Nashville, Tenn. – Community Cinema in Studio A, presented by the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and Nashville Public Television (NPT), with presenting partner Nashville Film Festival (NaFF), offers an advance screening of “The Trials of Muhammad Ali” on Wednesday, February 19 at 11:30 a.m. at the NPT Arts Center. The film, by Academy Award-nominated director Bill Siegel (“The Weather Underground”) explores the extraordinary and complex life of the legendary athlete outside the boxing ring. From joining the controversial Nation of Islam and changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, from his refusal to serve in the Vietnam War in the name of protesting racial inequality to his global humanitarian work, Muhammad Ali remains an inspiring and influential figure. Outspoken and passionate in his beliefs, Ali found himself in the crosshairs of conflicts concerning race, religion, and wartime dissent. “The Trials of Muhammad Ali” premieres on “Independent Lens” on Monday, April 14, 2014, 9:00-11:30 PM CT on NPT and PBS stations nationwide. (check local listings.)
WHAT: FREE preview screening of “The Trials of Muhammad Ali,” with complimentary lunch. This will be the theatrical version, which runs 94 minutes and includes a few extra scenes not in the broadcast version. Trailer: http://youtu.be/XF_jh3_p_gw.
WHO: Presenters: ITVS Community Cinema, Nashville Public Television (NPT), Nashville Film Festival (NaFF)
WHEN: Wednesday, February 19 at 11:30 a.m.
WHERE: NPT Arts Center Studio A, 161 Rains Ave. Nashville, TN 37203
RSVP: http://wnpt.org or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-cinema-in-studio-a-tickets-9398510197.
For more information, visit: http://www.wnpt.org/mediaupdate/2013/11/18/communitycinemastudioa/
About the Filmmaker
Bill Siegel (Director) has more than 20 years of experience in documentary filmmaking and education. He co-directed the Academy Award-nominated documentary “The Weather Underground;” was a researcher on the films “Muhammad Ali: The Whole Story” and “Hoop Dreams;” and a writer on “One Love,” a documentary on the cultural history of basketball by Leon Gast (“When We Were Kings”). Siegel is Vice President of School Programs for the Great Books Foundation, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to literacy and lifelong learning.
About Community Cinema:
Community Cinema is a national civic engagement initiative featuring free screenings of films from the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. Presented by ITVS in partnership with local public television stations and community organizations, these in-person events and online social screenings bring community members together to learn, discuss, and get involved in key social issues of our time. Building on ITVS’s 20-year legacy of innovation in community engagement, Community Cinema and ITVS’s complimentary educational program Community Classroom makes public broadcasting a powerful resource for individuals, educators, communities, and organizations. For a complete lineup and more information about the Community Cinema series visit: http://communitycinema.org.
About Independent Lens:
Independent Lens is an Emmy® Award winning weekly series airing Mondays on PBS. The acclaimed anthology series features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers. Presented by the Independent Television Service (ITVS), the series is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private corporation funded by the American people, with additional funding provided by PBS, the National Endowment for the Arts and the MacArthur Foundation. The senior series producer is Lois Vossen. More information at www.pbs.org/independentlens. Join Independent Lens on Facebook at www.facebook.com/independentlens.
About Nashville Public Television:
Nashville Public Television, Nashville’s PBS station, is available free and over-the-air to nearly 2.4 million people throughout the Middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky viewing area, through its main NPT and secondary NPT2 channels, and to anyone in the world through its stable of NPT Digital services, including wnpt.org, YouTube and the PBS video app. The mission of NPT is to provide, through the power of traditional television and interactive digital communications, high quality educational, cultural and civic experiences that address issues and concerns of the people of the Nashville region, and which thereby help improve the lives of those we serve.