About From Sea to Shining Sea: Katharine Lee Bates and the Story of “America the Beautiful”
"America the Beautiful" may be America's most beloved song.
But few know about the fascinating life of the writer behind it.
This film explores the rich life of poet, professor and
social reformer Katharine Lee Bates, author of "America the Beautiful." As
we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Bates'
story reminds us of the beauty and ideals of our nation as well as its
shortcomings and honors the unbroken chain of Americans striving to live up to
those ideals.
After the film, stay for the Q&A discussion with
filmmakers Laurence Cotton and John de Graaf.
Laurence Cotton served as a producer of public television
programs, including the recent Stewart Udall documentary, and he originated and
produced the nationally broadcast film Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing
America. A public historian,
Laurence delivers popular talks about the Olmsted landscape legacy and serves
as a guest lecturer for a small ship cruise line, plying the waterways of North
America. Laurence was the Director of
the Cambridge Forum, a lecture series and public radio program. He was a senior aide in the Massachusetts
State Senate, served as executive director of the World Affairs Council of
Oregon, and played a leadership role in planning the Lewis & Clark
Bicentennial.
John de Graaf has been directing and writing documentaries,
often for public television, for 46 years, winning more than 100 regional,
national and international awards for filmmaking - including the highest award
for legal reporting from the American Bar Association. More than a dozen of his films have been
broadcast nationally in primetime on PBS, including his 1997 hit, Affluenza. His most recent film is Stewart Udall: the
Politics of Beauty - partly financed through a campaign on Kickstarter. The
John de Graaf Environmental Filmmaking Award is presented annually at the Wild
and Scenic Film Festival in California. He spent 32 years with KCTS, the
Seattle PBS affiliate, has taught documentary production at three colleges and
authored four books. He lives in Seattle.
