The 3 part series DECLARATIONS explores fundamental American ideals of Liberty, Equality and The Pursuit of Happiness through the voices of essayists whose mirror the range of opinion found in the US. DECLARATIONS paired people who do not normally have access to media tools with some of America’s most talented independent filmmakers. Together they created original essays for DECLARATIONS.In the episode “Liberty: Freedom of Expression” talk show host and journalist Charles Sykes teamed up with filmmaker David Liu to discuss the need to exercise restraint and responsibility in expression; Mari Matsuda worked with producer Orlando Bagwell to explore her concerns about “hate speech”; hip-hop magazine editor James Bernard was joined by Akili Buchanan to create an essay about the censoring of rap and hip-hop music; John Perry Barlow and Theo Kamecke paired up to look at the future of communication; and author Salman Rushdie and filmmaker Udi Eichler created a visually stunning essay in which Rushdie lets us know what it means to lose the freedom of expression.DECLARATIONS is a new kind of public affairs programming –combating sound-bites and talking heads with new voices and new style.DECLARATIONS will be distributed to American public television in 1994. It is currently being reviewed for PBS distribution.