Continuing its longstanding relationship with Olympic chronicler Bud Greenspan, Showtime has greenlighted an original documentary to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1972 Summer Games, during which 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were murdered by Arab terrorists.
The premium network has commissioned the award-winning sports historian to write, produce and direct The 1972 Munich Olympic Games: Bud Greenspan Remembers. The 90-minute film is slated to air in early September in tribute to the 11 Israelis who died during the Munich Olympics.
Greenspan, who was an NBC Radio Network reporter at the time, saw the tragedy unfold firsthand.
The Munich Games and the Israeli tragedy have already been the subject of an Academy Award-winning documentary, One Day in September, which premiered on Home Box Office on Sept. 11, 2000. ESPN officials have also been contemplating a telefilm about those ill-fated Games and the "Munich Massacre," under the auspices of its ESPN Original Entertainment unit.
Greenspan is currently completing the official film of the 2002 Winter Games from Salt Lake City for Showtime. The film will mark the seventh in a series of official Olympic documentaries by Greenspan and his company, Cappy Productions Inc.
He previously has chronicled the competitions from Sydney, Australia; Nagano, Japan; Atlanta; Lillehammer, Norway; Calgary, Alberta; and Los Angeles. His films about the Sydney and Nagano Games appeared on Showtime.
In addition, Greenspan has looked back at individual stories from past Games in Bud Greenspan's Favorites of Olympic Glory
and Bud Greenspan's Favorite Stories of Winter Olympic Glory, both for Showtime.
