For more than forty years, NEH has supported films that combine innovative techniques with rigorous scholarship to produce documentary films that are both compelling and educational. NEH-funded films have set viewing records and earned sixteen Emmy Awards and twenty-three Peabody Awards. The film festival, hosted by the National Archives, showcases four of these films.
Each evening features a screening of a film funded by NEH and a discussion with filmmakers and scholars. All screenings take place in the National Archives' McGowan Theater. Admission is FREE and on a first-come, first-served basis; the theater doors will open thirty minutes before the start of each program.
Wednesday, April 19 at 7 p.m.
The Civil War - The Universe of Battle (1863)
Ken Burns, Emmy award-winning director
Harold Holzer, Lincoln scholar
Burns and Holzer will screen and discuss episode five of The Civil War, which focuses on the events surrounding the Battle of Gettysburg. (Visit film Web site.)
Thursday, April 20 at 7 p.m.
Broadway: The American Musical: Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'
Michael Kantor, producer, writer, and director
Laurence Maslon, author of the companion book
Kantor and Maslon will screen and discuss "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin,'" which describes how, beginning with the record-breaking Oklahoma! in 1943, the partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II changed the face of Broadway forever. (Visit film Web site.)
Friday, April 21 at 7 p.m.
Ike: Part One - Soldier
Austin Hoyt, executive producer
Duan Van Ee, editor of the Eisenhower papers
Hoyt and Van Ee will screen and discuss the first half of Eisenhower, which focuses on Ike's rise from West Point cadet to architect of the D-Day invasion. (Visit film Web site.)
Saturday, April 22 at 7 p.m.
The Fight
Barak Goodman, writer and director
David Margolick, consulting producer and author of Beyond Glory: Max Schmeling vs. Joe Louis and a World on the Brink
Goodman and Margolick will screen and discuss The Fight, which chronicles the swirl of events leading up to the June 22, 1938 boxing match between the African American heavyweight Joe Louis and his German opponent Max Schmeling and the match's significance to American history and culture. (Visit film Web site.)
