Co-directors Bestor Cram and Mike Streissguth met for the first time in Memphis, Tennessee, at a Johnny Cash conference where Bestor was screening his latest film and Mike was promoting a new book.  Over coffee, they hatched the idea of a documentary film with outlaw resonance that became the award-winning Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison.

Early 2020 finds them back together for a documentary about fearless network television journalists who exemplified the power and value of enterprising reporting when they covered the anti-government uprising in Tiananmen Square in 1989.  In an environment of stern budget cuts and declining ratings, anchor Dan Rather and his CBS News team almost single-handedly informed an anxious American public about China’s unfolding demonstrations, emerging student leadership, and bloody confrontations while fending off government censors and coping with the brutal arrest of their colleague Richard Roth.  At great risk, the team also sheltered the most-wanted dissidents in China.  

In recent years, as big media in America has pulled back from international news coverage, CBS News’ example embodies the absolute necessity of vigorous reporting from abroad.

Mike Streissguth was a lowly intern on the CBS Evening News when the CBS men and women returned from their triumph in China, leaving behind the sad, deadly end of the student uprising.  Still, the end of totalitarianism seemed to be afoot in the world, despite the tragedy in Beijing, and CBS News led the coverage among its peers.  He knew he was witnessing something special, and, as the years passed, in the midst of the rise of cable news, it became crystal clear that CBS at Tiananmen had given broadcast news a golden moment.

As young people today challenge Chinese authority in Hong Kong and a disturbing change in notions of truth takes root in the town square, Tiananmen Tonight examines the reporting at Tiananmen Square as a pinnacle of broadcast journalism, offering insight about what we knew then as a way to assess what we think we know today. It is a story of journalistic commitment and guts that helped keep America informed about what a government chose to suppress.

Drawing on their own resources, Bestor and Mike began production about two years ago, interviewing essential players such as Rather, executive producer Tom Bettag, CBS News president Susan Zirinsky (a  producer in 1989), student leader Wang Dan, reporter Bob Woodruff, Peter Schweitzer, Suzy Allen, Marvin Kalb, Joe Peyronin, and others.  

Funding from this Kickstarter campaign will position Tiananmen Tonight for the home stretch when remaining interviews, acquisition of archival footage and post-production will be completed.  The film is to be completed in the fall of 2020 where it will first be exhibited at festivals and then released for broadcast/streaming and education. Bestor and Mike thank you for your belief in this endeavor. 

 Bios

Bestor and Mike are independent documentary filmmakers with numerous historical productions completed. Their work focuses on character-based stories that investigate  the obstacles that derail individual liberty and the moments of courage that illuminate struggles for societal change.  

A former television news videographer who keeps a filmmaker’s eye on current events, Bestor has directed landmark documentary films about the Vietnam War, civil rights, and prison reform, including the acclaimed PBS documentary Birth of A Movement.   He has contributed to many Asia-based films for Frontline including “The Mao Years” and “Young and Restless in China.” Mike wrote about the 25th anniversary of CBS News’ coverage of the student uprising for The Washington Post, and he has written numerous books, including the forthcoming City on the Edge: Hard Choices in the American Rust Belt.   He teaches at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY.