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WHYY and NETA are pleased to offer you Making Waves, a one hour documentary that looks at the overwhelmingly white, elite sport of rowing. Beautifully shot in HD, viewers become acquainted with several passionate rowers from diverse backgrounds whose own experiences with the sport reveal rowing's remarkable changes as well as the subtle nuances that perpetuate exclusion.
Philadelphia's historic Boathouse Row, where great rowers and Olympic champions have trained for over 150 years, is the setting for Making Waves. With iconic images of needle thin boats gliding across the water and under scenic bridges to the rhythmic beat of contemporary music, we meet several characters from diverse backgrounds. As their personal stories begin to unfold we learn how they deal with exclusion and challenge stereotypes. Viewers meet:
JB Kelly - son and grandson of Olympians. JB may look preppy but his family's story also deals with class and exclusion.
Anita DeFrantz - a Penn Law School grad and member of the first Olympic women's crew in1976, who now heads the LA'84 Foundation.
Dwayne Adams - vision impaired rower and founder of Breaking Barriers, a minority youth rowing program.
DJ Jasper - a promising champion rower while a student at Roman Catholic.
Cianni - a young urban Latina who "fell in love with the sport" when she first saw
rowers on the river.
While Making Waves is told from the perspective of Philadelphia where this elegant, yet demanding, sport has been part of the city's history since the 1800s, it is truly a story of national relevance. Often seen as an elite, male-dominated activity, class and gender barriers have gradually worn down over the decades. Nationally, from Boston, Pittsburgh and Austin, to Oklahoma City, Chicago and Seattle, the last 20 years have seen an influx of women and recreational rowers of all ages and physical abilities. Yet, the sport does not yet reflect our increasingly diverse society in terms of race and ethnicity. Young boys and girls from underserved urban neighborhoods lack access to this sport. Barriers include the high cost of equipment and club membership. In this way, Making Waves serves as a metaphor for many types of cultural change, by revealing some of the subtle aspects that perpetuate stasis and make real societal change so difficult.
Making Waves is produced by Frances McElroy, Shirley Road Productions. It is presented by WHYY and distributed to PBS stations by NETA. The program is underwritten by William Penn Foundation, Independence Foundation, PA Partners in the Arts, PA Humanities Council, M. Linda Burke, Michael B. Mann, Philadelphia Independent Film & Video Association, Mariner Insurance Group, Peter Mallory and Peter Gelb. Local underwriting is permissible.
Please contact me if you have questions. I'll be in touch with you about your carriage plans over the next months. Or, when you know them, please zap them over to me. A fact sheet follows.
Very truly yours,
Regina
Regina Eisenberg
R Eisenberg Presents
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