PBS Amish documentary looks at diversity, highlights North Country communities
A new film called “The Amish” premieres tomorrow night on the PBS program American Experience. There’s an advance showing tonight at SUNY...
Feb 27, 2012 — A new film called “The Amish” premieres tomorrow night on the PBS program American Experience. There’s an advance showing tonight at SUNY Potsdam.
For many people watching the program, the Amish will seem very mysterious and far-removed from their everyday lives.
But in big parts of the North Country, the Amish are part of everyday life, we shop alongside them, do business with them, and share the roads with their horse-drawn buggies.
Seeing the Amish on film is a rare thing, though they’re famously averse to being photographed.
Donald Kraybill is a professor of sociology at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. He worked with the filmmakers to get access to Amish communities, including those in the North Country. Nora Flaherty spoke with Kraybill about how they made that happen.
“The Amish” will be showing Monday, February 27, at 5:30, in Kellas Hall 103 at SUNY Potsdam…and Tuesday, February 28, on the PBS program “American Experience.”
