Looking back to Peabody Conversation with Alex Gibney, executive producer/director of "Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown," who he describes as "very much a part of the civil rights and black power movement in a way that was really transformative because he could speak to a mass audience in a way that so many people couldn't."

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Alex Gibney on James Brown: Making Mr. Dynamite from Peabody Awards on Vimeo.

The 1960s brought The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to the United States, and rock ‘n’ roll surged in popularity on AM radio and American television. But even more culturally important than the British Invasion was the role homegrown music played in crossing race barriers, serving as an expression platform for the Civil Rights Movement. No one man more fully personified this transitional period of culture, music, dance, performance and showmanship than James Brown.

Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown follows the soul legend from birth through his lasting legacy. Not only did he revolutionize music by creating three new genres, Brown also played a major role in the Civil Rights Movement. “What he hadn’t really reckoned with or properly understood,” Alex Gibney said, “is how he was very much a part of the Civil Rights and Black Power movement in a way that was really transformative because he could speak to a mass audience in a way that so many people couldn’t.”

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2014 Peabody Winner

Alex Gibney’s biography of the hardest working man in show business gets up and gets on the scene, telling a fascinating story about race and culture and politics with amazing archival clips and interviews with musicians who worked with him.

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The Classical James Brown

Alex Gibney’s new documentary, Going Clear, caused a stir at the Sundance Film Festival and has prompted an official response from the film’s subject, the Church of Scientology. Picking fights with those in power is nothing new for Gibney. The Church of Scientology is just the most recent target. Check out our interview with him here, and you can download the .mp3 here.