Re: [sixties-l] Request for film course ideas on the 60s: anti-terrorism bill, Vermont's Pat Leahy

From: Marty Jezer (mjez@sover.net)
Date: Tue Oct 16 2001 - 22:03:34 EDT

  • Next message: Sorrento95@aol.com: "RE: [sixties-l] Request for film course ideas on the 60s"

    Roz Payne wrote about Newsreel's film FREE FARM

    >An interesting note is that the poster the hippies are >putting up warn the > community that a local bad cop Paul >Lawrence, was setting up and beating up > people. Ten >years later he was busted for planting drugs and went to >jail.

    There's a story in last week's NEW YORKER about Vermont Senator Pat Leahy's opposition to the "anti-terrorism" bill in Congress. Leahy says that his concern for civil liberties stems from his experience with the Lawrence case and how easy it was for a renegade undercover agent and the courts and cops to frame innocent people. Leahy was Chittenden County's (city of Burlington's) D.A at the time Paul Lawrence was running rampant and helped put him away.

    Marty Jezer

    Author:
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    ----- Original Message -----
    From: <RozNews@aol.com>
    To: <sixties-l@lists.village.virginia.edu>
    Sent: Monday, October 15, 2001 8:28 AM
    Subject: [sixties-l] Request for film course ideas on the 60s

