ALIVE FROM OFF CENTER: ELLIS ISLAND (TV)

Summary

One in this series of arts programs featuring the work of leading avant-garde artists in video, music, dance, theater, and film. This program, which opens with a prologue by performance artist Laurie Anderson, features Meredith Monk's film about Ellis Island. Present-day shots of the island, filmed in color, are combined with black-and-white images of its past, accompanied throughout by haunting music and vocals. The film evokes the memory of the immigrants of many different cultures who passed through the island upon arriving from or before returning to their homelands, and depicts their experiences on the island, including physical examinations, the Americanization of foreign names, the learning of English, and the long waiting periods. A tour guide provides factual information about the island to tourists passing through buildings currently under renovation, while scenes from the past are shot without narration or dialogue.

(Series title varies; as above, 1985-1991; as "Alive TV," 1991 onward.)

Acquisition and cataloging of this program was made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 1991.

Details

• NETWORK: PBS
• DATE: September 7, 1987
• RUNNING TIME: 0:27:35
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: T91:0227
• GENRE: Arts documentaries
• SUBJECT HEADING: Ellis Island, New York, NY; U S - Emigration and immigration
• SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1985-1996
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Melinda Ward … Executive Producer, For "Alive From Off Center"
• John Schott … Executive Producer, For the Prologue, Producer, For "Alive From Off Center"
• Gerald Richman … Production (Misc.), Executive in Charge for "Alive From Off Center"
• De Michiel, Helen … Associate Producer, For "Alive From Off Center"
• David Byrne … Theme Music by
• Niles Siegel … Producer, For the Prologue
• Hart Perry … Supervising Producer, For the Prologue
• Laurie Anderson … Director, Writer, For the Prologue, Host
• Bob Rosen … Producer, Director, For "Ellis Island"
• Meredith Monk … Director, Conceived by, Music and vocals by, For "Ellis Island"
• Jerry Pantzer … Camera, Photographed by
• Collin Walcott … Music by
• Robert Een … Singer, Instrumentalist, Cellist , Cast
• Julius Eastman … Singer
• Monica Solem … Singer
• Paul Langland … Singer, Cast
• Andrea Goodman … Singer, Cast
• Tone Blevins … Cast
• Steve Clorfeine … Cast
• Blondell Cummings … Cast
• Ellen Fisher … Cast
• Gary Goodwin … Cast
• Pauline Hutton … Cast
• Audrey Jung … Cast
• Ralph Lemon … Cast
• Rob List … Cast
• Monica Moseley … Cast
• Lee Nagrin … Cast
• Barbara Scheck … Cast
• Mary Shultz … Cast
• Daniel Ira Sverdlik … Cast
• Gail Turner … Cast
• Van Hoek, Mieke … Cast
• Pablo Vela … Cast