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AMS PICTURES PRESS RELEASE
Released On:
Friday, May 30, 2008
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Tammy Nguyen Lee
214.646.9309
TNLee@amspg.com
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CAPTURING THE REAL GREAT DEBATERS
AMS Pictures partners with Wiley College on new documentary
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Dallas, Texas—AMS Pictures is partnering with Wiley College to produce a documentary that will tell the story of the Wiley College debate team, whose remarkable defeat of an all-white champion debate team at the University of Southern California in 1935 inspired the 2007 film The Great Debaters, starring Denzel Washington. The Hollywood film depicts the Texas based Wiley College debate team in its championship 1935 season and chronicles its amazing journey from obscurity and struggle to its historic victory, a triumphant achievement for a small black college in the Jim Crow South of the 1930s.
The new documentary, The Real Great Debaters of Wiley College, picks up where the film leaves off, delving deeper into the real-life events that inspired the film and tells the personal stories of the 1935 debaters, including Professor Melvin B. Tolson and debater James Farmer, Jr., as well as Henrietta Bell Wells, Nolan Anderson, Hobart Sydney Jarrett, Hamilton Boswell and Henry Heights. The documentary will also explore the legacy of their achievements and show how professors and students became major figures in the Civil Rights Movement and influential contributors to the fabric of American society and culture. The Real Great Debaters also will chronicle the modern day adventures of today’s Wiley College students as they form a new debate team and set out to re-claim the national debate title.
AMS Pictures is pleased to be chosen to partner with Wiley College on the production of this documentary. “I watched The Great Debaters in a movie theater last December and immediately thought this would make a great documentary. I am very proud to be able to tell the true story behind this inspirational movie,” said Andy Streitfeld, CEO of AMS Production Group and AMS Pictures.
Dr. Haywood Strickland, President of Wiley College, remarked “Wiley College is excited to be partnering with AMS Pictures on this documentary. Our college is proud of its history and working hard to bring that history into the present. We play an important role in educating students for the challenges they will face in a competitive work world. This documentary will tell that story as well.”
Production has already started at Wiley College, and the program is expected to be completed by September 2008. The Real Great Debaters will be a flagship addition to AMS Pictures’ Black History Uncovered series of documentaries on African American history.
For more information on the film or to request an interview, please contact Tammy Nguyen Lee via phone at 214.646.9309 or visit www.AMSPictures.com
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