THE "NEW" NEW DEAL schedule>
Nov. 14th - 20th
Curated by Jason Fox

Wall Street! The Federal Stimulus! Health Care! It has been many generations since the American public has so candidly asked itself, "what, and where exactly, is the public interest?" The "New" New Deal examines that ever-shifting boundary between "the public" and "the private" in American life with films focusing on the digital age, labor organizing, and the outsourcing of national war, alongside classic films funded by that last great model of one American social ideal, The New Deal.

THE "NEW" NEW DEAL
Curated by Jason Fox

We Work Again
Dir. WPA/Orson Welles, 1937, 15 min.
An early film by Orson Welles that tributes the Works Progress Administration, spotlighting the WPA's efforts to put African American artists to work during the Great Depression.

An Injury to One
Dir. Travis Wilkerson, 2003, 53 min.
An Injury to One provides a corrective—and absolutely compelling—glimpse of a particularly volatile moment in early 20th century American labor history: the rise and fall of Butte, Montana. Specifically, it chronicles the mysterious death of Wobbly organizer Frank Little, a story whose grisly details have taken on a legendary status in the state. Much of the extant evidence is inscribed upon the landscape of Butte and its surroundings. Thus, a connection is drawn between the unsolved murder of Little, and the attempted murder of the town itself.

Panel discussion. Speakers to include Stephanie Basile (NYC IWW, Active supporter of the IWW Wild Edibles Campaign, Starbucks Workers Union Campaign, and WobblyCity.org contributor) and Liberte Locke (NYC, IWW Starbucks Workers Union organizer).

Co-presented by Red Channels

THE "NEW" NEW DEAL
Curated by Jason Fox

The Plow That Broke the Plains
Dir. Pare Lorentz, 1936, 25 min.
A Government-sponsored documentary, Pare Lorentz won praise and wide recognition for using sensitive photography, dramatic editing and a beautiful score by composer Virgil Thomson to illuminate a local problem of national importance – the challenges faced by wheat farmers and cattle ranchers in the Great Plains. As the film climaxes in a vivid portrait of the record drought that produced the dust bowl and the plight of the "blown out, baked and broke" people who felt its impact, it becomes clear that a new master of the documentary form has found his voice.

The River
Dir. Pare Lorentz, 1938, 32 min.
Written and directed by Pare Lorentz for the U.S. Farm Security Administration, The River is a follow-up to Lorentz's groundbreaking documentary of the previous year, The Plow That Broke the Plains. The River was fully funded and promoted by the Roosevelt administration, and it achieved wide distribution through Paramount. Striking photography and rhythmically insistent editing tell the story of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, their tendency to flood their banks regularly and with great destructive force, and the American grit and ingenuity that tamed the river valley and turned it into a productive, power-generating landscape. The River suffers from a weak, if hopeful, finale—as with all such stories, the problem is more dramatic and visually arresting than the solution. But at its best, Lorentz's film became a model for the new documentary cinema of social advocacy.

THE "NEW" NEW DEAL
Curated by Jason Fox

It's in the P-I
Dir. Bradley Hutchinson, 2009, 7 min.
A heartfelt elegy to the last days of Seattle's newspaper, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

RIP: A Remix Manifesto
Dir. Brett Gaylor, 2009, 80 min.
In RiP: A remix manifesto, Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers. The film's central protagonist is Girl Talk, a mash-up musician topping the charts with his sample-based songs. But is Girl Talk a paragon of people power or the Pied Piper of piracy? Creative Commons founder, Lawrence Lessig, Brazil's Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil and pop culture critic Cory Doctorow are also along for the ride. A participatory media experiment, from day one, Brett shares his raw footage at opensourcecinema.org, for anyone to remix. This movie-as-mash-up method allows these remixes to become an integral part of the film. With RiP: A remix manifesto, Gaylor and Girl Talk sound an urgent alarm and draw the lines of battle.

Post-screening Q&A with director Brett Gaylor via skype.

Co-Presented by B-Side Entertainment