Colorado Media Newsroom
February 19th, 2013, 04:10 PM
From The Denver Post:
“Colorado Experience,” in the manner of “American Experience” on PBS, is intended to remind viewers of often forgotten history. Scanning vintage photos a la Ken Burns, but without the big-name actors reading letters from the era, the series aims to bring the state’s past to life. A co-production of Rocky Mountain PBS and History Colorado, “Colorado Experience” (http://www.rmpbs.org/content/index.cfm/fuseaction/showContent/contentID/806/navID/680) bows Thursday at 7 p.m. on RMPBS with a first season of 13 half-hour episodes.
No re-enactments, thank goodness. No over-riding nostalgia. Just well researched and documented moments, conflicts, personalities and areas that helped define the state, along with eyewitness interviews where possible. State historian Bill Convery appears in every episode, offering perspective. The Denver Public Library has been a supportive partner. Executive producer Julie Speer said her goal is “to build a multi-year strategy for funding the show.” While state film incentives helped get it off the ground, the project will not be eligible for film incentives again next year. “We have eight months to get it lined up. Our brainstorming list for season 2 is 100 items long.” (Speer, a fourth-generation Coloradan, has a famous local name. “I did get out of a parking ticket one time, but I can’t trace direct lineage” to Mayor Robert W. Speer.)
The series begins with “Lincoln Hills,” produced by donnie l. betts, a profile of the only African-American resort west of the Mississippi. The resort, established as a getaway for middle-class black families in 1922, was visited by notables including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lena Horne and Billy Eckstine. The Feb. 28 installment profiles Dr. Justina Ford, the first African-American woman to practice medicine in Colorado, who delivered more than 7,000 babies. The March 21 hour treats “Keota,” a boom and bust community on the eastern plains.
A shameful chapter in Colorado history is visited in the March 28 installment, “Amache,” about the Japanese-American internment camp in Granada. Hours on the Ludlow Massacre, famous families including the Boettchers and Spencer and Julie Penrose, and the lasting influence of the Utes will follow. The fact that the series is an outlet for local production is most encouraging, even if some of the films drag a bit. While the episodes are uneven, the whole is a welcome addition to local nonfiction filmmaking.
More... (http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/2013/02/19/colorado-experience-debuts-on-rmpbs/12935/)
“Colorado Experience,” in the manner of “American Experience” on PBS, is intended to remind viewers of often forgotten history. Scanning vintage photos a la Ken Burns, but without the big-name actors reading letters from the era, the series aims to bring the state’s past to life. A co-production of Rocky Mountain PBS and History Colorado, “Colorado Experience” (http://www.rmpbs.org/content/index.cfm/fuseaction/showContent/contentID/806/navID/680) bows Thursday at 7 p.m. on RMPBS with a first season of 13 half-hour episodes.
No re-enactments, thank goodness. No over-riding nostalgia. Just well researched and documented moments, conflicts, personalities and areas that helped define the state, along with eyewitness interviews where possible. State historian Bill Convery appears in every episode, offering perspective. The Denver Public Library has been a supportive partner. Executive producer Julie Speer said her goal is “to build a multi-year strategy for funding the show.” While state film incentives helped get it off the ground, the project will not be eligible for film incentives again next year. “We have eight months to get it lined up. Our brainstorming list for season 2 is 100 items long.” (Speer, a fourth-generation Coloradan, has a famous local name. “I did get out of a parking ticket one time, but I can’t trace direct lineage” to Mayor Robert W. Speer.)
The series begins with “Lincoln Hills,” produced by donnie l. betts, a profile of the only African-American resort west of the Mississippi. The resort, established as a getaway for middle-class black families in 1922, was visited by notables including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lena Horne and Billy Eckstine. The Feb. 28 installment profiles Dr. Justina Ford, the first African-American woman to practice medicine in Colorado, who delivered more than 7,000 babies. The March 21 hour treats “Keota,” a boom and bust community on the eastern plains.
A shameful chapter in Colorado history is visited in the March 28 installment, “Amache,” about the Japanese-American internment camp in Granada. Hours on the Ludlow Massacre, famous families including the Boettchers and Spencer and Julie Penrose, and the lasting influence of the Utes will follow. The fact that the series is an outlet for local production is most encouraging, even if some of the films drag a bit. While the episodes are uneven, the whole is a welcome addition to local nonfiction filmmaking.
More... (http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/2013/02/19/colorado-experience-debuts-on-rmpbs/12935/)