When
The Forest Ran Red Electronic Press Kit
DVD Coming Soon!
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Historical Society Sets out on the French
and Indian Trail
PITTSBURGH, PA—The Historical
Society of Western Pennsylvania and Paladin Communications
of Pittsburgh have completed principal photography of
a groundbreaking film documentary about the French &
Indian War, known in historical circles as the first
true "world war." The film, When the
Forest Ran Red: Washington, Braddock & a Doomed Army, chronicles a two-year period in colonial history that
helped to set America on the road to revolution a generation
later.
The story begins with the ambush by George
Washington of French officer Jumonville and his party,
which vaulted Washington onto the world stage—as
a murderer. In the ensuing battle of Fort Necessity,
Jumonville’s brother avenges the killing by forcing
the surrender of Washington and his army of militia.
These events lead to the film’s main story: the
1755 campaign of British Maj.-Gen. Edward Braddock against
the French at Ft. Duquesne. Braddock's goal is
the "Forks of the Ohio," site of present-day
Pittsburgh. Seven miles from Ft. Duquesne, French
and British armies fight the Battle of the Monongahela,
a brutal forest encounter in which Braddock’s
army is overwhelmed by a bold French-Indian allied force.
George Washington rallies the troops after the battle
and personally tends to the mortally wounded Gen. Braddock.
Principal photography took place at the National Park
Service Jumonville Glen Unit, the Fort Necessity National
Battlefield Park, the site of Braddock’s base
camp in Hopwood, PA, and the site of the Battle of the
Monongahela in present day Braddock Borough, PA.
Cooperation was received from the National Park Service
and the Braddock’s Field Historical Society.
Fred
Anderson, author of the bestselling work, Crucible of
War, appears on camera to interpret historical events
as does R. David Edmunds, Native American scholar and
author of the landmark The Shawnee Prophet. Also
appearing are historical educator Bruce Egli, National
Park Service Ranger Carney Rigg, and Historical Society
President and CEO Andrew E. Masich.
Two dozen
units of living historians or "reenactors"
participated, and the project has been endorsed by Eastern
Frontier artist Robert Griffing, whose work appears
in the film. "No one has attempted to make this
topic the focus of a film documentary," said Paladin
president Robert Matzen about the film. "The story
of Washington and Braddock in this time period can’t
miss. It’s fascinating, it’s ironic, it’s
heartbreaking. We take you back in time and show you
history up close. It’s a vivid experience." ................................................................................................................................................................
French & Indian Documentary Visits Historic
Locations
PITTSBURGH, PA—The new French
& Indian War film documentary, When the Forest Ran
Red: Washington, Braddock & a Doomed Army, has recently completed principal
photography at a number of historic
locations. This film chronicles the outbreak of war
between England and France in 1754 as
22-year-old Virginia Militia Lt.-Col. George Washington
ambushes a French company under the command
of French Ensign Jumonville. It then follows the subsequent
battle of Fort Necessity, in which a
French army led by Jumonville’s brother avenged
the killing by forcing the surrender of Washington’s
army. The film culminates in a recounting of the 1755
campaign of British Maj.-Gen. Edward Braddock
against the French Fort Duquesne.
When the Forest Ran Red was shot at the following locations:
• The secluded Jumonville Glen (Hopwood, PA) where Washington's
force surprised the French party under
Jumonville, killing 11 and taking 21 prisoners.
• Fort Necessity National Battlefield Park (Farmington,
PA), the site of George Washington's first
defeat.
• The Forks of the Ohio (present-day Pittsburgh), the
prized parcel of land sought by both France and
England and site of the French Fort Duquesne (1754-58).
• Traces of the Braddock Road forged by the 1755 British
military expedition. The site of the Battle of the
Monongahela, where Braddock’s army was destroyed by a French
force on July 9, 1755. Shooting took place on the
only remaining battlefield trace and at the initial
pointof conflict in Braddock Borough, Pennsylvania.
