QuestTheDoc on PBS Champions Family Resilience

Posted on June 18, 2018 by

“Our society is incredibly polarized right now and, I believe, desperate for opportunities to connect across the various barriers that we think separate us: race, class, religion, geography, political party,” says filmmaker Jonathan Olshefski. “I want viewers to see themselves in the Raineys and their story.”

First-time director Jonathan Olshefski manages to meet and successfully master that mission via his feature-length debut documentary, Quest. A film festival award winner and fan favorite during its recent theatrical release, Quest premieres on the PBS series, POV, tonight, Monday, June 18, 2018, 10:00 – 11:30 p.m. ET. (Check local listings for air times and repeat screenings in your region.)

Skillfully combining intimate vérité footage shot over a period of eight years with clips from home movies and personal photos, Olshefski introduces us to the Rainey family of North Philadelphia.  Eight years in the life of this resilient, proud blended African-American family unfolds quietly… but quickly packs a wallop.

Musically gifted Patricia "PJ" Rainey and her dad, Christopher "Quest" Rainey, don't skip a beat in QUEST. Photo: Jonathan Olshefski.

Musically gifted Patricia “PJ” Rainey and her dad, Christopher “Quest” Rainey, don’t skip a beat in QUEST. Photo: Jonathan Olshefski.

Musician Christopher “Quest” Rainey; his wife, Christine’a “Ma Quest” Rainey; her cancer afflicted son, William, who struggles to meet his responsibilities as a young dad; and Chris and Christine’a’s musically gifted daughter, PJ, are the core family members in focus here.  Chris and Christine’a not only provide the backbone of their immediate family, but nurture and mentor members of their community as well.

Chris hosts, promotes and produces the work of local hip hop artists in their basement home music studio, while Christine’a cares for homeless mothers and children in a neighborhood shelter.  As Chris and his wife struggle to make a living and their neighborhood a safer, healthier, more productive place to live, their resilience is tested by unexpected pregnancy, serious illness, gun violence and addiction.

Love and commitment to marriage, family and community bind Christopher "Quest" Rainey and Christine'a "Ma Quest" Rainey as they face challenges in their North Philadelphia neighborhood via QUEST. Photo: Colleen Stepanian.

Love and commitment to marriage, family and community bind Christopher “Quest” Rainey and Christine’a “Ma Quest” Rainey as they face challenges in their North Philadelphia neighborhood via QUEST. Photo: Colleen Stepanian.

Chris and Christine’a play the challenging cards they are dealt by never wavering from their commitment to each other.  They take their responsibility to their family and friends seriously, a mandate handed down from parent to child. Chris credits his mother with his positive, productive mindset. “Instead of doing something destructive, do something constructive,” he counsels a self-destructive hip hop artist.

The Obama and Trump Presidential elections also edge into the eight-year timeline of this film, and turn Chris and Christine’a’s attention to issue awareness and voter registration in their community.  In response to Trump’s comments demeaning African-American living conditions, Christine’a calmly contradicts: “You don’t know how we live.”

Patricia "PJ" Rainey (left) matures from preteen to young adulthood in QUEST. Here with her mom, Christine'a "Ma Quest" Rainey (center), and dad, Christopher "Quest" Rainey (right). Photo: Jonathan Olshefski.

Patricia “PJ” Rainey (left) matures from preteen to young adulthood in QUEST. Here with her mom, Christine’a “Ma Quest” Rainey (center), and dad, Christopher “Quest” Rainey (right). Photo: Jonathan Olshefski.

Quest will be an evergreen  discussion catalyst in courses and programs in high schools, colleges, universities, public libraries, community centers and churches dealing with family relationships, African-American studies, marriage counseling, community activism, social issues, inner city music and hip hop artists.

Quest debuts on the PBS series, POV, tonight, Monday, June 18, 2018, 10:00 – 11:30 p.m. ET. (Check local listings for air times and repeat screenings in your region and https://www.pbs.org/pov/quest for supplemental toolkits, discussion guides, and DVD and online streaming availability.) –Judith Trojan

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John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls Rings True on HBO

Posted on May 28, 2018 by

“To refuse the obligations of international leadership for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is unpatriotic.” — Senator John S. McCain III (R-AZ).

