Press for Earth Days
Releases, Imagery & Contact Info
"What we were trying to do is to create a brand new public consciousness that would cause the rules of the game to change—it was wild and exciting and out of control—and the sort of thing that lets you know you've got something big happening." —Denis Hayes, National Coordinator, Earth Day 1970
In EARTH DAYS, acclaimed director Robert Stone (Oswald's Ghost, Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst) traces the origins of the modern environmental movement through the eyes of nine Americans who propelled the movement from its beginnings in the 1950s to its moment of triumph in 1970 with the original Earth Day, and to its status as a major political force in America. Drawing heavily on eyewitness testimony and a wealth of never before seen archival footage, Stone examines the... Read Full Description
Press ReleasesEarth Days: Coming to Theaters 2009
03/26/2009 (Download PDF)
In EARTH DAYS, acclaimed director Robert Stone (Oswald's Ghost, Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst) traces the origins of the modern environmental movement through the eyes of nine Americans who propelled the movement from its beginnings in the 1950s to its moment of triumph in 1970 with the original Earth Day, and to its status as a major political force in America. Drawing heavily on eyewitness testimony and a wealth of never before seen archival footage, Stone examines the revolutionary achievements-and missed opportunities-of a decade of groundbreaking activism. The result is both a poetic meditation on man's complex relationship with nature and a probing... Continue Reading
Robert Stone Biography
01/13/2009 (Download PDF)
Robert Stone is a multi-award-winning, Oscar and Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker. Born in England in 1958, his grew up in both Europe and America. After graduating with a degree in history from the University of Wisconsin/Madison, he movedto New York City in 1983 determined to pursue a career in filmmaking. He gained considerable recognition for his first film, "RADIO BIKINI" (1987) which premiered... Continue Reading
Earth Days Premieres at Sundance 2009
12/15/2008 (Download PDF)
In EARTH DAYS, acclaimed director Robert Stone (Oswald's Ghost, Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst) traces the origins of the modern environmental movement through the eyes of nine Americans who propelled the movement from its beginnings in the 1950s to its moment of triumph in 1970 with the original Earth Day, and to its status as a major political force in America. Drawing heavily on eyewitness testimony and a wealth of never before seen archival footage, Stone examines the revolutionary... Continue Reading
ReviewsEntertainment Weekly—An environmental documentary that matters
by Owen Gleiberman
01/24/2009 (Download PDF)
Apart from that kerfuffle, the environmental docs programmed this year movies like Dirt! and Crude—failed to create much of a stir. But one of them lingers. Robert Stone's Earth Days, the festival's closing-night film, was a rapturous and enlightening testament to what the environmental movement has meant in America, and to why it now means more than ever. Stone, the director of Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst and the revelatory conspiracy-theory dissection Oswald?s Ghost, is an elegant no-frills nonfiction virtuoso who sees "objective" history for the psychological spectacle it is.
In Earth Days, he interviews many of the founders of the environmental movement, a tremendously engaged group of men and women who take us back to a time before the desire to conserve the planet carried leftist associations. Stone salutes the landmark that was Silent Spring, Rachel Carson's 1962 bestseller about the effects of chemical industry on nature, but his most galvanizing insight is the way that the first disseminated photograph of earth from outer space revolutionized people's feelings about the planet's smallness, majesty, and vulnerability. The movie documents how in the '70s, "ecology" and anti-pollution activism blossomed into a mainstream Congressional issue, only to be demagogued in the Reagan era, reduced for the next three decades to a tree hugger-vs.-drill baby drill! debate. With the ascension of President Obama, that moment may finally have passed, and Earth Days couldn't be more perfectly timed. It's about truths that are no longer so inconvenient. Visit Hollywood Insider
Variety—Earth days review
Justin Chang
02/05/2009
"Earth Days" is a quietly majestic survey of the hard-won successes and instructive failures of the American environmental movement. Avoiding the alarmist tone characteristic of many ecologically themed documentaries, Robert Stone's latest opus is a moving, elegiac, deeply contemplative work that leaves the viewer not with a save-the-world checklist, but rather a spirit of hopeful rlection. Classy presentation, breathtaking archival footage and authoritative voices from all corners of the movement suggest a very sustainable smallscreen career, though theatrical bookings are also warranted. Pic will air on PBS in April 2010 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
A dense weave of images, voices and music, "Earth Days" is, above all, a chronicle of shifting generational attitudes: the spirit of conservation that prevailed during the Great Depression; the sense of unlimited abundance and national invincibility that accompanied the postwar economic boom (clips from '50s car commercials and family sitcoms abound); the '60s counterculture's attempts to raise public awareness of global pollution and depletion (leading to the frst Earth Day on April 22, 1970); and the unfortunate reduction of... Continue Reading at Variety
New York Times—Sundance Honor for Film of Early Save-the-Earth Activists
Jacqueline Mroz
02/13/2009 (Download PDF)
WHEN he was just 11 years old and living in Princeton, Robert Stone borrowed his parents’ Super 8 camera and made his first film, about the pollution he saw around him. He made it in honor of the country’s first Earth Day, which was held that year.
Thirty-nine years later, Mr. Stone, now a well-known documentary filmmaker, has made “Earth Days,” a film about the start of the environmental movement in this country. It was recently given the honor of being chosen as the closing film at the Sundance Film Festival here in Utah.
“There’s a direct line from the movie I made as a child in Princeton to the film that I’ve just done,” said Mr. Stone, 50, who now lives in Rhinebeck, N.Y., with his wife and two sons. “Much of what I have to say about the world hasn’t changed all that... Continue Reading at The New York Times
Orlando Sentinal—Sundance Honor for Film of Early Save-the-Earth Activists
Jacqueline Mroz
02/13/2009 (Download PDF)
A big piece of modern Amiercan history is explored in Robert Stone's Earth Days, which details the origins of the modern environmental movement.
Yes, it's global, now. But there was a time when a few not-quite-ex-hippies (someday to be labeled "treehuggers") and scientists and an astronaut and futurists and... Continue Reading at The Orlando Sentinal
InterviewsEarth Promise—Interview with Robert Stone
Questions and answers with filmmaker Robert Stone, whose new film, "Earth Days" will have a theatrical release in summer 2009 and is slated for air on PBS' AMERICAN EXPERIENCE series in 2010.
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What changes, or Earth Promises as we call them, have you made in your lifestyle to be more green? Changes in home, travel, work, with your kids and community?
My life has changed quite a bit in the last few years. I moved with my family from New York City to a small town in the Hudson Valley. We buy locally grown food as much as possible, we compost, we recycle, we’re planting a vegetable garden this spring – all the kinds of things one can do in the country that are next to impossible in the city (except for recycling of course). Energy-wise we’ve installed a new high efficiency furnace in our old house, have insulated the house and done other modifications to cut down on our energy consumption. I still have to travel a fair amount for work but we’re beginning to fly people here whom we want to interview rather than travelling with... Download PDF to Continue Reading
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ImageryLaura Bowman, WGBH Boston
One Guest Street Boston, MA 02135
(617) 300-5332 / laura_bowman@wgbh.org
Usage: This image is limited to editorial use in North America only in conjunction with the direct publicity or promotion of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: EARTH DAYS. No other rights are granted. All rights are reserved.
General InquiriesJen Holmes, WGBH Boston
One Guest Street Boston, MA 02135
(617) 300-5388 / jen_holmes@wgbh.org