• The site of Gen. Braddock’s base camp (Hopwood,
PA), known as "Dunbar’s Camp" for Braddock’s
second-in-command, Col. Thomas Dunbar. Survivors
fled to this site after the defeat of the British
army, and it was here that hundreds of tons of ordnance
and supplies were destroyed before a final
retreat eastward, creating one of the richest archaeological
sites in colonial American history.
"These sites still resonate for me as I’m
sure they will for viewers," said the film’s
writer and
producer, Robert Matzen. "To stand in places where
men fought and died, where graves are so old that
they’re unmarked and forgotten, that’s powerful."
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Producer Considers Documentary to Be the
Prequel of 'The Patriot'
PITTSBURGH, PA—The producer
of a new film documentary concerning the French &
Indian War says that
the program serves as a setup to events portrayed in
Mel Gibson’s blockbuster motion picture, The
Patriot. "What you see in The Patriot," says
independent producer Robert Matzen, "is a colonial
farmer who succeeds in the American Revolution because
of his combat experience in the French &
Indian War. But the details of the earlier war are never
revealed. All we see is that it was a
brutal war because it produced a hero capable of brutal
acts, and one who could help to win the
Revolution. Our film, When the Forest Ran Red, tells
you how this was possible."
When the Forest Ran Red: Washington, Braddock & a
Doomed Army chronicles a two-year period in
colonial history that saw the opening of the French & Indian War, known in historical circles as the
first true "world war." Combatants included
the British, French, and Native American empires. Matzen
wrote and produced the film through his company, Paladin
Communications, working in cooperation with
the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania based
in Pittsburgh.
"What we do is put you squarely in the shoes of
George Washington and the other combatants," says
Matzen. "You see what they faced, you hear their
voices speaking their own words, and suddenly
you’re caught up in a terrific story. You learn
how Benjamin Martin of The Patriot acquired the
guerrilla skills that would one day lead the British
to nickname him ‘The Ghost.’"
Principal photography for When the Forest Ran Red took
place at several historic locations in
Pennsylvania, including George Washington’s first
battlefields. The documentary also features the
forests and raw wilderness that so challenged each empire. "I wanted nature to be a character in the
film," says Matzen. "I wanted it to live for
the viewer as it did for the armies who lived and died
in it."
Matzen is banking on the fact that no one has attempted
to focus on the first campaigns of the
French & Indian War through the medium of film.
"This is new territory for documentaries,"
he says."Mel Gibson brought the Revolutionary War into
focus for the modern viewer by showing a fictional
hero doing great deeds. We feel confident we can similarly
entertain with our own project by showing
real people who did deeds that were great and, in some
cases, truly amazing."
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Acclaimed Historian Fred Anderson Appears in Documentary
PITTSBURGH, PA—Fred Anderson,
author of the landmark book, Crucible of War: The Seven
Years’ War and
the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766,
appears in the French & Indian War
documentary, When the Forest Ran Red: Washington, Braddock
& a Doomed Army. Anderson helps to
explain the simmering conflict that existed between
Britain, France and various Native American
groups over possession of the rich Ohio Valley in 1750s
North America. This conflict, with George
Washington at its epicenter, boiled over into the first
true "world war."
Fred Anderson is a Harvard Ph.D. and a past Harvard
educator. He is currently Associate Professor of
History at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His
latest book, Crucible of War, was released in
February 2000 and has been called "consuming," "vivid" and "brilliant" by various
reviewers. The New
York Times Book Review said of his work, "Anderson
carries his mastery of a vast scholarly
literature lightly. His wide-ranging story is eventful
and fast-paced, yet always clear." Kirkus
Reviews said, "Important and beautifully written
. . . A rousing, epic yarn and the best sort of
history . . . Anderson earns his crown as the preeminent
chronicler of what Americans know as the
French and Indian War." Fred Anderson is also the
author of A People’s Army: Massachusetts Soldiers
and Society in the Seven Years’ War (1984), as
well as articles, essays and reviews.
Anderson welcomes his participation in When the Forest
Ran Red, which he calls "most impressive.