U.S. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) listens as he is being introduced at a campaign rally in Denver, Colorado, October 24, 2008. Photo: REUTERS/ REUTERS/Brian Snyder. Courtesy HBO.

The Kunhardt filmmaking clan (producer/directors Peter, George and Teddy Kunhardt), noted for their powerful films about such trailblazers and visionaries as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Warren Buffett and Ben Bradlee, have now turned their cameras on another American maverick.  The Kunhardts’ latest feature-length documentary, John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls, makes its HBO debut tonight on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28, 2018, 8:00 – 9:45 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for additional HBO playdates in the days and weeks ahead and availability on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate streaming platforms.)

Filmed in Washington, D.C., and at Senator McCain’s bucolic home in Sedona, Arizona, after his diagnosis with brain cancer, John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls is titled not for McCain’s dire medical prognosis but for his favorite book, Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls.  He became transfixed by the novel at age 12, and continues to hold its protagonist, Robert Jordan, the champion of lost causes, close to his heart as a role model.

Naval pilot John McCain (right) with his squadron and T-2 Buckeye trainer, circa 1965. Photo courtesy HBO.

As colleagues, friends and family members (even his forgiving first wife, Carol, who admits to being “blindsided” when her husband ditched her for a younger woman) share personal and professional anecdotes about the man they obviously love to love, it’s clear that Senator McCain’s positive legacy as an American hero and patriot is the focus here.

Senator McCain admits throughout the film to more than a few regrets. He seriously considered naming his friend and colleague, Joe Lieberman, as his running mate in his 2008 presidential campaign but was convinced otherwise…enter Sarah Palin.  He lacked scholarly focus as a student at the United States Naval Academy (Annapolis). And he owns up to some self-described “imperfect service” during his more than 30-year stint as a U.S. representative and senator.

“I’ve been tested on a number of occasions,” he says.”I haven’t always done the right thing. The important thing is not to look back and figure out all of the things I should have done–and there’s lots of those–but to look back with gratitude.”

To my mind, Senator McCain’s challenges to Donald Trump’s candidacy and presidency were much too slow getting out of the gate. I always believed that had he taken a strong stand against Trump’s distressing 2016 campaign behavior and confronted Trump’s disrespectful mockery of his 5-1/2 year incarceration as a POW during the Vietnam War, John McCain could have sent Donald Trump packing long before election day.  McCain’s silence was deafening, or so it seemed to me.

John McCain (left) standing with his father, Admiral John S. McCain, Jr. (right) in front of a plaque dedicated to Senator McCain’s grandfather, Admiral John McCain, Sr. Photo courtesy the McCain Family/HBO.

But that’s water under the bridge. Senator McCain has become one of President Trump’s worst nightmares and the standard-bearer for everything that Trump is not and never will be… the son and grandson of distinguished Naval officers (his elders were the first father-son admirals in U.S. Naval history); a graduate of Annapolis and a Navy fighter pilot who served in the U.S. military with distinction (1958-1981); a survivor of torture and lifelong disabilities inflicted during his 5-1/2 year incarceration as a POW during the Vietnam War; and a U.S. representative and senator for more than 30 years who has respected the tenets of the U.S. Constitution and advocated, in word and deed, the importance of bipartisanship.

Now, as he fights his daunting battle with aggressive brain cancer, Senator John McCain has resurfaced in the public eye as an American patriot who we are assured has always had a strong moral compass when it matters most and has never had a problem confronting “lost causes” head on, persevering and crossing the aisle to get the job done.

Navy pilot John McCain (left) with his father, Admiral John S. McCain, Jr. (right), after the former was released from a North Vietnamese prison camp in 1973. Photo courtesy HBO.

As Memorial Day 2018 draws to a close, what better time to become reacquainted with the “better angels” populating our military and political landscape… those resilient patriots who continue to serve with distinction and defend the American ideals for which our forefathers fought and died.

