Press Release Draft
July 7, 2006
KEITH FAMIE CREATES GROUNDBREAKING SERIES ON 'ETHNIC DETROIT'
Ever seen a bar graph jump?
Ever seen a statistic come to life?
That’s exactly what happens in Keith Famie’s latest culinary celebration of his hometown, Detroit. The series is entitled Our Story Of…
Most studies of Detroit’s ethnic background have been dry and statistical. Butwhy? As the oldest city in the Midwest, Detroit boasts more than 60 separate vital and fascinating enclaves, which—according to historian Arthur Woodford, gives us ‘the largest multi-ethnic population of any city in the United States ’.
African-Americans, Jewish, Lebanese, Polish, Greeks, Japanese, Swedes, Albanians, Yugoslavians, Belgians, Mexicans, Germans—we’re a literal smorgasbord of culture, cuisine and characters.
Famie will explore our view of Detroit ’s heritage, celebrating the most exciting of these cultures in a series of one hour specials that will capture the essence of our genuine ‘ Detroit story’. Featured will be personal interviews from community leaders—and unheralded neighbors—tracing the histories of numerous representatives from each community and focusing on the success—and sometimes failure—of their individual ‘American Dreams’. The intention of the show is to visit the native country of one representative immigrant per show, returning to birthplaces and learning their earliest memories.
A vital aspect of Our Story Of…, designed to leap generations, will involve Detroit-born teenagers—one per show—being mentored by an immigrant from each of the represented cultures. For three days, each youth will view ethnic histories through their mentor’s eyes while learning of the individual struggles and triumphs that makes Detroit great. The teens will work alongside the mentor at their individual professions, sightseeing landmarks of nostalgic importance in the immigrant’s life, and interacting within the ethnic enclave and the mentor’s family. As each show concludes, the teenagers will share the interpersonal insights he or she has gained from the cultural experience.
Producing such a series is a natural progression for Famie, who is living up to his nickname, ‘The Adventure Chef’. To date, Famie has produced dozens of food-as-adventure specials for national television, including the popular Food Network series Keith Famie’s Adventures. He’s perhaps best known as a finalist on the series Survivor, which catapulted him to international fame. Additionally, Famie has authored two books about travel, cooking and adventure—the last one, You Really Haven’t Been There Until You’ve Eaten The Food published by Clarkson Potter (Random House) in 2003. Most recently Famie created and produced Ice Warrior’s a reality-based documentary that follows a special group of Red Wings to Russia to play a six game series. This was just nominated for two Emmys.
Now he’s kicked his Adventure Chef abilities up another notch, exploring the culinary treasures in his own backyard. Our Story Of… is a collection of marvelous human interest stories which promises to be of lasting importance to the chronicle of Detroit, and will follow our growth from a river town to a bustling, multi-cultural, industrial powerhouse.
The first in the series will be Our Italian Story…, scheduled to debut exclusively on WXYZ-TV7 on December 9 th in prime time, again on December 16 th, and concluding with a final special airing on Christmas Day, 2006. Prior to the television airing, Famie will host a special charity media preview at a leading Detroit-area theater. After airing on WXYZ this first documentary will be available on the Comcast VOD ( Video on demand)
Production is scheduled to begin August 1st
This is a Visionalist Entertainment Production
For information: 248-624-9636 |
