Screen Media, a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment has released the first official footage of the critically acclaimed documentary, STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET. Check out the trailer below!
Directed by Marilyn Agrelo (Mad Hot Ballroom) and produced by Trevor Crafts (Experimenter 2015) and Ellen Scherer Crafts, the documentary chronicles the improbable origins and expansion of the groundbreaking show that not only changed children’s television programming, but had real-world effects on equality, education, and representation worldwide. The film is inspired by Michael Davis’ New York Times best-selling book of the same name.
After world premiering at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET will be released in theaters on April 23, 2021 and on video-on-demand platforms on May 7, 2021.
Inspired by the activism of the late 1960s, socially conscious television executive Joan Ganz Cooney and Sesame Workshop co-founder Lloyd Morrisett conducted a revolutionary experiment: to harness the burgeoning power of television and create an educational, impactful, uplifting and entertaining show that could reach children nationwide, especially those living in urban areas. Cooney recruited trailblazing Muppets creator Jim Henson and acclaimed children’s television writer and director Jon Stone to craft the iconic and beloved world of “Sesame Street.”
STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET reintroduces this visionary “gang” of mission-driven artists, writers, and educators that audaciously interpreted radical changes in society and created one of most influential and impactful television programs in history.
With more than 20 interviews with original writers, cast, and crew, and never-before-seen behind the scenes footage, STREET GANG is told from the inside with humor and emotion, weaving together personal narratives and eyewitness accounts. The film explores the original mission of the “gang” that created this cultural phenomenon, now spanning 50-plus years and reaching more than 150 countries.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment and Screen Media present in association with HBO Documentary Films, a Macrocosm Entertainment production, in association with the Exchange, Bondit Media Capital, and Citizen Skull Productions. It is directed by Marilyn Agrelo; produced by, Trevor Crafts, p.g.a, Ellen Scherer Crafts p.g.a; with producer Lisa Diamond p.g.a,; executive producers, Brian O’Shea, Nat McCormick, Matthew Helderman, Luke Taylor, Mark Myers, Heather Kenyon; co-executive producer, Michael Davis; editor, Ben Gold.
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