John McCain: for Whom the Bell Tolls debuts on HBO tonight, Monday, May 28, 2018, 8:00 – 9:45  p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for additional HBO playdates in the days and weeks ahead and availability on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate streaming platforms.) –Judith Trojan

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Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story Ignites PBS

Posted on May 18, 2018 by

Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000) captivated movie-goers with her exotic beauty during the Thirties, Forties and Fifties. But she was most proud of her unheralded contributions to the war effort as an inventor. Photo ©Diltz/RDA/Everett Collection.

“Any girl can look glamorous…all she has to do is stand still and look stupid.”–Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000)

Screen queen Hedy Lamarr (Algiers, Boom Town, Samson and Delilah, White Cargo) learned quickly how far a pretty face could take her in the male dominated Hollywood film industry of the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s.  She also knew that her fascination with science and technology and her talent as an inventor, encouraged by her beloved dad from a young age, were best kept under wraps from the fans and Hollywood suits who would make her a star.

Today, when women are still fighting to be taken at more than face value as artists, scientists, politicians and industry leaders, director Alexandra Dean’s fascinating feature-length documentary, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, couldn’t be more timely. The 2017 film festival favorite debuts tonight, Friday, May 18, 2018, on the PBS American Masters series, at 9:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. CT. Check local listings for air times and repeat broadcasts in your region and   http://www.pbs.org/americanmasters for online viewing immediately after its broadcast premiere.

Hedy Lamarr shared the screen with Spencer Tracey in I TAKE THIS WOMAN (1940).

Ms. Dean and her team (including Ken Burns’ master cinematographer Buddy Squires) utilize a lavish array of period and personal photos and vintage film clips to introduce the cultural and political landscape that defined Hedy (Kiesler) Lamarr’s milieu as an upper class Austrian Jew, before and during the Nazi occupation.

The teenage Viennese beauty first made a splash in the 1933 Czech film, Ecstasy. Her sensual nude scenes in that film gave her acting career a boost internationally and secured the film’s long shelf life as a sexually explicit groundbreaker ( I saw it in film school in the early 1970s).  It wasn’t too long before she married a much older wealthy munitions tycoon (the first of her six husbands), surreptitiously freed herself from his jealous grasp, and snagged a contract from M-G-M’s Louis B. Mayer on board a ship en route to the States.

Telling reminiscences from her son, daughter and granddaughter, as well as friends, colleagues and film historians, footnote Hedy Lamarr’s creative endeavors, personal foibles, feature film and TV appearances. She was one of the few major stars who challenged the binding contract system that shackled actors and actresses to individual studios for seven years and the rare actress who attempted to produce her own films.

But it is Ms. Lamaar’s thoughtful, intelligent voice over commentary that ignites Bombshell. Her audio reflections were pulled from interviews recorded in 1990 on four audiotapes by Forbes magazine contributor Fleming Meeks.  Threaded throughout the film, the audio bytes provide a rich first person narrative in which she recalls her roles as an actress, mother, daughter, clandestine inventor and, most challenging of all, a great beauty whose face inspired the look of Snow White and Catwoman.

Hedy Lamarr broke into Hollywood films starring with Charles Boyer in ALGIERS, 1938.

We learn the genesis of her WWII-driven invention (with avant-garde composer George Antheil) of a “frequency hopping communications system,” which they created to stymy German submarines from detecting radio-guided torpedoes headed their way. Instead of being honored at the time for this life-saving contribution to the WWII effort, Lamarr was instructed to entertain the troops and sell kisses for war bonds.

She and Antheil were awarded a patent but never saw a penny for their invention.  The patent expired and their communications system was ultimately employed successfully during WWII and the Cuban Missile Crisis and has served decades later as the basis for secure WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth technologies.

My only gripe with Bombshell?   It’s chock-a-block with so many tantalizing plotlines that I came away from it with questions galore. I’d love to know more about Hedy Lamarr’s early life with her parents as a young Jew living in Vienna, circa the 1920s and 1930s; how she managed to meet, marry and shed all six of her husbands; and why her picture perfect memories of being a mom contradicted her children’s recollections.

Hedy Lamarr’s beauty was never more evident than in ZIEGFELD GIRL, circa 1941.

