NASHVILLE, Tenn. (October 6, 2008) – The Documentary Channel® (DOC) takes a look at how far America has come on the subject of race relations when it showcases the network’s premiere of “A Time For Burning” on Monday, Oct. 20, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, almost four decades since the documentary film, directed and produced by William C. Jersey, was nominated for an Academy Award®.

The telecast of “A Time For Burning” leads off DOC’s “Primetime Premieres” Monday night programming block, and marks the first time the film has been presented to a television audience in more than 40 years since first appearing on public television. DOC is available on DISH Network (Channel 197), and several broadcast stations in major markets including NYC TV (Channel 25) throughout the greater New York metropolitan area.

“As the U.S. considers electing its first black president, we felt it was important to present programming that could help our audience get a glimpse of just how far the country and the world has come in race relations in a relatively short 40-year period of time,” says Tom Neff, CEO and founder of The Documentary Channel. “Many Americans remember the racial tragedies that occurred in Mississippi and Alabama in the 1960s, but the civil rights movement was a challenge throughout the nation, including Omaha, Nebraska where ‘A Time For Burning’ is uniquely focused.”

“A Time for Burning,” commissioned by the Lutheran Church, chronicles the attempts of an Omaha, Nebraska minister to persuade his all-Caucasian congregation at the Augustana Lutheran Church to reach out to African-American Lutherans in the city’s north side of town.

Jersey, the New Jersey-based filmmaker, received an Oscar® nomination for the Best Documentary Feature in 1968 for the film that was shot with no script or narration. It explores the strained relationship between the minister, the Rev. L. William Youngdahl, his white Lutheran parishioners and the Omaha community’s black Lutheran parishioners. Youngdahl, the son of former Minnesota governor and federal judge Luther Youngdahl, eventually fails in his attempt to reach out and improve racial relations in the community and ultimately resigns from his post as the church’s reverend.

“I’m saddened by the fact that these kinds of films don’t get made much anymore,” says Jersey. “What the public mainly wants is to be entertained, and ‘reality television,’ as we all know, has very little to do with reality. That saddens me because the medium is powerful. It really permits us to see the world as it is, and to see ourselves as we are. Much credit (for the film being completed) has to go to my funder, the Lutheran Church, and Bob Lee who was then the director of the Lutheran Film Associates, because they were willing to let us make an honest film.

“While we’ve taken big leaps in many ways,” adds Jersey, ”in some kind of fundamental way we are still discomforted by racial relationships. And, we need to be aware of that. Awareness I think will lead to a more appropriate behavior.

“I’m encouraged that the film is being shown on Documentary Channel, and I hope it will do two things,” Jersey concludes. “One is that I hope it will help us to see the residual racism in our own lives, but also… I think the most important message of the film is that in the presence of our fear or confusion or doubt, that we can take action.”

In the film, among those Omaha residents most critical of Youngdahl’s efforts was a young black barber named Ernie Chambers, who took action. He went on to complete law school before being elected in 1970 and eventually becoming the longest-serving state Senator in Nebraska history. In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

About The Documentary Channel®: The Documentary Channel (DOC) is the USA’s first 24-hour television network exclusively devoted to documentary films and is the Voice of the Independent Documentary Filmmaker. DOC seeks out and showcases independent, cutting-edge and international non-fiction programming rarely seen in the U.S., and often then only in film festivals or other special venues. Many of DOC’s programs are U.S. or world premieres on television. DOC is the television viewer’s round-the-clock opportunity to see fascinating, eclectic and award-winning documentary films of all lengths and genres, from classics to cutting-edge.

DOC has created partnerships and relationships with world-renowned organizations and festivals to bring the world’s greatest documentaries to television, often for the first time. These organizations include The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, The International Documentary Association, The National Film Board of Canada, Los Angeles Festival, Nashville Film Festival, Hot Springs, HotDocs, Durango Film Festival, Reel Women, and many others. In addition, DOC has teamed up with distinguished educational institutions including USC School of Cinema and the Academy of Art in San Francisco, among others, to introduce young, future documentary filmmakers to the viewing public.

Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., with offices in New York and Los Angeles, The Documentary Channel was founded by CEO and Oscar®-nominated documentary filmmaker Tom Neff. DOC launched on DISH Network (Channel 197) in January 2006, and now reaches over 21 million homes nationwide. DOC is carried by several broadcast stations in major television markets including NYC TV (Channel 25) throughout the greater New York metropolitan area. DOC’s Web site is located at www.documentarychannel.com. DOC was recognized after its first year as co-winner of the Emmy for Best Feature Documentary at the 28th Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards for the film, “Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire.”