Winner 1997

LIBERTY! The American Revolution

KTCA Twin Cities Public Television, in association with Middlemarch Films

What does it mean to be an “American?” In a country of immigrants, ill-defined by race or ethnicity, political beliefs and principles are our common thread. No single era of American history has more to do with shaping those beliefs than does the revolutionary period. What the American Revolution created, and how it continues to influence a nation now heading into the 21st century, are the subjects of LIBERTY! Spanning 1763 to 1789, this six-part dramatic documentary chronicles the impressive, often conflicted story of how 13 diverse colonies became a nation, bound by faith in a new kind of government. Executive producer Catherine Allan, co-producers/directors Muffie Meyer and Ellen Hovde, and writer Ronald Blumer, bring renewed vitality and freshness to the tale of the American uprising. Through brilliant portrayals, a cast of outstanding actors, including Stephen Lang, Philip Bosco, Peter Donaldson, Roger Rees, Campbell Scott, among many others, captures the spirit of the times through dramatizing the actual words, thoughts, and emotions of ordinary and famous individuals caught up in the formation of a new nation. The passion of the participants’ words is established and explicated by splendid narration by Edward Herrmann, and by the use of revolutionary-era folk melodies and original compositions performed by award-winning instrumentalists, including Mark O’Connor, Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, and James Taylor. For giving us LIBERTY!—an invigorating, entertaining and passionate historical documentary of the founding impulses of American democracy—a Peabody is presented to KTCA-TV and Middlemarch Films.