In the end, her obsession with plastic surgery tragically seemed to disfigure her beautiful face, and she was one of notorious Dr. Feelgood’s unfortunate victims (she admits to thinking he was injecting her with special B-12 shots not meth).  She even claims to have dated another client of Dr. Feelgood’s…JFK.

While you may find, as I did, that Hedy Lamarr’s life story has more than enough substance and drama for three or four films, the best place to begin navigating the Lamarr minefield is Alexandra Dean’s Bombshell.

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story debuts tonight, Friday, May 18, 2018, on the PBS American Masters series, at 9:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. CT. Check local listings for air times and repeat broadcasts in your region and   http://www.pbs.org/americanmasters for online viewing immediately after its broadcast premiere, as well as its availability via such services as Amazon, iTunes and FandangoNow. –Judith Trojan

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Untested Rape Kits Exposed in HBO’s I Am Evidence

Posted on April 16, 2018 by

“You don’t have to think about doing the right thing. If you’re for the right thing, then you do it without thinking.” —Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969).

The late poet, activist Maya Angelou was sexually abused and raped by her mother’s boyfriend.  She was seven years old, and the “trauma of telling” stole her voice. She literally stopped talking for five years, believing that she was responsible for her rapist’s murder because she told on him.

As boldface names like Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby and Kevin Spacey continue to capture worldwide attention, for reasons that no longer have to do with their craft as film producers and performers, the airing of old and new wounds inflicted by sexual harassers, abusers and rapists have emboldened more and more women and men from all walks of life to speak out about their experiences via the #metoo movement.

If you’re a fan of NBC-TV’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and especially admire the advocacy role played by its star, Mariska (Olivia Benson) Hargitay, on and off camera, I encourage you to watch producer Hargitay’s powerful film exposé, I Am Evidence, debuting on HBO tonight, Monday, April 16, 2018, 8:00 – 9:30 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for additional HBO playdates in the days and weeks ahead and availability on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate streaming platforms.)

A rape kit being processed in I AM EVIDENCE. Photo courtesy HBO.

Ms. Hargitay’s 90-minute documentary, directed by Trish Adlesic and Geeta  Gandbhir, shines an uncompromising light on the stockpiling of hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits across the country. Although assault survivors often face victim shaming and blaming trauma when they report their attacks, they are assured that their rape kits contain crucial DNA evidence that will pinpoint their rapists’ identities.

However, rape kits stored untested in dusty police storage rooms or remote warehouses provide no closure for these victims.  As time passes, untested rape kits have also been unceremoniously discarded, sometimes before their statute of limitations expires.  Survivors live with the knowledge that no one in the criminal justice system cares, and they grapple with the PTSD fear that their rapists, still at large, will strike them or others again.

I AM EVIDENCE exposes the hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits stockpiled across the country, which stymies the use of critical DNA evidence to identify and convict rapists, and bring closure to their victims. Photo courtesy HBO.

I AM EVIDENCE exposes the hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits stockpiled across the country, which stymies the use of critical DNA evidence to identify and convict rapists, and bring closure to their victims. Photo courtesy HBO.

I Am Evidence explores the back story of the rape kit debacle as it has played out for decades in Detroit, Cleveland and Los Angeles.  We meet individual sexual assault survivors in those cities who had all but given up waiting for justice to be served, as well as their legal advocates and family members who address the deeply rooted racist and sexist attitudes that have traditionally fueled law enforcement’s dismissive handling of rape cases in general.

The filmmakers give ample time to law enforcement professionals who are attempting to turn the tide.  “These rape kits are the best bargain in the history of law enforcement,” confirms Tim McGinty, former Cuyahoga County prosecutor in Cleveland. “One in four results in an indictment. One in four of the four is a serial rapist.”

When DNA results from tested rape kits are linked to CODIS, the national criminal database, law enforcement officers can identify serial offenders.  I Am Evidence follows the trail of one serial perpetrator, a long distance truck driver who victimized women across state lines for decades (including his wife and two of the women profiled in this film living, respectively, in Los Angeles and Ohio). Had rape kits from these women (and potentially many other victims along his truck route) not been allowed to languish on the shelf for years, an untold number of women would have been saved from rape and, it is believed, probable murder.

