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RELEASED: June 12, 2002
DANVILLE, KY-Producer/director Tom Thurman, Centre Class of 1984, recently had one of his documentaries win an Emmy Award. Movies of Color: Black Southern Cinema won an Emmy last month at the 38th annual Midwestern Regional Emmy Awards in Cincinnati.
The documentary explores the origins, themes and major figures of independent black Southern cinema in the 1920's-1940's. Centre librarian Stan Campbell and Centre Professor of Anthropology Charles Pace were featured in the show as commentators.
The documentary debuted on Kentucky Educational Television last year and is now airing nationally on PBS stations around the country.
This past spring Thurman's documentary on basketball in Kentucky aired on KET. Basketball in Kentucky: Great Balls of Fire explores Kentucky's fascination with the game.
The five-hour, KET-produced series was three years in the making and spans 107 years of the game. A related time line on KET's Web site (www. ket.org/basketball/timeline01.htm) notes that Centre began playing basketball in 1902. The first unofficial high school tournament was played in 1916 at Centre's then brand-new Alumni Gymnasium. Led by Centre Ed Diddle, the Centre men's basketball team went 11-0 in 1919 and was hailed as the best team in the South. Diddle later went on to be Western Kentucky University's all-time winning basketball coach with 746 victories. That ranks him fifth all-time in victories for NCAA Division I men's coaches.
Thurman's latest documentary on legendary director, producer and writer John Ford will air on the Starz-Encore movie channel next year.
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