It’s a wonderful documentary, and a real contribution
to education and public history alike." The
new feature-length film is the first of its kind, focusing
on 18 months that shook the world. The
story begins in December 1753 with a meeting to discuss
ownership of the Ohio Valley between French
army officers and the 21-year-old Washington, who represents
the colony of Virginia and therefore
the British Crown. It ends in July 1755 when the British
army of Maj.-Gen. Edward Braddock—with
Washington in its ranks—is annihilated in a brutal
forest encounter known as the Battle of the
Monongahela or "Braddock’s Defeat."
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Documentary Features Native American Historian
R. David Edmunds
PITTSBURGH, PA—The country’s
foremost expert on the history of Native American peoples,
Dr. R. David
Edmunds, appears in the historical documentary, When
the Forest Ran Red: Washington, Braddock & a
Doomed Army. In the film, Dr. Edmunds—who is of
Cherokee descent—explains the position of Native
American tribes who must deal with the encroachment
into their lands of European powers England and
France in 1753-55. Both countries claimed the rich Ohio
Valley, which led to the conflict known as
the French & Indian War or the Seven Years’
War, and Indian groups such as the Iroquois Confederacy
and the Delaware found themselves in the unenviable
position of taking sides when they much
preferred that the Europeans would simply go away.
R. David Edmunds earned a Ph.D. in history at the University
of Oklahoma. He is now Watson Professor of history at the University
of Texas at Dallas after teaching previously at the
University of
Wyoming, Texas Christian University and Indiana University.
Dr. Edmunds is a noted lecturer and the
author or editor of seven books. His book The Shawnee
Prophet (1984) was awarded the Ohioana Prize
for Biography and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. An
earlier work, The Potawatomis: Keepers of the
Fire (1978), was awarded the Francis Parkman Prize,
while a book he co-authored with Joseph L.
Peyser, The Fox Wars: The Mesquakie Challenge to New
France (1993), received the 1994 Heggoy Prize
from the French Colonial Historical Society.
These are just a few of the honors earned by R. David
Edmunds. He was named Honorary Tribal
Historian for the Citizen Band Potawatomi Tribe, and
he is a recipient of fellowships from the Ford
and Guggenheim Foundations as well as the Newberry Library.
In 1990-91 he served as the Acting
Director of the McNickle Center for Indian History at
the Newberry Library in Chicago. His works
have been recommended by the Smithsonian Institution.
Filmmaker Robert Matzen believed it was imperative to
involve Dr. Edmunds in When the Forest Ran
Red. "Since I’m of European descent myself,"
says Matzen, "it’s easy to overlook the viewpoint
of
the Native American in telling the story of a war between
England and France. But it was vital to me
that the Indians be heard, because they had the most
legitimate claim to these lands. A Native
American had to tell their story. And there’s
no one more qualified to do it than Dr. Edmunds."
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Award-Winning Actor Narrates French &
Indian Documentary
PITTSBURGH, PA—Michael Rothhaar
knows whereof he speaks. The veteran actor was raised
within miles
of places he describes via voiceover narration for the
historical documentary When the Forest Ran
Red: Washington, Braddock & a Doomed Army. The film
chronicles a two-year period culminating in
the Battle of the Monongahela or "Braddock’s
Defeat." This brutal forest encounter between British
and French forces near present-day Pittsburgh changed
the course of American history and helped lead
the colonies on the path of revolution a generation
later.
Michael Rothhaar says of his work on the film, "Having
played historical drama from Shakespeare’s
Rome in Julius Caesar to the frozen bottom of the earth
in Terra Nova, it was a thrill to help
realize a story that happened—really in my home
town—and to help bring to life the script’s
lovely
unspinning of the tale’s inevitable tragedy."
Rothhaar also portrays the voice of a young George Washington
at key points in the film. "It was a
nice challenge to play someone before he was important,"
he says. "He is kind of hot-headed, kind of
arrogant. He walked into a trap and paid the price."
Michael Rothhaar has been a professional actor since
1975 and a professional theatre director since
1985. His professional honors include the 1997 Los Angeles
Drama Critics Circle Award and the 1997
Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Lead Performance in
Ardèle, as well as the 1997 Drama Logue Award
in Direction for Mrs. Warren’s Profession.