Detroit Prosecutor Kym Worthy and actress/ producer/advocate Mariska Hargitay confer during filming of I AM EVIDENCE. Photo courtesy HBO.

Detroit Prosecutor Kym Worthy and actress/ producer/advocate Mariska Hargitay confer during filming of I AM EVIDENCE. Photo courtesy HBO.

Aside from her long tenure as Lt. Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU, Ms. Hargitay recalls the additional fuel that continues to fire her advocacy:  the flood of letters she receives from sexual assault victims. She went on to found the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004, which not only aims to end the backlog of untested rape kits in the U.S. via its “End the Backlog” initiative, but also strives to change the dialogue surrounding sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.

I Am Evidence has been a fire starter on the film festival circuit and will serve as an important discussion catalyst going forward. The film is a timely program choice for audiences of criminal justice students and professionals focusing on women’s issues, racism and sexism, as well as counseling sessions for assault survivors and their families.   

I Am Evidence debuts on HBO tonight, Monday, April 16, 2018, 8:00 – 9:30 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for additional HBO play dates in the days and weeks ahead and availability on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate streaming platforms.) — Judith Trojan

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Sex, Lies and Butterflies Soars on PBS Nature

Posted on April 4, 2018 by
A Postman Butterfly gathers pollen in Deerfield, Mass., one of the many extraordinary images featured in SEX, LIES AND BUTTERFLIES debuting on PBS NATURE. Photo courtesy Ann Johnson Prum/ ©THIRTEEN Productions LLC.

A Postman Butterfly gathers pollen in Deerfield, Mass., one of the many extraordinary images featured in SEX, LIES AND BUTTERFLIES debuting on PBS NATURE. Photo courtesy Ann Johnson Prum/ ©THIRTEEN Productions LLC.

When was the last time you came face to face with an actual butterfly?  And I don’t mean a computer generated knock-off! (If  you’re currently watching the quirky Alan Ball series, Here and Now, on HBO, you’ve seen more than your share of those phony baloney impostors lately.)

I’m an avid gardener and can’t imagine settling for anything but the real thing.  As the seasons stretch from spring into summer then fall, there is nothing more magical than watching the arrival of these glorious creatures in my garden, whether they flit past my porch windows en masse (as they did last year, in what seemed like an endless, mind-blowing parade) or they dart around me in the garden en route to feast on the flowers and flowering shrubs that I planted … just for them.  I can’t think of anything better than sharing my garden with these colorful little souls.

This butterfly in Tambopata, Peru, is ready for its close-up in NATURE: SEX, LIES AND BUTTERFLIES on PBS. Photo courtesy Mark Carroll/ ©THIRTEEN Productions LLC.

This butterfly in Tambopata, Peru, is ready for its close-up in NATURE: SEX, LIES AND BUTTERFLIES on PBS. Photo courtesy Mark Carroll/ ©THIRTEEN Productions LLC.

If you’re as obsessed with butterflies as I am or if you’ve taken them for granted, I urge you not to miss the latest episode of the PBS series NATURE, which makes the most of sophisticated eye-popping macro-cinematography to time-line the extraordinary 50-million year metamorphosis of one small brown moth into some 20,000 species of butterflies.

Sex, Lies and Butterflies debuts on PBS tonight, April 4, 2018, 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. ET/9:00 – 10:00 p.m. Central. (Check local listings for air times and repeat broadcasts in your region and  http://www.pbs.org/nature for immediate online streaming, DVD and Blu-Ray availability.)

This fascinating documentary was produced and directed by Emmy® Award-winner Ann Johnson Prum and written by Janet Hess, who seem to share an affinity for the tiniest creatures … you can read my FrontRowCenter review of their 2016 film for PBS NATURE, Super Hummingbirds, at https://judithtrojan.com/2016/10/12/  

Sex, Lies and Butterflies takes viewers on a similarly remarkable journey as it positions us eyeball-to-eyeball with such species of butterflies as Painted Ladies, Monarchs and Swallowtails and introduces us to those lucky biologists and ecologists in the U.S. and abroad who study the life cycles, migratory patterns and survival techniques of butterflies.

