This week Helen Whitney is visiting CMI. I am enjoying this! She is a wonderful person. The bio on her website reads like this -
Helen Whitney has worked as a producer, director, and writer for documentaries and feature films since 1971. Her documentary work has appeared on ABC's "Closeup" and PBS's American Masters, as well as on FRONTLINE. Her documentaries have ranged over a wide variety of subjects, among them: youth gangs, presidential candidates, the mentally ill, a Trappist Monastery, Pope John Paul II, the class structure of Great Britain, homosexuals, and the photographer Richard Avedon. Whitney maintains a passionate personal interest in the religious journey. Her 90-minute ABC News "Closeup" documentary, "The Monastery," about the Cister Spencer, Mass., left her searching for other projects about spiritual life. This passion was also evident in FRONTLINE's "John Paul II: The Millennial Pope", a film for which she and her team conducted more than 800 interviews in six countries. Whitney's documentaries and features have received many honors, including an Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, an Oscar nomination, the Humanitas Award, and the prestigious duPont-Columbia Journalism Award.
Helen Whitney has worked as a producer, director, and writer for documentaries and feature films since 1971. Her documentary work has appeared on ABC's "Closeup" and PBS's American Masters, as well as on FRONTLINE. Her documentaries have ranged over a wide variety of subjects, among them: youth gangs, presidential candidates, the mentally ill, a Trappist Monastery, Pope John Paul II, the class structure of Great Britain, homosexuals, and the photographer Richard Avedon. Whitney maintains a passionate personal interest in the religious journey. Her 90-minute ABC News "Closeup" documentary, "The Monastery," about the Cister Spencer, Mass., left her searching for other projects about spiritual life. This passion was also evident in FRONTLINE's "John Paul II: The Millennial Pope", a film for which she and her team conducted more than 800 interviews in six countries. Whitney's documentaries and features have received many honors, including an Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, an Oscar nomination, the Humanitas Award, and the prestigious duPont-Columbia Journalism Award.
Today I attended the lunchtime forum and viewed the first hour of her new documentary, Forgiveness: Understanding Love and Hate. She is still preparing this and looking for final funding. Helen expects it to be available to the public towards the end of the year or early 2011. On Thursday evening I will attend a presentation of her documentary on The Mormons. I am looking forward to this.
Helen is bringing life to CMI this week. We are all enjoying her presence.