Rothhaar has appeared in the television series Family
Law (recurring as Judge Prentiss), Ally
McBeal, Arliss, NYPD Blue, The X-Files, Murder One,
Star Trek—The Next Generation, Snoops, Murphy
Brown, L.A. Law, Civil Wars, Picket Fences, Step By
Step, Hudson Street, Dr. Quinn—Medicine Woman,
Married ... With Children and Love and War. He also
appeared in the feature films The Nutty
Professor and Space Jam. His work on Broadway includes
The Front Page and The Corn is Green, and he
appeared off Broadway in Frankenstein and Brand.
Michael Rothhaar has directed Otherwise Engaged, Candida,
Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Waiting for
Godot, The Private Ear and Macbeth ... According to
the Fifth Grade for the Pacific Resident
Theatre. He served as the Artistic Director of Pennsylvania’s
Allenberry Playhouse from 1987 to
1992, directing more than 40 productions. In Washington,
D.C., he directed Mrs. Warren’s Profession and The Millionairess at the Washington Stage Guild.
In 1994, he directed the Southern California
tour of Sleuth.
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Cameraman Films Braddock's Defeat Up Close
PITTSBURGH, PA—For director
of photography Richard K. Schutte, production of When
the Forest Ran
Red: Washington, Braddock & a Doomed Army involved
many kinds of filming, from interviews with
renowned historians to French & Indian War battle
maneuvers on mountainsides that recreate the
battle known as "Braddock’s Defeat."
But shooting in extreme conditions is nothing new for
Rich.
As an assistant cameraman (AC) and a camera operator,
Rich has been involved with film productions
around the world in all environments. His work as an
AC includes a film tour of the White House
(Within These Walls/PBS), a trip up the Amazon River
(Web of Life/PBS), a climb of the Andes
Mountains (DDI: A Better World) and travelogues of St.
Petersburg, Russia (National Geographic: Voices of Leningrad) and the island of Bali (National
Geographic: Masterpiece of the Gods).
His feature work as an AC includes B camera for The
Prince of Pennsylvania (1988) with Bonnie
Bedelia and Keanu Reeves, Iron Maze (1991) with Bridget
Fonda, The Cemetery Club (1992) with Ellen
Burstyn and Olympia Dukakis, Striking Distance (1993)
with Bruce Willis and Sarah Jessica Parker and
Sudden Death (1995) with Jean-Claude Van Damme. His
work as an AC also includes the TV movies Alone
in the Neon Jungle (1988) with Suzanne Pleshette, Bob
Roberts (1992) with Tim Robbins, Citizen Cohn (1992) with James Woods and What She Doesn’t Know (1992) with Valerie Bertinelli. In addition, Rich
has ACed for many other broadcast programs as well as
corporate video and more than 600 broadcast
commercials.
As a camera operator, Rich shot footage on the Amazon
for PBS’s Web of Life. He shot atop the Rocky
Mountains in Montana for DDI: A Better World, an award-winning
corporate image film. He served as a
photographer for George Washington: The Unknown Years,
produced by Impact Television for The
Learning Channel, a show that included French &
Indian War battle reenactments. He then served as
director of photography for three other Impact/TLC productions,
Haunted Lighthouses, Ghost Waters and Night Visitors. He has shot for Entertainment Tonight,
Rescue 911, The Golf Channel and the
Wham! TV Network. He has also served as director of
photography for many organizations, including
FedEx, H.J. Heinz, Metrojet, PNC Bank and USAirways.
When the Forest Ran Red recounts the undeclared and
declared war between England and France for
possession of the Ohio Valley in 1753-55, with Native
American tribes caught in the middle and
fighting for the lands they knew as "home."
Rich’s toughest shot on the show: operating a
camera at
ground level while a line of British redcoats fired
volleys over his head. Now that’s battle conditions.
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Philadelphia Band Scores French & Indian
Documentary
PITTSBURGH, PA—Broadside
Electric, Philadelphia’s leading and longest-lived
electric folk band,
brings 10 years of experience to the musical scoring
of the French & Indian War documentary, When
the Forest Ran Red: Washington, Braddock & a Doomed
Army. The group has earned a solid reputation
for thoroughly original arrangements and painstaking
research into traditional English, Celtic and
Eastern European music. This research turned up obscure
but musically interesting tunes that serve
as themes for the characters and armies of the story.
