|
contents | world | |||||||||||||
| Motion Picture Series About Country Music The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and 821 Entertainment Group announced a partnership to produce and distribute a three-film feature-documentary series for theatrical release, home DVD/video and digital distribution; along with ancillary products such as soundtracks, compilations and companion books. 821 Entertainment Group partners Anastasia Brown and Eric Geadelmann are executive producers for the series. The first film in the series, The Winding Stream, is a musical journey with the Original Carter Family. Currently in production, the documentary interweaves two important stories. One thread is the story of the Original Carter Family - their music, their struggles, their triumphs, their commitment to family and their often-misunderstood but undeniable effect on American popular culture. The other thread relates to the story of the current-day Carters and Cashes, who, with a strong sense of ancestral responsibility, are keeping the memory of this trio and their musical legacy alive. Directed by acclaimed documentary filmmaker and Grammy nominee Beth Harrington, The Winding Stream features interviews and performances from a variety of artists, and includes one of the last interviews with Johnny Cash. The second film tells the story of border radio. Mega-watt "border blaster" stations, set up just across the Mexican border to evade U.S. regulations, beamed programming across the United States and as far away as South America, Japan and western Europe. Based on the book Border Radio (Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves) written by acclaimed authors and historians Gene Fowler and Bill Crawford, the film traces the eventful history of border radio from the 1930s heyday of "goat-gland doctor" J.R. Brinkley to the glory days of Wolfman Jack in the 1960s. The film shows how along the way border broadcasters spread the popularity of country music (including that of the Carter Family), rhythm & blues and rock & roll - all while pioneering direct sales advertising and laying the foundation for modern televangelists. Trey Fanjoy, an award-winning music video director and filmmaker, is directing the border radio project. Commenting on the film series, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Director Kyle Young expressed, "This partnership is a good one. We are always exploring new ways to tell the story of country music and this film series is another way to do just that. We think this collaboration with 821 Entertainment will yield tremendous results." 821 Entertainment Group founder and CEO Eric Geadelmann stated, "We are very enthusiastic about the opportunity to partner with such a prestigious institution in an effort to use documentary filmmaking to further the Museum's mission to preserve the evolving history and traditions of country music." Anastasia Brown, president of 821 added, "Our goal is for these films to extend the reach of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to a greater national and international audience. Documentaries in general have such high visibility at the moment and, combined with the subject matter upon which we will be focused, it all adds up to an extremely intriguing film series." write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |