American Masters Season 34

Mark Seen

Miles Davis Birth of the Cool Mar 4, 2020 Discover the man behind the legend. With full access to the Miles Davis Estate, the film features never-before-seen footage, including studio outtakes from his recording sessions, rare photos and new interviews.

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Mae West: Dirty Blonde Jun 17, 2020 American Masters — Mae West: Dirty Blonde is the first major documentary film to explore Mae West’s life and career as she "climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong" to become a writer, performer and subversive agitator for social change. West achieved great acclaim in every entertainment medium that existed during her lifetime, spanning eight decades of the 20th century. She possessed creative and economic powers unheard of for a female entertainer in the 1930s and still rare today.

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Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am Jun 2, 2020 Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers and critics on an exploration of the powerful themes she confronted throughout her literary career in this artful and intimate meditation that examines the life and work of the legendary storyteller.

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Unladylike2020: The Changemakers Jul 11, 2020 Mark the women’s suffrage centennial with stories of pioneering women who shaped American politics.

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Walter Winchell: The Power of Gossip Oct 21, 2020 Meet Walter Winchell, the newspaper columnist, radio commentator and television personality who pioneered the fast-paced, gossip-driven, politically charged journalism that dominates today. At his peak, his audience was 50 million. Stanley Tucci portrays Winchell in a new American Masters documentary.

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Mae West: Dirty Blonde Jun 15, 2020 Dive into the life and career of groundbreaking writer, performer and subversive star Mae West. Over a career spanning eight decades, she broke boundaries and possessed creative and economic powers unheard of for a female entertainer in the 1930s.

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Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am Jun 22, 2020 Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers and critics on an exploration of the powerful themes she confronted throughout her literary career in this artful and intimate meditation that examines the life and work of the legendary storyteller. A film by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. Photos: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

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Unladylike2020: The Changemakers Jul 9, 2020 Illuminating the stories of extraordinary American heroines from the early years of feminism, American Masters — Unladylike2020 is a multimedia series consisting of a one-hour special for broadcast and 26 digital short films featuring courageous, little-known and diverse female trailblazers from the turn of the 20th century.

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Laura Ingalls Wilder: Prairie to Page Dec 30, 2020 An unvarnished look at the unlikely author whose autobiographical fiction helped shape American ideas of the frontier and self-reliance. A Midwestern farm woman who published her first novel at age 65, Laura Ingalls Wilder transformed her frontier childhood into the best-selling “Little House” series.

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How It Feels To Be Free Jan 19, 2021 A documentary that tells the inspiring story of how six iconic African American women entertainers – Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier – challenged an entertainment industry deeply complicit in perpetuating racist stereotypes, and transformed themselves and their audiences in the process.

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Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is Oct 22, 2020 Discover the Grammy-winning conductor, pianist and composer. A National Medal of Arts recipient and longtime music director of the San Francisco Symphony, he helped set the standard that an American orchestra should champion modern American music.

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Walter Winchell: The Power of Gossip Oct 19, 2020 Meet the newspaper columnist, radio commentator and television personality who pioneered the fast-paced, gossip driven, politically charged journalism that dominates today. At his peak, his audience reached 50 million: two-thirds of American adults.

Mark Seen

Keith Haring: Street Art Boy Dec 3, 2020 Explore the definitive story of international art sensation Keith Haring who blazed a trail through the art scene of '80s New York and revolutionized the worlds of pop culture and fine art. The film features previously unheard interviews with Haring.

Mark Seen

Laura Ingalls Wilder: Prairie to Page Dec 28, 2020 An unvarnished look at the unlikely "Little House" series author whose autobiographical fiction helped shape American ideas of the frontier and self-reliance.