The Spirit of America Fills Nation's Theaters
DGA director member Chuck Workman's latest short film, The Spirit of America, premiered on more than 9,000 screens during the holiday season.
According to Workman, The Spirit of America came directly out of the events of September 11. The three-minute film consists of a rapid-fire montage of scenes from 110 different classic motion pictures. "When you add up all the images — from a spunky Mary Pickford to Ben Affleck as a heroic soldier — you feel the changing, enduring and endlessly interesting American character," Workman said.
The Spirit of America premiered on screens across the country on December 14 — during the height of the holidays and with the support of the National Association of Theater Owners. Expanded theater screenings are planned in January and well into 2002. There are also plans to distribute the film, free of charge, to public and private schools throughout the country in 2002.
Workman won a Best Short Film, Live Action Oscar for a similarly constructed film, Precious Images, which showcased Hollywood's classic films and which was produced by the DGA for its 50th anniversary in 1986.
The Spirit of America — which Workman began working on almost immediately after September 11— is in the "spirit" of other industry wide responses to the terrorist attacks. On November 11, DGA President Jack Shea and DGA National Executive Director Jay D. Roth attended an L.A. meeting of top industry executives with Karl Rove, senior advisor to President Bush; the meeting led to a discussion of ways in which the entertainment industry might help in communicating about the war effort.
Subsequent to that meeting, the DGA joined with the studios, networks and other guilds in an industry working group on this effort, loosely called Hollywood 9–11.
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