Phil & Tanya Hart

Philip and Tanya Hart are veteran documentary filmmakers with Flyers in Search of a Dream being

one example of their work.   This documentary aired on PBS in 1987 and was distributed by PBS

Home Video from 1988 to 2018.   The Harts are writers and producers of Flyers in Search of a

Dream.   Tanya Hart is narrator of Flyers in Search of a Dream. 

 The Harts are now adapting this documentary into a dramatic series titled Invisible Eagles.   

The Harts also produced

Dark Passages (BET) which tells the story of the Atlantic slave trade.   They wrote and

produced the 3-hour nationally syndicated radio documentary Ray Charles: The Music

Lives On which is now streaming on Spotify, Apple, Google, and other services.  Tanya

Hart is narrator of Ray Charles: The Music Lives On.  The Harts are based in Los

Angeles and produce documentaries and narrative films through Flying Free Films.

The Bessie Coleman centennial rolls on and this clip from the Smithsonian Channel’s

“Black Wings” (2012) documentary film tells her exciting story.    Both Smithsonian

Secretary Lonnie Bunch and I are featured in “Black Wings” as is Von Hardesty who

curated the Smithsonian NASM Black Wings exhibit which opened in September 1982. 

 This Smithsonian Channel documentary is based upon Von Hardesty’s book “Black

Wings” (2008).   Finally, the Discovery Channel begins streaming its 90-minute feature

documentary about Bessie Coleman in September in which I also appear.   

Recipient with Tanya Hart of the 2019 Bessie Coleman Aerospace Legacy Award and

author of “Up in the Air: The Story of Bessie Coleman,” Lerner, 1996 and “Bessie

Coleman: Just the Facts,” Lerner, 2005