January 25, 2018—MacGillivray Freeman
Films today announced that Academy Award®-winning actor Morgan Freeman will narrate
America’s Musical Journey, the
company’s
newest 3D documentary for IMAX® and giant screen theatres. America’s Musical Journey, produced in association with Brand USA
and presented by Expedia, will be opening in select museums and institutions beginning
February 16. The film celebrates the rich cultural diversity of America as seen
through the story of its music.

America’s Musical Journey follows Grammy Award®-nominated
singer and songwriter Aloe Blacc as he traces the roots of America’s music and
follows the footsteps of Louis Armstrong through the colorful locales and
cultures where America’s music was born. Moving through such iconic cityscapes
as New Orleans, Chicago, New York City, Nashville, Memphis, Miami and more, America’s Musical Journey explores the
collision of cultures that gave birth to such American art forms as jazz, the
blues, country, rock and roll, hip-hop and more.

Academy
Award®-nominated director Greg MacGillivray threads all these images together
to create an immersive experience of American culture and creativity with a
soundtrack that showcases the national passion for creative innovation at its
purest. “As perhaps America’s best storyteller, Morgan Freeman’s
emotional voice lends empathy to our story of the collision of cultures which
has led to America’s many musical creations,” says director Greg MacGillivray.
“His luminous voice will help highlight the various forms of American music
that we explore in the film and how the blending of cultures sparks creativity
that continues to be seen in our music today.”

“Morgan
Freeman’s distinctive voice is a national treasure and connects with millions
all over the world. We are excited to hear him bring the story of America’s Musical Journey to
life,” said Tom Garzilli, Chief Marketing Officer of Brand USA. “His soulful
narration harmonizes with the sights and sounds of America’s richest cultural
centers in a powerful way, driving interest, engagement and intent to visit the
USA.”

Academy
Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman is one of the most recognizable figures in
American cinema. His works are among the most critically and commercially
successful films of all time. Freeman ranks 2nd among worldwide
top-grossing actors of all time, with his films having earned over $4 billion
in cumulative ticket sales. Whether a role requires an air of gravitas, a
playful smile, twinkle of the eye, or a world-weary, yet insightful soul,
Freeman's ability to delve into the core of a character and infuse it with a
quiet dignity has resulted in some of the most memorable cinematic characters
committed to film.

In
2005 Freeman won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role in Million Dollar Baby. Freeman also
received an Academy Award nomination in 1987 for Best Supporting Actor for Street Smart, in 1994 for Best Actor for
The Shawshank Redemption, and in 2010
for Best Actor for Invictus. He also
won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his performance in Driving Miss Daisy in 1990.

Freeman
was honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award this year,
recognizing his career achievement and humanitarian accomplishments. Freeman
was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2011 Golden Globe Awards.
That same year, Freeman received the 39th AFI Lifetime Achievement
Award. In 2000, Freeman received the coveted Kennedy Center Honor for his
distinguished acting and was honored with the Hollywood Actor Award from the
Hollywood Film Festival.

In
2010, Freeman won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for his performance
as Nelson Mandela in Invictus. In
addition to his Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, he also received a
Golden Globe nomination and a Broadcast Critics Association nomination. The
picture was produced by Revelations Entertainment, the company he co-founded in
1996 with Lori McCreary with a mission to produce films that reveal truth. Since its
inception, Revelations has continued to be the frontrunner in the field of
digital technology.

Freeman
is an executive producer with McCreary on the Revelations Entertainment series Madam Secretary for CBS, starring Téa
Leoni, which debuted in September 2014 and aired its fourth season in October 2017.

Freeman
will be seen next in Disney’s The Nutcracker
and the Four Realms
.

Most
recently, Freeman starred in Broad Green Pictures’ Just Getting Started, Warner Bros.’ Going In Style, Paramount Pictures’ Ben-Hur, Summit Entertainment’s Now
You See Me 2
Focus Features’ London
Has Fallen
, Universal’s Ted 2, Last Knights, Lucy, Dolphin Tale 2, Transcendence, The Lego Movie, Last Vegas,
Now You See Me, Oblivion, Olympus Has Fallen
and The Dark Knight Rises.

Freeman
recently narrated the documentary The
C-Word
, IMAX documentary Island of
Lemurs: Madagascar
, Science Channel’s Stem
Cell Universe
with Stephen Hawking and history documentary We the People. Past narrations include
two Academy Award-winning documentaries, The
Long Way Home
and The March of The
Penguins
.

After
beginning his acting career on the off-Broadway stage productions of The Niggerlovers and the all African-American
production of Hello Dolly, Freeman
segued into television. Many people grew up watching him on the long-running
Children's Television Workshop classic The
Electric Company
, where he played the ironic Easy Reader among several
recurring characters. Looking for his next challenge, he set his sights on both
Broadway and the silver screen simultaneously and quickly began to fill his
resume with memorable performances.

