Earth Day (4/22) and John Muir Day (4/21).
Explaining his impact then and now, this 90-minute documentary delves into
Muir's life and influences with reenactments filmed in high definition throughout
the majestic landscapes he visited: Wisconsin, Yosemite and the Sierra
Nevada, the Alhambra Valley of California, and the glaciers of Alaska. Placing
our nation's most important natural assets in a cultural and social context, John
Muir in the New World is a timely reminder of America's unique
and, ultimately, threatened eco-systems.
Watch a preview:
"It's incredible what we owe to John Muir and, in our era of Katrina
and oil spills, how very much we should revere his message today," says
Susan Lacy, series creator and executive producer of American Masters,
a seven-time winner of the Emmy® Award for Outstanding Primetime
Non-Fiction Series. The series is a production
of THIRTEEN for WNET-- one of America's most prolific and respected
public media providers.
A lover and champion of the American wilderness, Muir believed that it was
our responsibility as citizens to protect our natural surroundings. Through
his tireless advocacy and his writings, Muir helped preserve the Yosemite Valley,
led the fight against the Hetch Hetchy dam - the first nationwide battle of
the environmental movement - and was the force behind the creation of the National
Park Service. John Muir in the New World explores
the influence of his Calvinist father, Daniel; the writings of Alexander von
Humboldt and Ralph Waldo Emerson; his friend and mentor Jeanne Carr; marriage
to Louie Strentzel; and friendship and work for Robert Underwood Johnson, editor
of The Century Magazine; to illustrate how Muir developed his ideas
about nature and became a respected scientist, writer and "publicist for
nature"
during a critical period in U.S. history.
Emmy-winning Director/Producer/Writer Catherine Tatge conveys Muir's passion for and spiritual bond with nature through reverential reenactments of his life-changing journeys: his 1,000-mile walk from Indianapolis to the Gulf of Mexico, his years living in the Yosemite Valley wilderness and climbing the Sierras, his continued study of glaciers in Alaska, and his life as a farmer with his family in Martinez and the Alhambra Valley. Mountaineer Joe Butler portrays the young Muir; photographer and mountaineer Howard Weamer, the winter caretaker of Yosemite's Ostrander Lake Ski Hut, portrays the older Muir; and Patsy Fulhorst, a school teacher in Yosemite, avid trekker, naturalist and hiker, portrays Jeanne Carr.
"I enlisted a team of experts to ensure the accuracy and integrity of
everything we captured on film, right down to every plant specimen and bird
call," explains
Tatge about the exhaustive research that went into making John
Muir in the New World. Among them, Emmy-winning sound recordist
and international acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton provided the film's natural
sounds based on Muir's Yosemite writings, which were integrated with the original
score by Garth Neustadter, and Bob Roney a.k.a. "Yosemite Bob" served
as a consultant and guide. Narrated by Jane Alexander, the film also features
readings from Muir's journals and articles, as well as interviews with Allison
Chin, President of the Sierra Club (2008-2010), environmental historians, scholars,
and others.
John Muir in the New World is a co-production of Global Village Media and THIRTEEN's American Masters for WNET. Catherine Tatge is producer, director and writer, Leslie Clark is producer and writer, Bob Elfstrom is cinematographer, Tom Haneke is editor, and executive producers are Peter Evans and Steve Boyd. Dominique Lasseur is executive producer for Global Village Media. Susan Lacy is the series creator and executive producer of American Masters. Major funding for John Muir in the New World has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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, Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family, Jack Rudin, The André and
Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation,
and public television viewers. Additional funding for this program
has been provided by The Russell Family Foundation, Global Community Fund's
Philanthropic Services, Roger Jordan, Wisconsin Humanities Council, and Craig
McKibben & Sarah Merner.
Festivals and Screenings
February 27 (1:00PM) — Green Bay (WI) Film Festival
March 11 (2:00PM) — San Luis Obispo (CA) International Film Festival
April 3 (12:00PM) — Millerton Movie House, NY
April 6 (7:00PM) — Jewish Theological Seminary, New York
April 7–April 10 — Kent (CT) Film Festival
April 10 (4:00PM) — Fallbrook (CA) Film Festival
April 8–April 17 — Riverside (CA) International Film Festival
April 13— University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA
April 14 — Seattle
Interviewees
(in order of appearance)
Bonnie J. Gisel
John Muir Historian - Curator of
the Sierra
Club LeConte Memorial and author of Nature's Beloved Son: Rediscovering
John Muir's Botanical Legacy
Erik Brynildson - Author of Restoring
the Fountain of John Muir's Youth
Fountain Lake Farm National Historic Landmark - Dedication Speech
Aaron Sachs - Author of The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism
Department of History
Cornell University
Char Miller - Author of Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism (Pioneers of Conservation)
Director of Environmental Analysis
Pomona College
Donald Worster - Author of A Passion for Nature: the Life of John Muir
Hall Professor of American History
University of Kansas
Paul Sutter
Environmental Historian
University of Colorado, Boulder
Patricia Nelson Limerick
Center of the American West
University of Colorado, Boulder
Catherine Albanese
Historian of American Religion
University of California Santa Barbara
Kevin Starr
Professor of History
University of Southern California
Roderick Nash
Professor Emeritus
University of California Santa Barbara
Gary Snyder
Writer
Dan Kowalski
Photographer and Alaska Fisherman
Dr. Rosita Worl
President
Sealaska Heritage Institute
William R. Swagerty
Director, John Muir Center
University of the Pacific Stockton
Andie Tucher
Columbia School of Journalism
Allison Chin
President
Sierra Club
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