085 ‘BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE’ SYMPOSIUM SET OCT. 10

‘BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE’ SYMPOSIUM SET OCT. 10
Free Event to Feature Creative Team Behind the HBO Film

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 12, 2007EDITORIAL CONTACT: Dr. Bob Wood, 615-898-2532, bwood@mtsu.edu
(MURFREESBORO)—The hearts and minds of the Emmy-nominated creative team behind HBO Films’ retelling of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee will be open to the public Wednesday, Oct. 10, during a free symposium at MTSU.
Sponsored by the MTSU Distinguished Lectures Committee, the MTSU Tom T. Hall Lecture Series and Broadcast Music International, the event is set for 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Keathley University Center Theater.
Featured are:
· director Yves Simoneau, who received his first Emmy nomination in 2005 for the pilot of the TV series “The 4400,” and in 2003 won the prestigious 7 d’Or Award as best director for “Napoleon”;
· screenwriter Daniel Giat, who was Emmy- and Humanitas-nominated in 2002 for “Path to War,” a 2002 HBO production and John Frankenheimer film; and
· composer George S. Clinton, an MTSU alumnus and multiple award-winner, including the 2007 BMI Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement, whose scores have enhanced films like “The Astronaut’s Wife,” “Joe Somebody” and the “Austin Powers” series.
“Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” topped all other television programs when it garnered 17 Emmy nominations, including nominations for all three of the panelists. The Emmys will be broadcast Sunday, Sept. 16, beginning at 7 p.m. on Nashville’s WZTV-Fox 17.
“George is the type of guy you’d hope all celebrities would be,” said Dr. Bob Wood, coordinator of production and technology in MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry. “He is unselfish with his time and routinely comes to MTSU to present seminars on composing for film. This is great, real-world advice that our students can immediately apply to their film music projects.”
The discussion will be moderated by Beverly Keel, recording industry professor and director of MTSU’s Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, who will lead the panelists as they show scenes from the film and discuss how their ideas were translated to the screen. The working relationship between the director and the composer, and the director and the screenwriter will also be examined.
The session will conclude with an opportunity for the audience to ask questions of the filmmakers. A similar symposium for the public is planned for 5:30 p.m. the same day at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Ford Theater in Nashville.
“I was very fortunate to be permitted to attend the recording sessions for the film score for ‘Wounded Knee,’” Wood said. “It was there that George introduced me to Yves, who was gracious and treated me like an old friend. I was very interested to observe how involved Yves was in the recording of the music. He listened intently and made comments and suggestions that George took back to the orchestra. The interaction between the director and the composer was very congenial and relaxed, but all their conversations had a musical outcome. Yves knew exactly how he wanted the music to support the film.”
The epic film, starring Aidan Quinn, Anna Paquin, Adam Beach, August Schellenberg and Fred Thompson and produced by television veteran Dick Wolf, is based on Dee Brown’s bestseller, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” “Wounded Knee” powerfully explores the tragic impact that the United States' westward expansion had on American Indian culture, and the economic, political and social pressures that motivated it.
For more information about the symposium, contact Wood at 615-898-2532. For more information about the film and its creative team, visit www.hbo.com/films/burymyheart.

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IN BRIEF: The Emmy-nominated creative team behind HBO Films’ retelling of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee will discuss the movie’s creative process at a free symposium Wednesday, Oct. 10, in MTSU’s Keathley University Center Theater from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Director Yves Simoneau, screenwriter Daniel Giat and composer George S. Clinton will discuss how their ideas were translated to the screen and answer questions from the audience. For more information about the symposium, call 615-898-2532. For more information about the film and its creative team, visit www.hbo.com/films/burymyheart.

For MTSU news and information, visit www.mtsunews.com.

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NOTE: Media needing color headshots of the three symposium principals should contact the Office of News and Public Affairs via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385. Photos from the film suitable for publication can be obtained by contacting Karen Jones directly at HBO at Karen.Jones@hbo.com. Thanks!