    > As a member of the Newsreel collective of film makers in the
    > Sixties/seventies I have been the collector and archivist of the films and
    > documents. You can check out the list of films we have on my web page
    > www.artvt.com/p_payne.htm
    > Lots of teachers have been getting their media centers, libraries, and
    > department to buy a collection of the films on video. If any one is
    > interested please write me
    > roznews@aol.com
    > Here is a list of the films we have.
    >
    >
    >
    > Roz Payne Video/ Film Archives
    > All descriptions are taken from original Newsreel catalogs
    >
    > AMERIKA Against the background of the November 1969 Anti-Vietnam War
    > demonstration in Washington DC., footage from all over the world and music of
    > the Sixties. 1969 33 minutes
    >
    > OFF THE PIG (BLACK PANTHER) This is one of the first films made about
    > the Panthers. It contains interviews with Party leaders Huey Newton and
    > Eldridge Cleaver describing why the Party was formed and what its goals are.
    > It also includes footage of Panther recruitment, training and the Party's
    > original 10 Point Program laid out by Chairman Bobby Seale. l968 15
    > minutes
    >
    >
    > COLUMBIA REVOLT In May, l968, the students of Columbia University went on
    > strike after the administrators repeatedly ignored their demand for open
    > discussion of the university's involvement in racist policies, exploitation
    > of the surrounding community of Harlem. This is the story of our first major
    > student revolt, told from inside the liberated buildings. (footage includes
    > about a minute of Grateful Dead playing a free concert in support of the
    > strikers , speech by H Rap Brown, shots of Tom Hayden, Mark Rudd, Judge
    > Gustin Reichback, a marriage, Dr. Margaret Mead, students in Presidents
    > office.) 50 minutes
    >
    > THE EARTH BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE A analysis of the ecology crisis, this
    > film dispels the myths that big business and big government have been telling
    > the people about the world-wide ecological crisis. Is there really
    > over-population in the world, or is there an unequal distribution of wealth
    > and food? Do people or large industries ruin the environment? Will the
    > earth survive for the people or for corporate profit? One of the first
    > simply made ecology films. l971 10 minutes
    >
    > HIGH SCHOOL RISING High school corridors patrolled by narcotics agents
    > and police, distortion of the history of black, brown, and poor white people,
    > provoked student attacks on the tracking system. Stills, live footage and
    > rock music. (Note: This film is not technically excellent, but it is very
    > useful in understanding the problems occurring in most high schools across
    > the nation today) l969 15 minutes
    >
    > MAKE OUT The oppressive experience of making-out in a car...from the
    > woman's point of view. Short and sweet. (The entire film is of a couple
    > making out and the sound track is what is going through the mind of the girl.
    > It can be shown a second time with the sound off and the males can make up
    > their own sound track. 5 minutes
    >
    > MAYDAY (BLACK PANTHER) On May l, 1969 the Black Panther Party held a
    > massive rally in San Francisco. Speakers Kathleen Cleaver, Bobby Seale, and
    > Charles Garry present the rally's demands for the release of Huey Newton and
    > all political prisoners. The film includes footage of the police raid on
    > Panther headquarters in San Francisco a few days prior to the rally and the
    > Panther's Breakfast for Children Program. 1969 15 minutes
    >
    > ONLY THE BEGINNING For years the sentiment against the war in Vietnam has
    > been growing. The latest polls show that 73% of the US. population want the
    > troops out of Vietnam now GI^s are among the most active protesters against
    > the war. In April, l971, thousands of GI's-Marines and regular army,
    > veterans and active duty personnel came to Washington, DC., to denounce their
    > participation in that "dirty war," and to demand it be ended immediately.
    > The film begins with the demonstration in Washington. In front of the
    > Capitol, we see the veterans come before the crowd and throw their medals
    > away. The film moves to Vietnam where the devastating effects of US. bombs
    > are documented. ONLY THE BEGINNING is about the GI movement to end the war.
    > 1971 20 minutes color
    >
    > RICHMOND UNION OIL STRIKE In January, l969 oil workers in Richmond ,
    > California struck. The local police and the Standard Oil goon squads
    > attacked the strikers and their families, killing one and injuring others.
    > The striking students from San Francisco State were asked to join the
    > struggle. For the first time workers and students fight together against
    > their common enemy. Footage includes speeches of Bob Avakian. 30 min.
    >
    > PEOPLE'S WAR In the summer of l969, Newsreel went to North Vietnam. From
    > that trip; came PEOPLE'S WAR. This film moves beyond the perception of the
    > North Vietnamese as victims to a portrait of how the North Vietnamese society
    > is organized. it shows the relationship of the people to their
    > government-how local tasks of a village are coordinated and its needs met.
    > It deals with the reality of a nation that has been at war for twenty-five
    > years, that is not only resisting US. aggression and keeping alive under
    > bombing, but that is also struggling to raise its standard of living and to
    > overcome the underdevelopment of centuries of colonial rule. Amid much
    > publicity, the footage was confiscated upon its return to the US. . Despite
    > this attempt at suppression, PEOPLE'S WAR has become one of the most
    > sought-after films on Vietnam and was chosen for the USA film festival in
    > Houston, Texas. l970 40 minutes
    >
    > ROTC The issue of ROTC is uppermost on many college campuses and is a
    > major focus of anti war activity. In an interview with the head of Harvard
    > ROTC, the University's ties to the military industrial complex and how ROTC
    > serves this relationship is exposed. l969
    > 20 minutes
    >
    > SHE'S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE'S ANGRY In a skit presented at an abortion rally
    > in New York City, a beauty contestant is pressured to fulfill certain roles
    > in order to be the "ideal woman", a "winner". The skit shows how women,
    > especially minority women, are used in this society for profit. The women
    > who perform also discuss their personal lives and how their struggle as women
    > is expressed in the skit. (Note: Soundtrack is sometimes difficult to
    > understand.) l967 17 minutes
    >
    > STRIKE CITY Plantation workers in Mississippi having gone on strike
    > against the extreme exploitation of the plantation system, and decide to form
    > their own collective Their determination to stick together, rather than go
    > back to the plantation or be forced out of the state, is their main resource.
