Summer of '68 Revisited

Summer of '68 Revisited

AUGUST 22-24, 2008

A Texan was in office; the US was entrenched in war; there was a hotly contested Democratic presidential campaign in which both candidates opposed the war, sought social reforms, and sought improvement in civil rights in America. Inside a convention building, delegates voted for their presidential candidate, but they did not choose the candidate who had done well in the early primary elections. Instead they chose the more traditional candidate. Sound familiar? This short series, slated just days before this years’ Democratic Convention, delivers a films from 1968, and a return to an era both similar and dissimilar to our own.

 

Medium Cool

Aug 22 - Aug 23, 2008

(Haskell Wexler, USA, 1969, 35mm, 110 min)

Talk about WILD IN THE STREETS! Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler (WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, BOUND FOR GLORY) produced, directed, wrote and shot this very cool, very radical end-of-the-60s artifact, a cinéma vérité-style drama set against — and actually filmed during — the infamous 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, where hippies, Yippies and other anti-Vietnam War protestors engaged police in bloody battle on the city streets. Robert Forster (JACKIE BROWN, MULHOLLAND DRIVE) plays a detached TV news cameraman who becomes conscious of the political and ethical ramifications of his work when the FBI begins using his footage to identity militants.

“One of the most devastating and technically sophisticated anti-establishment films ever made. Taking its title almost straight from mouth of media guru Marshall McLuhan…[MEDIUM COOL] film remains a landmark of political cinema and an insightful essay on the ‘cool medium.'” -James Monaco, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM

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Summer '68

Aug 23 - Aug 24, 2008

(Norman Fruchter and John Douglas, 1969, BETA, 60 min)

Fruchter and Douglas craft a compelling document of the events leading up to the volatile 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Focusing specifically on the growth of the radical movement in the U.S., the film presents the struggle for students and activists to find a proper medium for their message.

SUMMER of '68 will screen with a variety of television political announcements, commercials, and news reports from '68, which will help illuminate sentiments present in mass media and American culture at large.

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