When the Forest Ran Red recounts the first two
years of undeclared and declared war between England
and France, with Native American tribes caught
in the middle and fighting for the lands they knew as
"home."
Broadside Electric has been called "Pennsylvania’s
answer to Steeleye Span," "folk music’s
answer to death metal" and a band
that "gives members of the usual folk audiences
something new to talk
about." The quintet has captivated audiences and
earned critical praise at dozens of concerts across
the northeast. Recent appearances include the Philadelphia
Folk Festival (PA), the Baltimore Folk
Festival (MD) and venues such as Club Passim (MA), The
Cherry Tree (PA) and The Minstrel Coffeehouse
(NJ). They have recorded the albums Black-edged Visiting
Card (1993), Amplificata (1994), More Bad
News… (1996) and With Teeth (1999).
Much of the band’s repertoire is drawn from scholarly
studies of traditional music. This research
uncovered musical pieces that haven’t been heard
in a couple of centuries. Says band member Jim
Speer, "We actually did end up finding Pennsylvanian
colonial tunes titled "General Braddock’s March"
and "Washington’s March," which we used for the
corresponding characters’ themes. We also recorded
two
shape-note hymns instrumentally, as backup for ‘woods’
themes. Also a handful of other tunes as
well, including a really cool solo violin tune we think
works great as the Irish mother’s lament for
the dead son."
Filmmaker Robert Matzen had a definite idea of the music
required for the show. "As entertainment,
this story is all about the ambitions of Braddock and
Washington, the triumphs of armies conquering
the wilderness, the heroism of men and women going off
to battle, and exuberance of victory and the
heartbreak of defeat and death. We needed music that
spanned such a broad spectrum of emotion. Music
that will move the viewer. And I know we got it."
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Historian Connects to the Star Power of
George Washington
PITTSBURGH, PA—Well-known historical
educator Bruce Egli relishes the idea of sharing the
stage with
George Washington in the French & Indian War film
documentary, When the Forest Ran Red: Washington,
Braddock & a Doomed Army. "I’m happy, I’m
honored, I’m enchanted to be associated in this
production alongside George Washington," says Egli.
When the Forest Ran Red looks at Washington’s
first military campaigns in 1754-1755 against the
French in the American wilderness. He was then just
out of adolescence. This military education,
which involved two resounding defeats, would serve him
well as commander of Continental forces in
the American Revolution 25 years later.
At the rock-strewn Jumonville Glen in southwestern Pennsylvania,
where George Washington first faced
hostile gunfire, Bruce Egli interprets for the camera
some of the most dramatic events in American
history. They are also events sometimes overlooked in
the educational systems of today."Entertainment and information are often felt to
be opposites and enemies," says Egli. "That’s
not
really true. I think this production is both informative
and entertaining."
Bruce Egli has spent 20 years combining entertainment
and information through Bruce Egli Historical
Programs, which offers living history presentations
to schools and organizations. He is a certified
teacher in Pennsylvania, and has taken his act on the
road to such places as Colonial Williamsburg,
Ft. Niagara, Fortress Louisbourg National Historical
Park and two western Pennsylvania military
landmarks well known to George Washington, Ft. Ligonier
and Ft. Necessity. He has also appeared in
broadcast documentaries for The Discovery Channel and
The Learning Channel that include Haunted
Lighthouses, Ghost Waters, and George Washington: The
Unknown Years.
In When the Forest Ran Red, Egli shares the screen with
such eminent historians as Dr. Fred
Anderson, author of the best-selling book, Crucible
of War, and Pulitzer Prize nominee Dr. R. David
Edmunds, one of the country’s foremost Native
American scholars. When reminded of this fact, Egli
smiles politely but leaves no doubt who the real star
is. "I’m certainly flattered to have my name
on the screen along with these experts," he says.
