'Civilisation and America' 217 Films' New Documentary...

Connecticut-based independent filmmakers Michael Maglaras and Terri Templeton of 217 Films announce the expected April 15, 2019 release date of a new film project - their eighth in 12 years and their seventh "essay in film" - highlighting the impact that Lord Kenneth Clark's epic thirteen-part television series "Civilisation" had on America and Americans in 1969 as we struggled with our national conscience during the Vietnam War.

This new film is titled "Civilisation and America."

"As our filming progresses, we're happy to announce that renowned British author and Clark expert James Stourton has agreed to appear in our film," said Michael Maglaras, the film's writer and director. "We've also secured the important cooperation of the BBC, and, as a result, this film will include segments from Clark's original "Civilisation" footage."

The film is being shot in America and the United Kingdom.

"I'm delighted to be participating in this new film about Kenneth Clark," said James Stourton, author of "Kenneth Clark: Life Art and Civilisation"...the definitive biography of Lord Clark. "This film will focus on the impact that "Civilisation" had on American cultural life when it was first premiered in the United States in 1969 an impact and a message still meaningful today about the value of our collective Western tradition."

"Civilisation," produced by the BBC, had its first United States screening at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 1969, thanks to the vision of its then director J. Carter Brown, and was quickly taken up as one of the first important television programs of what was then the new Public Broadcasting Service. Fifty years later, and with an America facing new political and social challenges, Lord Kenneth Clark's thirteen hours of "Civilisation" reminds us not only of the permanence of art and the permanent value of the human spirit in its creation, but also of the value of institutions and Clark's belief that society "must be made to work." Also featuring interviews with Americans whose lives were affected by "Civilisation" and by the series' brilliant writing, camera work, and innovative use of music...and using archival footage of an America struggling with itself during the height of the Vietnam War..."Civilisation and America" will remind us yet again of the value of the arts in American society and in the lives of American citizens.