Here's hoping that these busy days preparing for the holidays will soon turn into free time! We have just the ticket for you. A movie ticket of sorts! Find out the backstory of some cinematic treasures that reflect the American experience. Coming up on INDEPENDENT LENS (Thurs., Dec. 29, 10:00 pm), a documentary titled These Amazing Shadows looks at films like Casablanca, Blazing Saddles and West Side Story, singled out as significant by the Library of Congress. This program includes interviews with directors Christopher Nolan, John Lasseter, Rob Reiner, John Singleton, Barbara Kopple and John Waters as well as members of the National Film Preservation Board.
Lessons learned in the disastrous March 11 tsunami that struck Japan are the subject of special programming by NHK World. You'll see some amazing images and hear of devastating scenarios in which lives hung in the balance of citizens' personal choices. The first NHK WORLD SPECIAL (Mon., Dec. 26, 11:00 pm) is Mega Tsunami: Hidden Perils, sharing real-time images, eyewitness reports and expert analysis to provide an overall picture of that fateful day. The program also looks for preventive measures that could offset future tsunamis.
The next evening, NHK WORLD SPECIAL: The Line Between Life and Death (Tue., Dec. 27, 11:00 pm) goes to the town of Yuriage, where the tsunami claimed 800 of 4,500 residents. Why did some neighbors die and some survive?
The newest edition of HIKI NŌ (Thurs., Dec. 29, 7:30 pm) covers an historic change in a longtime all-boys school in Kalihi. Young correspondents from Damien Memorial report on going co-ed. It's just one of the stories you'll see in the next episode, hosted by students from Nanakuli High and Intermediate School in West Oahu.
Meanwhile, Waimea High students on Kauai capture a community's feelings and memories surrounding an old sugar mill that is facing demolition. Other schools reporting on their school communities in the upcoming week: Hawaii Academy of Arts & Science Public Charter School on Hawaii Island; Kamehameha Schools Maui; and Campbell High School, Mid-Pacific Institute and Waipahu Intermediate School on Oahu.
This HIKI NŌ newscast encores Saturday, Dec. 31 at 12:30 pm and Sunday, Jan. 1 at 3:00 pm. You may also view this newscast and past episodes on our website, www.pbshawaii.org/hikino
Here are more highlights of the holiday week ahead on PBS Hawaii: The music of celebrated 20th-century composers Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin takes us into the New Year with a LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER special (Sat. Dec. 31, 8:00 pm). Music Director Alan Gilbert (pictured right) conducts The New York Philharmonic's Bernstein and Gershwin program, featuring Bernstein's overture from Candide and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
A Grammy award-winning band leads the 10-second countdown to 2012 in Coldplay New Year's Eve: An Austin City Limits Special (Sat. Dec. 31, 11:00 pm), featuring mega-hits and songs from their newest LP, Mylo Xyloto.
Encore pick of the week:
Author Michael Pollan explores our relationship with the plant world in The Botany of Desire (Tue. Dec. 27, 8:00 pm). The program looks at four plant species - the apple, the tulip, marijuana and the potato - and shows us how each evolved to satisfy human cravings.
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