The world premiere of The Day Carl Sandburg Died documentary film has been set for RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston Salem, North Carolina, April 15,16,17, 2011.
Carl Sandburg died in July of 1967, but director Paul Bonesteel finds his life story and his creative legacy as relevant and provocative as it was in 1916 when his "Chicago Poems" changed American poetry. “Labor unrest, global wars, socialism, immigration and race issues… this was the subject matter that fueled Sandburg for much of his poetry and writing that shocked the world.” comments Bonesteel. “The intensity of his work was over simplified later in his life. He was both an anarchist and a deeply patriotic American.”
The Day Carl Sandburg Died was more than six years in the making with a cast of more than twenty notable scholars, performers and Sandburg family members. Sandburg’s daughter Helga Sandburg Crile, Pete Seeger, Norman Corwin and the late Studs Terkel contribute to the film along with contemporary poets Marc Smith, Ted Kooser and others. Also contributing significantly to the film is Sandburg Biographer and Winston Salem resident Penelope Niven.
Both Director Bonesteel and Niven will be present at the RiverRun screenings for Q&A. Tickets are available at www.riverrunfilm.com