Birdwing Butterflies mating in Deerfield, Mass., a process that can take hours. Photo courtesy Ann Johnson Prum/ ©THIRTEEN Productions LLC.

Birdwing Butterflies mating in Deerfield, Mass., a process that can take hours. Photo courtesy Ann Johnson Prum/ ©THIRTEEN Productions LLC.

I guarantee that as you watch the extraordinary footage of these beauties as they mate, lay their jewel-like eggs, hatch and dodge predators via a funky array of caterpillar “attire” and break free of their chrysalises as full-fledged butterflies, the only word that will come to mind is “Wow!”

In fact, the film’s “wow factor” never waivers as Ms. Prum and her team explore unique butterfly species and their broad-based habitats; the marvels of their incredible eyes, proboscis, wings and vocalizations; their natural enemies and surprising “frenemies”; the logistics and challenges of their extraordinary migratory journeys and pivotal role as pollinators.

A beautiful Heliconia Butterfly photographed in Mindo Ecuador. Photo courtesy Ann Johnson Prum/ ©THIRTEEN Productions LLC.

Serenely narrated by actor Paul (John Adams) Giamatti,  NATURE: Sex, Lies and Butterflies is a production of THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC for WNET.  It debuts on PBS tonight, April 4, 2018, 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. ET/9:00 – 10:00 p.m. Central. (Check local listings for air times and repeat broadcasts in your region and http://www.pbs.org/nature for immediate online streaming, DVD and Blu-Ray availability.) Be sure not to miss it!– Judith Trojan

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Playwright Arthur Miller Profiled by Daughter Rebecca on HBO

Posted on March 19, 2018 by

Playwright Arthur Miller (1915-2006). Photo: Robert Miller/Arthur Miller Archive. Courtesy HBO.

“The parent is always a mythological figure,” muses playwright Arthur Miller in his daughter Rebecca’s captivating new feature film profile of her dad, Arthur Miller: Writer. “It’s the basis of all mythology, after all,” he continues. “What’s Zeus? He’s the father. He’s the guy that throws thunderbolts–kills you. Or raises you up into glory.”

The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright may have made his mark on the American stage with gut-wrenching plays about fathers and sons (All My Sons; Death of a Salesman); but, for his daughter, Rebecca, there was another side to her dad’s story and she aimed to tell it. It took her 20 years to complete the project, and it was well worth the wait.

Rebecca Miller’s interviews with her dad, playwright Arthur Miller, filmed over several years, are highlights of ARTHUR MILLER: WRITER. Photo: Inge Morath ©The Inge Morath Foundation/Magnum Photos. Courtesy HBO.

Rebecca Miller’s beautifully conceived and respectful portrait of her “pop,” Arthur Miller: Writer, premieres on HBO tonight, Monday, March 19, 2018, 8:00 – 9:45 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for additional HBO playdates in the days and weeks ahead and availability on HBO NOW, HBO GO and HBO On Demand and affiliate portals.)

Ms. Miller’s 20-year-odyssey to capture the man behind the myth must have been daunting.  She succeeds admirably by incorporating exquisite vintage photos, film and TV footage and home movies; excerpts from her dad’s personal journals and autobiography, Timebends: A Life (Grove Press, 1987); intimate fragments from love letters to his wives; and reminiscences from Rebecca’s mom, siblings, aunts and uncle. Best of all, however, are the charming one-on-one, father-daughter chats filmed over many years.

Arthur Miller’s strong presence in the film–on camera and in voice over reading from his autobiography and journals–shines a fresh light on the legendary playwright’s oeuvre. His participation also provided Ms. Miller with the added opportunity to fashion a captivating film about fathers and daughters. Traditionally, mother-daughter relationships tend to drive family focused documentaries filmed by women.  In contrast, Arthur Miller: Writer is a refreshing look at the other side of the coin.

