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Title: ANGELOU ON BURNS

Reference number: 7076

Date: 1996

Director: d. Elly M. Taylor

Sponsor: BBC Scotland and the Scottish Film Production Fund in association with the Scottish Arts Council

Producer: Elly M. Taylor

Production company: Taylored Productions

Sound: sound

Original format: 35mm

Colour: col

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 60.00 minsc

Description: Dr. Maya Angelou, the African-American writer and poet, discovered and was inspired by the work of Robert Burns at the tender age of 8. She was mute and living in a small hamlet in Arkansas. "He was the first white man I read who seemed to understand that a human being was a human being and we are more alike than unalike". To commemorate the bicentenary of the death of Robert Burns, the poet of internatinal fame, Maya Angelou, makes a pilgrimage to Burns country in Scotland. In this film she explores the strong paralleles that exist in their lives - poor beginnings, early love of literature, fame, liberty and equality, music, religion, love and passion - and meets the enthusiastic and fanatical Burnsians, who welcome her to a party in Ayrshire in honour of her visit and Burns' genius.

Winner Best Entertainment Programme at the CRE Race in the Media Awards 1996. Finalist in the Media Net Awards Munich Film Festival 1996. Bafta Scotland nominee 1997.

Screenings: Edinburgh Film Festival Premier 15th,18th, 20th August, 1996 ; Atlantic Film Festival 20th September 1996 ; Vancouver Int. Film Festival 4th October, 1996 ; Hong Kong Int. Festival 4th,13th January, 1997 ; Seattle Int. Film Festival May 1997 ; Munich Film Festival July 1997 ; Portland Art Museum Oregon: Novel Ideas Series 11/12th October, 1997 ; Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival 7th November 1997 ; Portugal Film Festival 15th/23rd Nov., 1997 ; Palm Springs Int. Festival, USA January 1998.

Transmitted on BBC2 on 21/08/1996.

Credits: w. and presented by Maya Angelou
with thanks to Wake Forest University, Winston Salem; Mount Zion Baptist Church, Winston Salem; Winston Salem Piedmont Triad Film Commission; Minnie and Vinessa Benson; St. Quivox Parish Church; Burns National Heritage Park, Alloway; Historic Scotland and the Friends of Dundonald Castle; National Trust for Scotland

Archive and Stills
Archive Films; BBC Broadcast Archive; Theatre Research Institute, Ohio State University; Loch Lomond, Stirling & Trossachs Tourist Board; The Trustees of Burns Monument and Cottage; The Mitchell Library, Glasgow; Irvine Burns Club; Peter Westwood; Mary Evan Picture Library; Paul Popper Ltd.; Corbis UK; Mansell Collection; Redferns Music Picture Library; Compass Gallery; New York Historical Society; Scottish National Portrait Gallery; National Gallery of Scotland; Glasgow Museums' Art Gallery & Museum, Kelvingrove; The National Trust

Maya Angelou as a child Brigette Stowe
poetry performed by John Rodie
musicians Elizabeth Auld, Freeland Barbour, Gill Bowman, Allan Branney, Iain Fraser, Eddie Galloway, Dick Gaughan, Billy Jackson, Kirsteen McCue, Billy Ross

Burnsians Valentina Bold, Clif Botcherby, Professor Edward Cowan, Pat Gerber, Donny O'Rourke, Rev. Melville Schofield

p. runner Michael Queen
camera sss. Alick Fraser, Mark Print
make-up Irene Napier
rostrum camera Malcolm Paris
dubbing mixer Cy Jack
graphic design Sandi Anderson
archive researcher Helen Moore
p. co-ordinator Alison Campbell
p. designer Ali Mills
lighting electrician Donny Campbell, Michael Carr
sd. Douglas Kerr, Kenny Allan
ph. Paul Riley, Mike Cuthbert
ed. Phyllis Ironside
exec. p. Catherine Aitken, John Archer
p. and d. Elly M. Taylor

A Taylored Production for BBC Scotland and the Scottish Film Production Fund in association with the Scottish Arts Council

© BBC and the Scottish Arts Council MCMXCVI