    > After a bitter winter, living in tents, they obtain partial support from
    > private sources and begin building permanent housing. The poverty program
    > backs down on its promise of support in response to Mississippi senators who
    > fear the implications of collectives of back farmers in Mississippi. Made
    > by John Douglas and Tom Griffin l965 30 minutes
    >
    > TROUBLEMAKERS In 1965, a group of white organizers went into Newark's
    > central ward to work with the black community, forming the Newark Community
    > Union Project (NCUP). Traditional forms of protest--letters to city
    > officials, demonstrations, electoral politics--were used as tactics for
    > organizing. The film focuses on the action undertaken around three issues.
    > The first is an attempt to get housing code enforcement; the second, to get a
    > traffic light installed at a hazardous intersection. After many months of
    > hallow promises, and inaction on the part of the city government an attempt
    > was made to elect a third party candidate to the City Council. Lacking the
    > resources of the two major parties, this was doomed to failure too The film
    > is an absorbing, informative documentary of the frustrating failures of NCUP
    > and the problem of getting even modest reform within the present political
    > structure. But it goes beyond this--it shows clearly the contradictions in
    > the concept of white groups organizing in black and other third world
    > communities. A good study in some of the early New Left tactics--how and why
    > they failed. Made by Norm Fructer and Robert Machover distributed by
    > Newsreel 1966 53 minutes
    >
    > THE WOMAN'S FILM THE WOMAN'S FILM was made entirely by women in San
    > Francisco NEWSREEL. It was a collective effort between the women behind the
    > camera and those in front of it. The script itself was written from
    > preliminary interviews with the women in the film. Their participation,
    > their criticism, and approval were sought at various stages of production.
    > "... What we see is not only natural and spontaneous, it is thoughtful and
    > beautiful. It is a film which immediately evokes the sights and sounds and
    > smells of working class kitchens, neighborhood streets, local supermarkets,
    > factories, cramped living rooms, dinners cooking, diaper-washing,
    > housecleaning, and all the other "points of production" and battlefronts
    > where working class women in America daily confront the realities of their
    > oppression. It is . . . a supremely optimistic statement, showing the sinews
    > of struggle and capturing the essential energy and collective spirit of all
    > working people-and especially that advanced consciousness which working class
    > women bring to the common struggle." Irwin Silber, Guardian. 1971
    > 40 minutes
    >
    >
    > TWO HEROIC SISTERS OF THE GRASSLAND A beautiful animated version of a true
    > story about two young sisters who risked their lives to save their commune's
    > sheep heard during a sudden snowstorm. The film gives us a sense both of the
    > values stressed in the new society, and the people's participation at every
    > level in the transformation of China. English track Made by the Chinese
    > and distributed by Newsreel. 42 minutes
    >
    > NO GAME October 21, 1967; The pentagon; 100,000 anti-war demonstrators
    > who had not come prepared for a violent confrontation with the military
    > police and Pentagon guards; for the tear gas, and rifle butts. Allen
    > Ginsburg chanting an exorcism to levitate the Pentagon. 1967
    > 17 minutes ( considered the first Newsreel film)
    >
    > PIG POWER As students take to the streets in New York and Berkeley, the
    > forces of order illustrate Mayor Daley's thesis that the police are there "to
    > preserve disorder", and we must organize to challenge their control and
    > preserve our lives as well as our life styles. A short impressionistic
    > montage of music and images pointing up the disparity between their force
    > and ours. The function of police repressing Black and white demonstrators
    > alike is emphasized. 6 minutes
    >
    > VENCEREMOS A film shot in Cuba in l970-71 about two brigades of 500
    > Americans that went to Cuba illegally in order to show support by breaking
    > the blockade and to help with the sugar harvest of ten million tons. They
    > cut cane with brigades that were sent from Vietnam, North Korea, and Latin
    > America. This is the story of their boat ride from St. Johns, Canada and
    > their stay in Cuba.
    > 20 minutes
    >
    > HIGH SCHOOL A film about high school students and how school becomes a
    > prison. (muddled, sound, poor editing useful footage of high school students)
    > 20 minutes
    >
    > YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY THE WAR A speech by former Miss America, Bess
    > Meyerson presented to the group Another Mother for Peace at a gathering in
    > Beverly Hills. One of the strongest speeches ever given about who is making
    > money out of the war in Vietnam. She gives excellent reasons to boycott many
    > everyday products that women buy. This film was distributed by Newsreel but
    > not made by Newsreel. 20 min.
    >
    > OPEN FOR CHILDREN One of the first films ever made about the need for
    > childcare. 35 min.
    >
    > MAKE IT REAL This is what Newsreel considered an energy film. It contains
    > great shots of street actions and hot music. This short film was made to
    > show between our longer films that were "more serious" They were made to
    > give youth a feeling that they could get up and become "street fighting
    > men". 8 minutes
    >
    > MCDONNELL DOUGLAS A film about the Mcdonnell Douglas company and it's
    > relationship to the war machine? 45 min.
    >
    > FREE FARM A film made by Newsreel folks that in 1971 went to live in
    > Vermont. A story about a community free farm on land loaned by a small
    > college. It tells the story of coming together to farm the land and to have
    > Sunday community gatherings. The college calls the cops to kick people off
    > the land in the fall before the harvest and local young men trash the farm.
    > An interesting note is that the poster the hippies are putting up warn the
    > community that a local bad cop Paul Lawrence, was setting up and beating up
    > people. Ten years later he was busted for planting drugs and went to jail.
    > A true story of hippies with politics. 18 minutes
    >
    > DON'T BANK ON AMERICA This is the story of one of the first ecological
    > political actions of the period, the burning of the Bank of America. (Made
    > by Peter Biskin and Distributed by Newsreel)
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > <<I am putting together a course for next semester on the 60s in Film. I have
    >
    > some ideas, does anyone have any suggestions for favorite theme films, or
    >
    > syllabi already for such a course thanks in advance, Bob>>



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