Projections of America

Academy Award-winning screenwriter Robert Riskin headed up a secret film unit that sought to redefine America in the eyes of the world during the darkest days of World War II. The filmmakers created powerful short documentaries that showed America's strength not through images of tanks, but in portraits of farmers, school children and window washers. The "Projections of America" films were brilliant, moving portraits of America that were unlike any films ever made before, but seventy years later they are forgotten, hidden away in government archives. Narrated by John Lithgow, PROJECTIONS OF AMERICA tells the dramatic story of Riskin and his team, and the risks they took to project a profoundly democratic vision of the nation that would soon emerge as the most powerful on earth. —anonymous During the darkest hour of the WWII, a team of idealistic filmmakers hoped the power of the movies could reshape the world. Led by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Robert Riskin, the filmmakers created twenty-six short documentaries about American life shown to millions of people around the world. The Projections of America films told stories of cowboys and oilmen, farmers and window washers, immigrants and school children, capturing the optimism and messiness of American democracy. The gorgeously crafted films were idealized versions of what America could be, created by politically engaged filmmakers who while fighting tyranny abroad, wanted also to fundamentally change America itself. But seventy years later, the films have disappeared. John Lithgow narrates this story war, idealism, and the power of cinema.