In
his spare time, Freeman loves the freedom of both sea and sky; he is a
long-time sailor and has earned a private pilot’s license. He also has a love
for the blues and seeks to keep it in the forefront through his Ground Zero
club in Clarksville, Mississippi, the birthplace of the blues. In 1973 he
co-founded the Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop, now in its 37th season. The
workshop seeks to serve successful playwrights of the new millennium. He is a
member of the Board of Directors of Earth Biofuels, a company whose mission is
to promote the use of clean-burning fuels. He also supports Artists for a New
South Africa and the Campaign for Female Education.

Freeman
has been named on the Forbes “Most Trustworthy Celebrities” list each of the
five times it has been published since 2006.

America’s Musical Journey
is being
produced by MacGillivray Freeman Films in association with Brand USA, the
nation’s destination marketing organization, and global presenting sponsor,
Expedia, Inc. This is the second collaboration for these companies, following
the highly successful National Parks
Adventure
, voted Best Film of the Year by the Giant Screen Cinema
Association and the highest-grossing documentary film of 2016.

America’s Musical Journey
will be
released in IMAX and giant screen theatres beginning February 16, 2018.

www.americasmusicaljourney.com

 

About
MacGillivray Freeman Films

MacGillivray Freeman Films is the
world’s foremost independent producer and distributor of giant-screen 70mm
films with 40 films for IMAX and giant-screen theatres to its credit.
Throughout the company’s 50-year history, its films have won numerous
international awards including two Academy Award® nominations and
three films inducted into the IMAX Hall of Fame. MacGillivray Freeman’s films
are known for their artistry and celebration of science and the natural world.
It is the first documentary film company to reach the one-billion-dollar
benchmark for worldwide box office. For more information about the company,
visit www.macgillivrayfreemanfilms.com.

About
Brand USA

Brand USA, the destination marketing organization
for the United States, was established by the Travel Promotion Act as the
nation's first public-private partnership to promote the United States as a
premier travel destination and to communicate U.S. entry/exit policies and
procedures to worldwide travelers. The organization’s mission is to increase
international visitation to the USA in order to fuel the U.S. economy and enhance
the image of the United States worldwide. Formed as the Corporation for Travel
Promotion in 2010, the public-private entity began operations in May 2011 and
does business as Brand USA. According to studies by Oxford Economics, over the
past four years, Brand USA's marketing initiatives have helped welcome 4.3
million incremental visitors to the USA, benefiting the U.S. economy with
nearly $30 billion in total economic impact, which has supported, on average,
51,000 incremental jobs a year.

For industry or partner information about Brand
USA, visit TheBrandUSA.com.
For information about exceptional and unexpected travel experiences in the
United States, please visit Brand USA’s consumer website VisitTheUSA.com (global).

About
Expedia, Inc.

Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) is the
world’s largest online travel company, with an extensive brand portfolio that
includes leading online travel brands, such as:

  • Expedia.com®, a leading
    full-service online travel brand with localized sites in 33 countries

  • Hotels.com®, a leading
    global lodging expert operating 90 localized websites in 41 languages with
    its award winning Hotels.com® Rewards loyalty program

  • Expedia®
    Affiliate Network (EAN)
    , a global B2B brand that powers
    the hotel business of hundreds of leading airlines, travel agencies,
    loyalty and corporate travel companies plus several top consumer brands
    through its API and template solutions

  • trivago®, a leading
    online hotel search platform with sites in 55 countries worldwide

  • HomeAway®, a global
    online marketplace for the vacation rental industry, which also includes
    the VRBO®, VacationRentals.com® and BedandBreakfast.com® brands, among
    others

  • Egencia®, a leading
    corporate travel management company

  • Orbitz® and CheapTickets®, leading U.S.
    travel websites, as well as ebookers®, a full-service
    travel brand with websites in seven European countries

  • Travelocity®, a leading
    online travel brand in the U.S. and Canada delivering customer service
    when and where our customers need it with the Customer First Guarantee

  • Hotwire®, inspiring
    spontaneous travel through Hot Rate® deals

  • Wotif Group, a
    leading portfolio of travel brands including Wotif.com®, Wotif.co.nz, lastminute.com.au®, lastminute.co.nz and
    travel.com.au®

  • Expedia® Media
    Solutions
    ,
    the advertising sales division of Expedia, Inc. that builds creative media
    partnerships and enables brand advertisers to target a highly-qualified
    audience of travel consumers

  • CarRentals.com™, a premier
    online car rental booking company with localized sites in 13 countries

  • Classic
    Vacations
    ®,
    a top luxury travel specialist

  • Expedia Local
    Expert
    ®,
    a provider of online and in-market concierge services, activities,
    experiences and ground transportation in over a thousand destinations
    worldwide

  • Expedia®
    CruiseShipCenters
    ®, a provider of exceptional value and expert advice
    for travelers booking cruises and vacations through its network of over
    240 retail travel agency franchises across North America

  • SilverRail
    Technologies, Inc.
    , provider of a global rail retail and distribution
    platform connecting rail carriers and suppliers to both online and offline
    travel distributors

 

 

 Source: MacGillivray Freeman Films