Award-Winning Producer To Present Program At Jackson Center

By The Post-Journal Staff

    Emmy Award-winning producer Aaron Beckwith will return to the Robert H. Jackson Center on Tuesday and Wednesday to present ÔÔFollow the North StarÕÕ to local fourth and fifth-grade pupils.

    The film will air at 9:30 a.m. both days in the Jackson CenterÕs Carl Cappa Theater. The presentation is free of charge.

    The film, which was shot in and around Toronto, was the first live-action offering of the ÔÔABC Afterschool SpecialÕÕ series. The story takes place during the Civil War era and is about a white boyÕs journey south to free an enslaved boy and reunite him with his mother who previously had fled north. The filmÕs title was chosen because slaves on the run from the South to escape enslavement headed north to freedom, hiding in the woods by day and traveling by night under the cover of darkness, guided by the North Star.

    This will be BeckwithÕs third visit to the Jackson Center, where he has entertained hundreds of students with the program since 2005. Now retired from a career as a film producer, Beckwith, a summer resident of the Chautauqua Institution, lives in Florida. The story, Beckwith said, ÔÔmakes an impression on students and is one we can all appreciate.ÕÕ

    ÔÔWe are pleased that Mr. Beckwith will be returning to the Jackson Center to share his timely message of the need to get along with others,ÕÕ said Don Greenhouse, Jackson Center executive director. ÔÔHis return engagement is popular among local students and teachers and is a truly enjoyable component of our educational programming.ÕÕ

    The event is made possible by the support of M&T Bank, Sotir and Goldman, HopeÕs

Windows, Bodell Overcash Anderson and Co. Inc., Colecraft Commercial Furnishings,

Dawson Metal Company Inc., Ed Shults Auto Group, Food Is Good Inc., and the Paul Sandberg Fund administered by the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation.

 

The Post-Journal

Jamestown, New York

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Vol. 180, No. 359

Section: A, Page 8