Ms. Miller (who is married to another legend, actor Daniel Day-Lewis) breaks her dad’s profile into six chapters, beginning with his dad’s  journey alone to America as a seven-year-old child and ends with her dad’s lonely days following her mother Inge’s death in 2002.

Arthur Miller and third wife Inge Morath. Photo: Dennis Stock/Magnum Photos. Courtesy HBO.

Anecdotes from immediate family members flesh out the portrait as father and daughter revisit his early years as a lackluster student, his turnaround in college, the evolution of his pivotal plays and the three wives who loved him:  his college sweetheart, Mary Slattery, and her successors, for better (internationally renowned photographer Inge Morath), and for worse (actress Marilyn Monroe).

Especially enlightening are his reflections on his tortured relationship with second wife Marilyn Monroe; his stand before the House Un-American Activities Committee in the mid-1950s; his collaborative friendship with director Elia Kazan; and, most surprisingly, Miller’s proficiency as a carpenter and furniture maker.

Director John Huston, actress Marilyn Monroe and screenwriter Arthur Miller confer on the troubled set of THE MISFITS (1961). In ARTHUR MILLER: WRITER, the playwright vividly recalls the difficulties faced by cast and crew due to Monroe’s crippling insecurities.

Professional and personal sidelights from playwright Tony Kushner and director Mike Nichols thread throughout the film; but, thankfully, they are the only two prominent talking heads from the theater world who have a presence here.

Rebecca Miller’s honest and humanizing portrait, Arthur Miller: Writer, will serve her dad’s memory well in theater and film appreciation programs, as well as acting and playwriting classes in high school, college, museum and library settings. The film will also be a unique addition to women’s studies, most especially, programs focusing on the dynamics of father-daughter relationships.

Arthur Miller: Writer, premieres on HBO tonight, Monday, March 19, 2018, 8:00 – 9:45 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for additional HBO playdates in the days and weeks ahead and availability on HBO NOW, HBO GO and HBO On Demand and affiliate portals.) –Judith Trojan

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Celebrating Black History Month on HBO and PBS

Posted on February 19, 2018 by

Students at Atlanta University, circa 1900s. As seen in Stanley Nelson’s TELL THEM WE ARE RISING: THE STORY OF BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES debuting on PBS. Photo courtesy Atlanta University Center.

As Black History Month draws to a close, what better day than Presidents’ Day 2018 to shine a light on African-Americans who’ve defied cultural, economic, sexist and, most especially, racist roadblocks in pursuit of higher education.

Tonight, Monday, February 19, 2018, HBO and PBS roll out three thought-provoking documentaries that examine the vagaries of higher education in the African-American community.  I urge you to catch the films tonight beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, on HBO, and ending at 11:59 p.m. ET, on PBS (or during repeat screenings, on affiliate portals and DVD/Blu-ray, or via streaming as indicated individually below).

Despite its 35-minute running time, Traffic Stop packs a wallop.  Peabody Award-winning producer/directors Kate Davis and David Heilbroner turned their cameras on African-American teacher Breaion King.

TRAFFIC STOP recalls how school teacher Breaion King suffered horrific treatment at the hands of a racist traffic cop in Austin, Texas. Photo: Tom Bergmann. Courtesy HBO.

TRAFFIC STOP recalls how school teacher Breaion King suffered horrific treatment at the hands of a racist traffic cop in Austin, Texas. Photo: Tom Bergmann. Courtesy HBO.

Brief vignettes capture the vibrant 26-year-old in her Austin, Texas, classroom enthusiastically sparring with her young math students (“I want them to think for themselves!”) and, off the clock, during her modern dance classes and while pursuing her other creative endeavors (singing and modeling). She’s a charmer who relishes the fact that she’s the first in her single parent family to graduate from college, earn a Masters’ Degree and buy her own home.  She hopes to go on for her Doctorate; but sadly, the hard-won education credentials and modeling photos that once gave her a positive presence on the Web are now overshadowed by her mug shot.

