The
Smithsonian Institution presents:

Saturday,
July 28, 2001 at 12:00 noon
Carmichael
Auditorium
National Museum of American History
14th and Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C.
Moderator:
Marc Pachter, Director,
National Portrait Gallery.
Panelists:
Allan Goodrich,
Film Archivist, John F. Kennedy Library.
John Karol,
Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker. Mr. Karol's current project,
"Things of the Spirit," uses remastered nitrate
film, original research and nationwide interviews to explore the
personal and political life of Calvin Coolidge. A preview of his
three-hour film was shown at the John F. Kennedy Library, and
was featured at The American Presidency on Film, a national conference
sponsored by the Film and History League last November.
Bruce Young and
Jennifer Law Young, former news photographers turned Emmy
Award-winning filmmaking team. They are at work on a documentary
about White House Press photographers. A preview of their film,
One Perfect Moment, was shown at a Smithsonian event in
April.
~~~~~~~
Film has a vital role in shaping national memory. This is especially
true for American Presidents, whose facility (or lack thereof)
with the projection of image continues to challenge substance
and reality in defining their place in history.
"Envisioning
the Presidency" will focus on film's role in establishing,
sustaining, and challenging a shared vision of the Presidency.
If "seeing is believing," how do we transcend an often
limited and obscured vision? How do producers find, select and
use images to illustrate their stories? Is it possible for an
American President to be granted an historical appeal from a sentence
based on time-worn and often biased evidence? Can film change
its mind -- or ours?
"Envisioning
the Presidency" is part of the Smithsonian's ongoing exhibition,
The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden, at the National Museum
of American History in Washington, D.C.
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