Press Room Item

Return to the main Swedenborg Press Room Page.

9/25/2005

New Documentary Commemorates the 125th Anniversary of Helen Keller's Birthday

Philadelphia, PA, September 25, 2005 — To commemorate the 125th anniversary of Helen Keller’s birth on June 27, 1880, the Swedenborg Foundation has commissioned Emmy Award-winner Penny Price to produce and direct a documentary that will explore the last frontier of Helen Keller’s life, which has remained surprisingly unknown despite its paramount importance in understanding her phenomenal contributions and achievements. Her spiritual autobiography, My Religion (now entitled Light in My Darkness), testified to her deep and abiding gratitude to Emanuel Swedenborg, whose spiritual theology inspired and informed her character and her life. Shining Soul: Helen Keller’s Spiritual Life and Legacy will tell the story of how Keller encountered Swedenborg’s works, how she reacted to them, what they meant to her, and how they contributed to determining her mission to live a useful life dedicated to improving the lives of other people suffering from society’s fears and prejudices against the severely disabled.

The one-hour documentary will comprise archival footage, stills, historical re-enactments, and contemporary expert interviews with renowned writer and human-empowerment teacher Jean Houston; CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind, Carl Augosto; the first blind man to climb Mt. Everest, Erik Weihenmeyer; the first deaf Miss America, Heather Whitestone; Helen Keller’s great grand niece Keller Johnson-Thompson; scholars Roger Shattuck and Kim Nielsen; and Swedenborgian ministers and scholars Rev. Dr. Jonathan Rose and Rev. Dr. Ray Silverman. Keller’s life indeed proved an inspiration to almost everyone who met or learned about her—from the most severely disabled and socially deprived to luminaries who befriended her, such as Mark Twain, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Martha Graham, as well as American presidents and foreign heads of state. By her example, she demonstrated what was possible. Time named her among the one-hundred most influential people of the twentieth century. In the contemporary world, the majority who are acquainted with Helen Keller know her only through a superficial introduction to her in elementary or middle school or through seeing The Miracle Worker in the theatre or on film. Those who have deepened their knowledge of her are invariably astonished by her inner radiance, beautiful disposition, emotional depth and richness, the staggering intellectual accomplishments of her life, and most of all by the courage of character that allowed her to triumph over the limitations of her sight and hearing disabilities. This new documentary will explore a major source of her inner strength.

Penny Price’s career in television as producer/director/writer spans twenty-five years. She helped launch many national talk and magazine shows, including Geraldo, NBC Magazine, and Good Morning America. She has won both Emmy and Maggie Awards for her shows. In 2000, she produced and directed the multi-award-winning documentary Splendors of the Spirit for the Swedenborg Foundation.


Click the link below for additional information:
http://www.swedenborg.com/Bookstore/Presentation.asp?qsContent=ProductProfile&qsPKeyProductID=180