[Imc-birmingham] Press Query - Films season

[phunkee]

Chris Beanland wrote:

> Hi there
> I've just been in touch with Alex from the Mac. I'm a journalist 
> writing for Metro about the Radical Films season. It's going to be a 
> preview in theory
> Is there someone there I can get some quotes off?
> This is for the arts section by the way, don't worry about some idiot 
> news hack writing rubbish. We're genuinely interested in these films.
> Can someone get back to me as soon as pos please
> ta
> Chris
> 07947 317 962


Hi,

Just in case you're wondering, this is the Radical Cinema Night that 
we're hosting at the Mac on tuesday 31st July

http://www.macarts.co.uk/?page=event.html&id=2487

> Indymedia Cinema Night: Radical Cinema in the USA 60’s - 70’s

> A night of pioneering activist documentary filmmaking.

>
> Hand-held video cameras and now mobile telephones have revolutionised 
> the instantaneous documentation of news events and happenings on the 
> street. To a thus far unprecedented degree they have given power back 
> to the people to record and report events in crisis situations. But 
> this is not new - only the technology has changed.
>
> During the 60s, a period in which America was a nation at war – not 
> least with itself - underground spokesman Jonas Mekas called for a new 
> movement of activist documentary filmmaking with access to “almost 
> weightless, almost invisible” 8mm and 16mm cameras. A new style of 
> “street journalism” evolved reporting on America’s increasingly 
> polarised and radicalised society.
>
>
> America’s In Real Trouble
> Dir: Tom Palazzolo USA 1967 15mins
> One of the most effective underground documentary shorts of the 60’s, 
> this is a relaxed rumination on the nature of American patriotism. It 
> observes a number of military parades in Chicago and revels in the 
> absurd, almost cultish, iconography that is traditional at these 
> events. The images are scored with a soundtrack of patriotic songs 
> culled from the radio and provides a compelling visual and audio 
> snapshot of the times.
>
> People’s Park
> The San Francisco Newsreel Group USA 1969 25mins b/w
> In 1969 an unused lot in Berkeley commandeered by local residents and 
> turned into a playground for their children, People’s Park, was soon 
> targeted for eradication by California University, which owned the 
> land. The film documents how the whole issue questioned the very 
> concept of “private property.” The National Guard was called in to 
> storm the park. Riots broke out and a number of people were shot, 
> shocking American TV viewers. It was another defining moment in the 
> radicalisation of a generation.
>
> The Young Lords (El Pueblo Se Levanta)
> The New York City Newsreel Group USA 1971 42mins b/w
> Formed in Chicago in the early 60’s as a Puerto Rican street gang, The 
> Young Lords transformed into a radical leftist political organisation. 
> fighting for better health care, nutrition and housing in America’s 
> most blighted ghettos. In 1969 they occupied a church in Spanish 
> Harlem that had refused to cooperate with and serve the local 
> community, and the film is based on this event. Capturing in 
> compelling cinema vérité fashion the philosophy of the Young Lords and 
> the clashes with police who evicted them. The spirit and feel of the 
> times are conveyed via a mix of raw interviews, street scenes and 
> archive footage scored to excellent music.