Oh, no...we used a very fine cast of professional actors from Morocco...no Europeans. Even our St. Augustine was correctly cast as being of Arabic descent.
Showing posts with label Abel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abel. Show all posts
Friday, February 23, 2007
NGTV Cain and Abel documentary
I previously posted on National Geographic TV's upcoming Cain and Abel documentary, in which I played a consulting role. One commenter raised questions about whether the actors in the recreations would reflect the historical ethnicity involved. A follow-up commenter, Joe Wiecha (who appears to have worked on the documentary) has responded. As the post has scrolled off the page and into the archives I thought I would post his reply.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
NGTV Cain and Abel Documentary
A few months ago I did some consulting for National Geographic Television's Science of the Bible series, mostly with regard to their planned documentary on the story of Cain and Abel. Although I discussed a wide range of ancient materials with them, my primary input had to do with possible Egyptian influences on the development of the story. As a result they did some filming in Egypt for visual emphasis and did an on-camera interview with an Egyptologist who works over there.
I just had an opportunity this evening to review a DVD of the work copy and I'm pleased to note that they retained some of the Egyptian ideas, including a trip into one of the third millennium pyramids to show some of the pre-biblical pyramid texts painted on the walls with similar story lines. I also make a couple of brief on-camera appearances to provide some context, but, unfortunately, from a studio in Washington D.C., not from Egypt.
The show is quite well done and enjoyable, beginning with some dramatic re-enactment of the story and raising a lot of questions about the story's moral meanings and how it was used over the centuries to persecute Jews and Africans (in contradiction to the story's moral message.) It also covers some of the non-biblical traditions associated with the story in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic cultures, and towards the end presents some speculations on how the story may have originated. Visually it was quite attractive.
At present, I don't think it has been scheduled for airing so I'm sure it's several months off at a minimum. When I learn something, I'll let you know.
I just had an opportunity this evening to review a DVD of the work copy and I'm pleased to note that they retained some of the Egyptian ideas, including a trip into one of the third millennium pyramids to show some of the pre-biblical pyramid texts painted on the walls with similar story lines. I also make a couple of brief on-camera appearances to provide some context, but, unfortunately, from a studio in Washington D.C., not from Egypt.
The show is quite well done and enjoyable, beginning with some dramatic re-enactment of the story and raising a lot of questions about the story's moral meanings and how it was used over the centuries to persecute Jews and Africans (in contradiction to the story's moral message.) It also covers some of the non-biblical traditions associated with the story in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic cultures, and towards the end presents some speculations on how the story may have originated. Visually it was quite attractive.
At present, I don't think it has been scheduled for airing so I'm sure it's several months off at a minimum. When I learn something, I'll let you know.
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