Alum, Conductor Earns Telly Awards for Documentary
"Dreams of Hope"
Alabama A&M University alumnus Henry Panion III, who was a major force in the production of the February 13 Alabama Public Television (APT) concert documentary “Dreams of Hope,” has received critical acclaim via the Telly Awards for excellence in video and television.
The 41st annual Telly Awards awarded the film the Gold Telly for Education and 12 Silver and Bronze awards for music, directing, editing, social impact, writing, cinematography and other categories.
Panion is a composer, arranger, conductor and professor in the Department of Music at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The professor produced and co-directed (with filmmaker David L. Macon) the documentary, as well as provided original music.
“Dreams of Hope” tells the story of a historic concert at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, more than 50 years after a hate crime there that killed four African American girls.
Conducted by Panion, the concert performance features musical instruments that serve as symbols of hope—among them violins restored from Holocaust concentration camps. The documentary adds behind-the-scenes interviews which help celebrate the resilience of those who have faced hate, discrimination and racism.
“Dreams of Hope” received the following awards:
Gold Telly, Television: Education
Silver Telly, Television: Editing
Silver Telly, Television: Use of Music
Silver Telly, Television: Videography/Cinematography
Silver Telly, Television: Documentary: Individual
Silver Telly, Television: Social Impact
Silver Telly, Branded Content: Editing
Silver Telly, Branded Content: Campaign: Social Responsibility
Bronze Telly, Television: Writing
Bronze Telly, Television: Cultural
Bronze Telly, Branded Content, Directing
Bronze Telly, Branded Content, Videography/Cinematography
Bronze Telly, Branded Content: Documentary: Individual
Concert footage also features the premiere of “Dreams of Hope for Solo Violin & Orchestra” by acclaimed composer and conductor Panion, commissioned especially for this concert. Alongside the Dreams of Hope Orchestra, the concert features vocalists Valerie Smith and Lenora Goodman-Panion, dancer Kelsey Ebersold, and the Miles College Choir.
Presented and distributed by American Public Television, it has had more than 300 separate broadcast airings on public television stations nationwide since its premiere in February and has been highlighted during both Black History Month and Jewish Holocaust Remembrance holidays.
(Photo: UAB)