Westchester Father/Son Filmmakers' HBO Documentary Screens At Jacob Burns

Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville hosted both Emmy award-winning director Peter Kunhardt of Chappaqua and his son, producer Teddy Kunhardt, for a Q&A and screening of "King in the Wilderness," a new HBO documentary that had its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.

A scene from "King in the Wilderness," an HBO Documentary produced by Chappaqua residents.
Photo Credit: *Provided/ HBO*

Jon Craig

04/04/2018 8:03 a.m.

Jacob Burns Film Center invited the public to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through the screening of "King in the Wilderness."

The screening took place on April 4, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination.

Filmmaker Peter Kunhardt chronicles the last few years of Dr. King’s life and portrays a conflicted leader who, after the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, faced an onslaught of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum.

Thanks to revelatory conversations with his inner circle of friends, "King in the Wilderness" unearths a stirring new perspective into Dr. King’s character, his radical doctrine of nonviolence, and his internal philosophical struggles prior to his assassination in 1968.

Peter Kunhardt recently directed Becoming Warren Buffett and Living with Lincoln. He and two of his sons run Kunhardt Films, which has produced, among others, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross; Jim: The James Foley Story; Gloria: In Her Own Words; Nixon by Nixon: In His Own Words; and Teddy: In His Own Words. Kunhardt has won 6 Emmys, a Peabody Award, an Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award, and an NAACP Image Award.

Teddy Kunhardt is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker whose previous film, The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee, earned him a 2017 PGA nomination. Past producing credits include Becoming Warren Buffett, Jim: The James Foley Story, and Living with Lincoln. He served as co-producer on Nixon by Nixon, Makers: Women Who Make America, and associate producer on Gloria: In Her Own Words and Teddy: In His Own Words.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said: “50 years ago today our nation was robbed of a hero. A man who stood up for what was right and inspired millions to do the same. Because of what Dr. King believed we as a country, state and county are for the better – but his true dream has yet to be fully realized. Today is a day to reflect on what came before us, mourn for the man we lost, and act on what has yet to be accomplished - no matter the obstacles.”

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