July 12, 1999 Volume 21, No. 17

Faculty Member’s Documentary to Air on PBS Television Series The deep divide over the issue of organized prayer in public schools is given a riveting treatment in a documentary — written and coproduced by an Ithaca College faculty member — that will air nationwide on public television this month. Ben Crane, associate professor of television-radio, was part of a crew that spent five years working on "School Prayer: A Community at War." The documentary will be broadcast on the PBS series P.O.V., the acclaimed showcase of independent nonfiction films. It is scheduled to air on most PBS stations at 10:00 p.m. Tuesday, July 20. (WCNY-TV in Syracuse will air the program on the scheduled date; WSKG-TV in Binghamton will air it at 11:00 p.m. on Friday, July 30.) "School Prayer: A Community at War" chronicles an impassioned clash of principles in which the constitutional right of an individual collides with the deep-rooted tradition of a community. Lisa Herdahl discovered when she moved from Wisconsin to Pontotoc County, Mississippi, that — some 36 years after the Supreme Court ostensibly outlawed school-sanctioned prayer — religious devotionals were broadcast over the intercom every morning at her son’s high school. Herdahl protested to the school board and eventually sued, setting off a protracted personal and moral battle that pitted her family against the overwhelming majority of Pontotoc. Filmmakers Ben Crane (left) and Slawomir Grunberg, with Christian activist Pat Mounce, on location in Mississippi’s Pontotoc County, a "community at war" over school prayer. "Pontotoc is torn between the law of man as set down by the Supreme Court and the law of God as they understand it from the Bible," says Crane. "The majority of people in Pontotoc believe that to respect the law of man in this case means to risk losing the moral backbone of their community." The documentary profiles the members of the Herdahl family as they stubbornly cope with isolation, economic hardship, and death threats. It also takes viewers inside the homes, churches, and schools of Pontotoc County, where people credit prayer with what they consider to be an idyllic life and reflect on the upheaval brought about by someone they regard as a troublemaker. The filmmakers struggled for 14 months to earn Herdahl’s trust, after which they still had to win the confidence of the community. The result is an affecting portrait of the passions and soul-searching on both sides of this deep fissure in American life. "School Prayer" is 1 of only 8 films selected from over 900 submissions to air on the P.O.V. series this year. It was made by Log In Productions, an Ithaca-area company with which Crane is associated, for the Independent Television Service, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Soros Documentary Fund, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Crane, who teaches courses in journalism, documentary research, scriptwriting, and critical thinking, has written and produced works for radio, television, stage, and film. His honors include the Gabriel Award, the Ohio State Award, and Columbia University’s Major Armstrong Award. He made "School Prayer" with coproducer/director/cinematographer Slawomir Grunberg, founder of Log In Productions and a former member of the school of communications faculty at the College. An award-winning filmmaker himself, Grunberg has more than 40 television documentaries to his credit. The crew included editor/sound recordist Jason Longo, who earned his B.F.A. in film, photography, and visual arts from Ithaca College in 1994. Longo has contributed his diverse talents to over 20 documentaries, working on projects for such PBS series as Frontline, People’s Century, and Nova. While Herdahl ultimately won her suit against the school board, the documentary portrays the conflict as far from over. Herdahl was threatened and forced to change houses, and she found herself virtually unemployable in the area. The county, meanwhile, is bound by state law to pay Herdahl’s substantial legal costs of $144,000 — an enormous sum for this county of only 24,000 residents. That they end up raising money in their churches to pay for the legal actions that banned prayer in their schools is an especially bitter pill for residents to swallow. Meanwhile, Pontotoc continues to encourage the convening of student-initiated prayers in its school auditorium prior to the official start of classes each day.