If you’re wondering what banning booze and today’s political discourse have in common (and aren’t we all?), documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has the answer. But you’ll have to wait until Oct. 3 when he’s speaking at a National Press Club luncheon on the topic.
Burns’ new documentary on the Prohibition movement and subsequent amendment in the 1920s debuts Oct. 2 on PBS, and the award-winning filmmaker plans on using the film series as the basis for a discussoin on “the tenuous relationship between civility and democracy in American history,” the press release says.
Burns views Prohibition as an object lesson in the challenge of legislating human behavior and connects its relevance to today’s political discourse.
“This year as we think about the 150th anniversary of the start of our Civil War, we must remember that the lack of civility in our political language threatens the very basis of American society,” Burns said. “I believe civility is essential to our ability as a nation to confront together difficult issues even when we may disagree.”
Prohibition is a three-part film series chronicling the rise and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and portrays the movement as one of America’s most notorious civic failures.
The Press Club luncheon is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. with remarks beginning at 1 p.m. and followed by a question-and-answer session. Tickets are $18 for members, $29 for their guests and $36 for the general public and can be purchased through the National Press Club.
