User:Heroditus2

"DAYS OF RAGE" Film Became The Name of a Revolution "This film helped change the course of history" stated Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. (1) "The most controversial film of the decade" declared Entertainment Tonight. 'DAYS OF RAGE' the highly controversial 1989 film by award winning filmmaker Jo Franklin, called for Palestinian rights and statehood. It became a cause celebre in the Middle East when special interest groups opposed the film and blocked its broadcast in the US for six months. (2) King Hussein of Jordan asked a Washington Post journalist to send a copy of the film to him. Upon receiving the cassette, King Hussein broadcast it from Jordanian TV throughout the entire MidEast which led to demonstrations by students across the region supporting the Palestinian cause. These young Arab students and intellectuals ultimately became the young people who created the Arab freedom movement begun in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011 and continuing across the entire region. Their demands for reforms and new governments reverberrated their earlier demands for the Palestinians. (3) 'DAYS OF RAGE' is part of a body of films by Ms. Franklin on the MidEast which were created following her work as Senior Washington Producer of "Newshour" on PBS where she was respomsible for the nightly coverage of the White House, Congress, MidEast, and Defense. As one of the first western journalists to interview Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran and report the story of Islamic fundamentalism, she went on to produce and direct a series of films on the area that were broadcast worldwide. "SAUDI ARABIA' a three part series had the largest audience ever recorded at the time for a public affairs series on PBS. "THE OIL KINGDOMS' a three part series on Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates was nominated for an Emmy and broadcast worldwide. 'DAYS OF RAGE' followed as dd "ISLAM: A CIVILZATIOPN AND ITS ART'. (5) The most recent documentary on the region is the 2010 film "A GIFT FROM THE DESERT:THE ARABIAN HORSE.'    (6) She went on to create the Franklin Film Archive of the MidEast, deemed "The World's Preeminent Film Archive of the Middle East" by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. (7) "It is almost impossible to exaggerate the longterm value of the Franklin Film Archive. Ms. Franklin traveled to places a camera had never been before and opened up the MidEast with an unerring journalist's eye" wrote Dr. Carney Gavin former Director of the Harvard Semitic Museum. (8) The Special Operations devision of the US military requested her assistance during the War in the Gulf. "Nobody knows the Middle East--the people, the passions, the politics, and the culture--like Jo Franklin. Her work with the Special Operations Forces before and during the War in the Gulf proved invaluable" noted Col. Richard F. Brauer, Commandant of the Special Operations Forces. (1) Ms. Franklin's articles on international politics have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Star, the Boston Globe, the Miami Herald, the Los Angeles Times. Her 2011 release of ebook "THE WING OF THE FALCON" on Amazon Kindle as the Days of Rage revolution carrying the name of her film began, expanded the call for rights heard in 'DAYS OF RAGE' now with a call for the rights of Arab women and its portait of Saudi Arabia's Royal Family, politics, society and culture. (1)