Ms. King was pulled over for speeding on June 15, 2015.  Footage from her encounter with white police officer Bryan Richter was recorded on his dashcam and plays out in this film.  As her pleas for a simple traffic ticket are ignored and her horrifying physical abuse at the hands of Officer Richter unfolds, you may, as I did, be unable to stifle your own vocal outcry.  The 100-pound, highly educated young teacher was brutally thrown to the pavement and hogtied by the over-sized white, male cop.

Currently nominated for an Academy Award® in the Best Documentary Short Subject category, Traffic Stop vividly documents the shameful, ongoing legacy of racism and, also in Ms. King’s case, sexism that African-Americans continue to face. The opportunities and respect due this dedicated, articulate educator, so proud of her higher education credentials and artistic talent, were nullified in an instant by a racist cop who couldn’t see past the color of her skin.

Traffic Stop debuts on HBO tonight, Monday, February 19, 2018, 8:00 – 8:35 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for additional HBO play dates in the weeks ahead, as well as the film’s current availability on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate portals.)

A Spelman College class, circa 1898. From TELL THEM WE ARE RISING: THE STORY OF BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. Photo courtesy Spelman College.

A Spelman College class, circa 1898. From TELL THEM WE ARE RISING: THE STORY OF BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. Photo courtesy Spelman College.

In counterpoint to Traffic Stop, the feature-length documentary Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities traces the history of racial empowerment through education.

“For generations, there was no other place our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents could go to school,” recalls the film’s Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson. “I set out to tell a story of Americans who refused to be denied a higher education and–in their resistance–created a set of institutions that would influence and shape the landscape of the country for centuries to come.”

In Tell Them We Are Rising, filmmaker Stanley Nelson (A Place of Our Own, Freedom Summer, The Murder of Emmett Till )  traces the impact of education, or lack of it, on the lives of African-Americans, from slavery through post-Civil and WWI and WWII America.  Strong focus is on the roots and evolution of black colleges and universities as seedbeds for Civil Rights activism.  Striking vintage photos and film footage and reflections from period letters (unfortunately undated), newspaper clippings and articulate historians and elderly college graduates are assets.

A group of freed slaves with books, from TELL THEM WE ARE RISING: THE STORY OF BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. Photo courtesy Cook Collection/The Valentine.

A group of freed slaves with books, from TELL THEM WE ARE RISING: THE STORY OF BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. Photo courtesy Cook Collection/The Valentine.

In addition to the broadcast, the film serves as the second film in Stanley Nelson’s “America Revisited” trilogy and the centerpiece of the yearlong multi-platform HBCU Rising project that explores the legacy of “America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities” (HBCUs) and features national partnerships, exclusive events, StoryCorps audio stories, video shorts, a HBCU campus tour and HBCU Digital Yearbook. For more info, check out http://HBCURising.com

Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities premieres tonight, Monday, February 19, 2018, on the PBS series Independent Lens, 9:00 – 10:30 p.m. ET. (Check local listings for premiere and repeat screenings in your region and its availability on DVD/Blu-Ray.  Online streaming begins on Tuesday, February 20, 2018, at http://www.pbs.org/independent lens/

Chicago teenager Robert Henderson’s determination to graduate from high school and college despite the roadblocks that threaten to derail him is a journey worth sharing in ALL THE DIFFERENCE. Photo courtesy Tod Lending.

Chicago teenager Robert Henderson’s determination to graduate from high school and college despite the roadblocks that threaten to derail him is a journey worth sharing in ALL THE DIFFERENCE. Photo courtesy Tod Lending.

“It isn’t how you start, it’s how you finish,” says Robert Henderson, one of two African-American teenage boys whose hard-won journey from the South Side of Chicago through high school graduation and four years of college drive the five-year timeline in All the Difference.  All the Difference originally debuted on the PBS series POV in September 2016.

You can read my original, full-length review of All the Difference, published in FrontRowCenter on September 12, 2016, at  https://judithtrojan.com/2016/09/12/

The powerful 90-minute documentary, filmed by Emmy® Award-winning producer/director/cinematographer Tod Lending, repeats on the PBS series POV tonight, Monday, February 19, 2018, 10:30 – 11:59 p.m. ET. (Check listings for air times and repeat screenings in your region.) –Judith Trojan 

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