"But really, I’m just as pleased to be associated
with something that George Washington is also associated
with." With no agent in sight and 200 years
after his death, Washington still commands top billing.
Now that’s star power.
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Documentary Film Editor Cuts a Home Town War
PITTSBURGH, PA—For editor Tom
Wilson, editing the historical film documentary When
the Forest Ran
Red: Washington, Braddock & a Doomed Army involved
a trip down memory lane and a marathon series
of late-night editing sessions. The film in part
chronicles the 1755 military campaign of British
Maj. Gen. Edward Braddock against the French at Fort
Duquesne in the wilderness of present-day
Pennsylvania. These events unfolded a generation
before the Revolutionary War, culminating with a
brutal forest encounter between the French and British
in present-day Braddock, Pennsylvania—where
Tom Wilson was born and raised.
“When we arrived to scout the locations and to
shoot there,” says Wilson, “it was interesting
to
have my own memories superimposed on what I was now
looking at as an important battlefield. Like,
oh, look, over here is where Col. Gage’s troops
fired the first volley, and there’s where I used
to
go see my step-brother play baseball.”
Wilson, a Pittsburgh-area musician, also worked closely
with Broadside Electric, Philadelphia’s
leading and longest-lived electric folkband, in scoring
the show. “I knew they had the right
sound,” says Wilson, “fiddle, dulcimers,
reed and wind instruments of the era. After we
had ‘set’
the picture in place, one of the band members was able
to really score a few scenes for us. I’m
very happy with how it all worked out. I think
the music helps evoke the feeling that my old
neighborhood was actually the frontier.”
It was a little corner of the frontier that helped to
change American history.
For Tom Wilson, making When the Forest Ran Red helped
to bring that history to life. “It’s
one
thing to learn about dates of battles and movements
of men, but when Dr. Edmunds explains that the
Indian and French victory was motivated by a precognitive
dream of one man, you start to understand
that these were real humans caught up in these events.
It helps when you stop thinking of them as
just names on a page and start considering them as people.”
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Historical Documentary Earns National Honors
PITTSBURGH, PA—The Council of
Nontheatrical Events in Washington, D.C. announced on
December 28,
2001 that the French and Indian War film documentary
When the Forest Ran Red: Washington, Braddock
& a Doomed Army has been honored with a 2001 CINE
Golden Eagle Award in the category of Historical
Broadcast Documentary. When the Forest Ran Red was produced by Paladin Communications of Pittsburgh
in association with the Historical Society of Western
Pennsylvania. The program was first broadcast
on Pittsburgh’s PBS affiliate WQED-TV on September
26, 2001.
When the Forest Ran Red chronicles the quest of the
British, French and Native American Empires to
possess the Ohio Country 20 years prior to the Revolutionary
War. Its main characters include
British Major-General Edward Braddock, Seneca war chief
Tanagrisson (also known as the Half King),
French Captain Louis Coulon deVilliers and a young Virginia
gentleman turned soldier, George
Washington.
When the Forest Ran Red was filmed in cooperation with
the National Park Service, Colonial
Williamsburg and Mount Vernon. It features historical
interpretation by prominent historians,
including Fred Anderson, author of the 2001 Francis
Parkman Prize-winning Crucible of War, and R. David Edmunds, a Native American scholar who received
a Pulitzer Prize nomination for The Shawnee
Prophet.
“Obviously I’m thrilled to see the show
earn this honor,” said Robert Matzen, writer/producer
of
When the Forest Ran Red. “The CINE Golden
Eagle is a sought-after national award.”
The show had
previously earned a 2001 Silver AXIEM(TM) Award in the
category of Regional Educational Television.
Said Matzen, “Each award raises awareness about
the program itself, and also about the American
history it represents.”
The CINE Golden Eagle Film and Video Competition, held
since 1957, acknowledges high-quality
professional production in a variety of content categories.
Over the years the judging procedures
have evolved into an efficient multi-stage jury process
to determine which productions are deserving
of the coveted CINE Golden Eagle award. In 2001,
600 jurors on 150 juries judged more than 1,000
entries in 21 categories. Winners in 2001 included
several ABC News productions as well as
programming from American Movie Classics, Boston’s
PBS affiliate WGBH and HBO.
