Selling Democracy: Films of The Marshall Plan, 1948–53

11/3/05 to 12/1/05

Houen Zo!, November 3

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Past Films

Program One: Out of the Ruins
Thursday, November 3 19:30
Introduced by Sandra Schulberg and Ed Carter. Films of the Marshall Plan make an extraordinary window on postwar Europe.
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Program Two: Help Is On the Way
Thursday, November 10 19:30
Introduced by Sandra Schulberg. The Marshall Plan sought to turn European despair into optimism, and the films on this program embody the can-do spirit in charming and surprising ways.
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Program Three: True Fiction
Thursday, November 17 19:30
Introduced by Sandra Schulberg. This Marshall Plan program runs the gamut of documentary, docudrama, and outright fiction, including a beautiful example of early Italian neorealism and performances by Dublin's famed Abbey Theater players, all in the service of a new Europe.
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Symposium: Selling Democracy: Productivity and Propaganda in the Service of American Foreign Policy (Admission Free)
Friday, November 18 14:00
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Program Four: Strength for the Free World-From War to European Union
Thursday, December 1 19:30
Introduced by Sandra Schulberg. Anti-Communist comedies and free-trade cartoons in our final program of Marshall Plan movies.
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Selling Democracy: Films of The Marshall Plan, 1948–53

11/3/05 to 12/1/05

This landmark series, presented by PFA and Goethe-Institut San Francisco in association with The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Schulberg Productions, features twenty-five films made in Europe by the Marshall Plan's Motion Picture Section and by the Documentary Film Unit of the U.S. Office of Military Government (OMGUS) after World War II. It is a fascinating cross-section of the more than 250 films originally produced to hasten the reconstruction of Europe and to encourage the democratization of Germany. Embodying “the largest peacetime propaganda effort directed by one country to a group of others ever seen,” according to Marshall Plan scholar David Ellwood (author of Rebuilding Europe), these films illustrate in surprisingly specific terms the strategy implemented by the Truman Administration for “winning the peace.”

The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, or ERP) provided...

The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, or ERP) provided billions of dollars in aid to postwar Europe. By the end of 1951, in response to concerns about the perceived threat of Communism and the impact of the Korean War, the Marshall Plan's focus shifted to European security and military issues. Against the backdrop of current U.S. efforts to democratize Iraq and Afghanistan, the films of the Marshall Plan have particular resonance.

Because of a 1948 law that prohibited the propagandizing of American citizens, only a few of these films have ever been seen in the United States. In 1990, Senator John Kerry introduced legislation overturning the ban, and this is the first public showcase of the films in the Bay Area.

Each screening will be introduced by program curator Sandra Schulberg and followed by an informal discussion. The daughter of Marshall Plan Motion Picture Chief Stuart Schulberg, Sandra Schulberg is an accomplished movie producer in her own right (Quills, Undisputed), as well as founding director of the Independent Feature Project and a cofounder of First Run Features. She is currently president of Phobos Entertainment and publisher of Phobos Books.

We hope you will join us for a Marshall Plan symposium, “Selling Democracy: Productivity and Propaganda in the Service of American Foreign Policy,” on Friday, November 18, in the PFA Theater.

An illustrated program booklet complementing the series will be available at the box office.

To consult a list of all known Marshall Plan films, see www.MarshallFilms.org. For historical background on the making and distribution of the films, please visit www.sellingdemocracy.org.

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Selling Democracy: Films of the Marshall Plan, 1948–53 was conceived and co-curated by Sandra Schulberg. The films have been selected to tour the United States by Schulberg and Ed Carter, documentary curator of the Academy Film Archive of the American Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, in collaboration with Dr. Rainer Rother of Berlin's German Historical Museum.

The Bay Area showcase of Selling Democracy is made possible with support from the Goethe-Institut, and with funding for film preservation by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the German Historical Museum. Support was also provided by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the George C. Marshall Foundation. Cooperation of the U.S. National Archives, where most of the Marshall Plan films are located, and of Germany's Bundesarchiv/Filmarchiv, has been vital.

Selling Democracy: Films of The Marshall Plan, 1948–53

11/3/05 to 12/1/05

Past Films

Program One: Out of the Ruins

Program Two: Help Is On the Way

Program Three: True Fiction

Symposium: Selling Democracy: Productivity and Propaganda in the Service of American Foreign Policy (Admission Free)

Program Four: Strength for the Free World-From War to European Union