MPT Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Colleen Wright
August 24, 2001 Marketing Communications Account Executive
Telephone: (410) 581-4293
E-mail: colleenwright@mpt.org
MPT. This is bigger than television.

Maryland Public Television airs first American series to tell
the story of Africa through the eyes of Africans
Eight-part series forms centerpiece of multi-platform exploration of Africa

OWINGS MILLS, MD: Vast, startling, gorgeous, astounding in its diversity, Africa is perhaps the most complex and intriguing continent on Earth. Yet how many Americans can claim a real understanding of Africans, their cultures and how their lives are shaped by the land they inhabit? Now, in a landmark television event, two of the world's most renowned natural history and long-form documentary producers have joined forces to create an intimate portrait of Africans and illustrate the dynamic relationship between Africa's human history, environment and culture.
Africa, the first television series to explore the continent through the eyes of Africans, will air on eight consecutive Sundays beginning September 9 at 8 p.m. on Maryland Public Television.
The series, conceived by former PBS programming chief Jennifer Lawson, is produced by Thirteen/WNET New York's Natureseries, which is currently celebrating its 20^th anniversary season, and National Geographic Television.
Narrated by Joe Morton, acclaimed stage, television and screen actor who has appeared in such feature films as Brother From Another Planet, Terminator II and Speed, Africa explores, reveals and illuminates what is arguably the least understood continent of them all.
"While we often hear about Africa in the news, it's usually in a context of corruption, warfare, disease, and famine," says Lawson, Africa's co-executive producer, whose inspiration
for the series came from her experiences living in East Africa and traveling throughout the continent. "With this series we have set out to do something different — to look beyond the statistics and the calamities to find the human pulse of Africa. From Addis Ababa to Zanzibar, we travel throughout the continent to chart the hopes, dreams and ambitions of people as they live their daily lives and make their way in the world."
Filmed in wide-screen super 16 mm format, which reveals the stunning beauty of landscapes and wildlife, each hour of Africa combines the natural history of a different African region with the stories of contemporary people living there.
In the Sahara Desert, a young Tuareg boy embarks with his father and their camel caravan on a perilous rite of passage. In South Africa, an ambitious female miner is attempting to break through both racial and gender barriers to become the nation's first black woman mine administrator. In Kenya, a Kikuyu businesswoman working in Nairobi journeys to her ancestral village to give birth to her second child so that he may have a sense of place when he draws his first breath, and on the Swahili Coast members of an amateur soccer team spear-fish to raise the funds they need to compete in the Tanzanian Islands Football League finals.
These are just a few of the stories that take viewers from the Rift Valley to the deserts of the north, from the threatened rainforests of Cameroon to rugged Ethiopia, from the harsh Sahel to the Swahili coast, and finally, to rapidly changing South Africa.
"From a natural history point of view, this is a fascinating project," says Fred Kaufman, WNET New York, the series' co-executive producer and executive producer of Nature. "Recently, Nature has been covering new territory, exploring the interrelationship between animals and humans. Now, with Africa, we take that idea a step further as we look at people across an entire continent and discover, from their stories, how their environment influences their lives as individuals and societies."
Africa is part of a multi-platform project that includes a companion book, written by John Reader, published by National Geographic, with photographs by Michael Lewis.
Thirteen and National Geographic have also produced Web sites that will be hotlinked to offer tremendous behind-the-scenes coverage of the television series. A multi-part home video of the series will be released domestically and internationally through National Geographic Domestic Home Video and DVD and National Geographic International Home Video and DVD. WNET and National Geographic teacher training programs and educational outreach will provide educators with supplemental Africa teaching guides. And the world's largest collection of West African Art — The Tishman Collection — will comprise an exhibit mounted in National Geographic's Explorers Hall in Washington, DC beginning in September 2001. It will be the first public showing of this collection, which will be augmented with a photographic exhibit tied to the Africa companion book.
"This unprecedented series is the launch pad for a comprehensive exploration of African culture, religion, art, history, ecology, and wildlife," says Christine Weber, series co-executive producer for National Geographic Television (NGT). "Based on the latest research, and created in conjunction with an advisory body of scholars and experts in their fields, this wide range of information expands and develops the themes discussed in the broadcast series. It is our hope that, through the series and its surrounding materials, we will empower the curious to gain a deeper understanding of Africa, its people and the environment that is such an influential factor in their lives."
Africa is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York and National Geographic Television in association with Tigress Productions Limited and Magic Box Mediaworks, Inc. Co-executive producers are Jennifer Lawson, of Magic Box Media Works; Fred Kaufman, of WNET; Christine Weber, of NGT; and Jeremey Bradshaw, of Tigress Productions. Andrew Jackson, of Tigress Productions, is series producer. Executive-in-charge is William R. Grant, director of Science, Natural History and Features Programming for WNET. Keenan Smart is head of the Natural History Unit at NGT. Tamara E. Robinson is vice president and director of National Programming for WNET. Tim Kelly is President of NGT.
Africa is made possible in part by Park Foundation. Major corporate support is provided by Canon U.S.A., Inc., Ford Motor Company, and TIAA-CREF. Additional support is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the nation's public television stations.
Maryland Public Television is a not-for-profit, state-licensed public television station which serves the citizens and communities of Maryland and beyond through a variety of broadcast and nonbroadcast activities.
MPT is a national leader in the production of broadcast programming for public television. MPT's local/regional television credits include public affairs, original performance, documentary, and entertainment programs for the citizens of Maryland.
Beyond broadcast, MPT creates instructional videos, develops training, and builds Internet sites that serve tens of thousands of students, teachers, and child-care providers annually. MPT outreach activities, especially relating to arts, culture, and history, take place in all areas of the state to further fulfill MPT's mission to engage, enlighten, and entertain.
For more information on this and other MPT on- and off-air programs, please visit mpt.org.
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