DEFYING THE NAZIS: SHARPS’ WAR” on DVD September 20

PBS Distribution announced today it is releasing “DEFYING THE NAZIS: SHARPS’ WAR”, a new documentary co-directed by Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky on DVD. This is the story of a little-known but important mission by an American minister and his wife to rescue refugees and dissidents in Europe before and after the start of World War II.

“DEFYING THE NAZIS: SHARPS’ WAR” will be available on DVD September 20^th, 2016. The run time of the program is approximately 90 minutes on 1 disc, and the SRP is $24.99. The program will also be available for digital download.   

The film tells the story of Waitstill and Martha Sharp, a Unitarian minister and his wife from Wellesley, Massachusetts, who left their children behind in the care of their parish and boldly committed to multiple life-threatening missions in Europe. Over two dangerous years they helped to save hundreds of imperiled political dissidents and refugees fleeing the Nazi occupation across Europe.

The story is cinematically told through the letters and journals of the Sharps, with Tom Hanks as the voice of Waitstill and Marina Goldman as the voice of Martha. It features firsthand interviews with the now adult children whom the Sharps saved, as well as leading historians, authors and Holocaust scholars, including William Schulz, Deborah Dwork, Modecai Paldiel, Ghanda DiFiglia and Yehuda Bauer.

PBS DISTRIBUTION ACQUIRES DVD RIGHTS TO EMMY AWARD-WINNING CHILDREN’S PROGRAM WORDWORLD

PBS Distribution, the leading media distributor for the public television community, both domestically and internationally, announced the acquisition of all three seasons of the multi-award-WordWorld kids program.  The deal includes DVD rights for all 84 adventures of WordWorld.  PBS Distribution, which works with leading producers to distribute series such as Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Dinosaur Train, Peg + Cat, Arthur, Wild Kratts, and Caillou, is planning on releasing its first WordWorld DVD in 2015. 

WordWorld, which won the 2009 Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding children’s animated program, is designed to introduce, support, and foster literacy skills in children ages three to five. Young children are introduced to the colorful, vibrant world of words with the lovable, legible WordFriends – animals whose bodies are made up of the letters that spell the word they represent. In each story, the WordFriends go on adventures and face challenges that can only be resolved with the right word. That word is built letter by letter, sound by sound. Once the word is built it “morphs” to become the spelled item – C-A-K-E, becomes a cake!