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Third National Honor for French & Indian Documentary
PITTSBURGH, PA—Winners in the
23rd annual Telly Awards competition in Cincinnati,
Ohio, were announced
on March 1, 2002. Earning a Bronze Telly in the
category of TV Program—Documentary was the French
and Indian War program When the Forest Ran Red: Washington,
Braddock & a Doomed Army, produced by
Paladin Communications of Pittsburgh in association
with the Historical Society of Western
Pennsylvania. The film documentary was first broadcast
on Pittsburgh’s PBS affiliate WQED-TV on
September 26, 2001.
When the Forest Ran Red chronicles the quest of the
British, French and Native American Empires to
possess the Ohio Country 20 years prior to the Revolutionary
War. Its main characters include
British Major-General Edward Braddock, Seneca war chief
Tanagrisson (also known as the Half King),
French Captain Louis Coulon deVilliers and a young Virginia
gentleman turned soldier, George
Washington.
When the Forest Ran Red was filmed in cooperation with
the National Park Service, Colonial
Williamsburg and Mount Vernon. It features historical
interpretation by prominent historians,
including Fred Anderson, author of the 2001 Francis
Parkman Prize-winning Crucible of War, and R.
David Edmunds, a Native American scholar who received
a Pulitzer Prize nomination for The Shawnee
Prophet.
Honors already earned by When the Forest Ran Red include
a 2001 Golden Eagle Award in the category
of Regional Broadcast Documentary issued by the Council
of International Nontheatrical Events in
Washington, D.C. and a 2001 Silver AXIEM AWARD(TM) for
Excellence in Educational Media issued by the
AXIEM Committee in Rapid City, South Dakota.
In 2001 more than 11,000 programs were entered in the
Telly Awards. Winners included Sony Pictures,
Walt Disney Studios, U.S. Navy, ESPN, Universal Studios,
Miramax Films and National Geographic,
among others. Said Robert Matzen, writer/producer
of When the Forest Ran Red, “I thought all along
that we had a great team making a great product.
Now these three awards validate that point of
view. The Telly is icing on the cake for us.
People respect the name, and labeling our show as a
Telly honoree speaks to its value as both entertainment and education.
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Prestigious Honor for French & Indian War
Documentary
NEW YORK, NY. In a May 13, 2002
awards presentation at the American Association of Museums'
annual
meeting in Dallas, Texas, the historical documentary
When the Forest Ran Red: Washington, Braddock & a Doomed Army earned a 2002 Bronze MUSE Award in the
category of Historical Documentary. When the
Forest Ran Red was produced by Paladin Communications
of Pittsburgh in association with the
Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania’s Senator
John Heinz Regional History Center. The film
details the opening of the French and Indian War in
America, which revolved around the actions of
the 22-year-old George Washington, then beginning his
military career.
Andrew E. Masich, President and CEO of the Historical
Society of Western Pennsylvania, accepted the
Bronze Award at the MUSE Award Reception in Dallas. “This is a very prestigious honor in a very
competitive field,” said Masich. “We
received honors along with the Smithsonian Institution’s
National Museum of American History for their A More
Perfect Union project and the Newseum
Interactive Museum of News in a field of more than 30.
So it’s a great honor.”
Writer/producer Robert Matzen of Paladin Communications
agrees. “Of all the awards we’ve won
so far
for the film, this one is very special, because it is
recognition by historians judging under the
most stringent criteria. And the MUSE is associated
with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a name
that certainly gets your attention.”
The MUSE Awards were established in 1989 to recognize
excellence in films and videos produced by or
for museums. Since that time, the awards have kept
pace with changing technology and delivery
platforms, and expanded to include CD-ROMs, interactive
experiences on the museum floor and web
sites.
The Muse Awards recognize excellence in museum media
and have four major objectives:
• To provide peer recognition for the year's best
productions.
• To gain national recognition for museum programs.
• To raise the level of museum media production values.
• To nurture awareness of the benefits of media and technology programs for museum audiences.
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