Director Fills Gap With Pro-American, Value-Based Films
Director and Producer Tony Malanowski is hoping to give families a deeper understanding and appreciation of American history and reinforce Judeo-Christian values with his docudrama series "America: Her Stories, Her People" and its first volume, "The Battle of Bunker Hill."
Malanowski and his production company, Light A Candle Films, will be launching a campaign this Spring to get a DVD featuring his docudrama and other materials out to the public.
"Right now what we are doing is setting up a campaign for the spring where people would be able to buy a screening license for the film," said Malanowski to The Christian Post.
"They would be posters, downloads, study guides, a biblical discussion guide where you could have as big as you want an event screen show which be the hour long docudrama and the half hour historical perspective."
Malanowski, who directed and produced the docudrama on Bunker Hill, told CP that the DVD was part of his goal to give families a knowledge and interest in American history.
"One day I looked around and said 'you know, what isn't being made by the studios these days?' The answer to that would be traditional, pro-American value-based productions," said Malanowski. "The idea is to get everyone together to appreciate American history, reinforce the Judeo-Christian values that the country was founded on."
The Battle of Bunker Hill
Mostly fought on nearby Breed's Hill, the Battle of Bunker Hill was considered important for although it would result in a British victory the colonial rebels inflicted over a thousand casualties on their red-coated opponents.
The battle is also famous for the quote many have attributed to Colonel William Prescott, commander of the colonial forces: "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!"
Malanowski explained to CP that he chose to focus on Bunker Hill rather than earlier engagements because this was the first major battle whereas engagements like Lexington and Concord were comparatively smaller.
"Well we wanted to start the series with the first major battle of the Revolutionary War," said Malanowski. "I figured that would be a good one."
Family and Race
The docudrama focuses on two families, the Morgans who are white and the Hudsons who are black. William Morgan (played by Mark Redfield) and his son Jeremiah (played by Christopher Hampson) fight the British alongside Joshua Hudson (played by Michael Mack) and his son Luke (played by Brandon Thompson).
Regarding the interracial cooperation depicted among the colonials at Bunker Hill, Malanowski told CP that good race relations were present in parts of the Thirteen Colonies.
"In the North this was definitely the case," said Malanowski, who noted that port cities in New England had brought many different racial groups together for commerce and shipping.
"In my research I was surprised to find out that 25 percent of the men who fought at Bunker Hill on the colonial side were black and they were both slave and free men."
Though not all was well of course, as colonies like South Carolina refused to allow blacks to serve in the militia and slavery was still present throughout British North America.
"There was still slavery," said Malanowski, adding that "George Washington at one point didn't allow blacks to serve" and did not change his mind until he saw the British getting many recruits by promising freedom to slaves who serve.
After "The Battle of Bunker Hill," Malanowski said he will likely pursue additional episodes on other historical battles and times in U.S. history.
