A series programmed by R. G. Davis, Peter Gessner and Arlene Goldbard.
“‘The Sixties' are coming around again, and whose view shall we see? To add to the events marking the 20th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement and other key events of the period, we offer an additional approach to the sixties.
“One of the areas that was buried before the corpse was stiff, and which will be ignored again, is the cultural melange, the intermixing of artists and political activists that informed this decade. Rock historians only hear the music and political historians only read the words... But there were more artists--filmmakers, theater-makers, street painters, poster-makers, composers, sculptors, painters, experimental performers and dancers--than there were rock bands.
“We touch on various events that entered the film medium. Some of the films we have chosen were inspirational, works that activated other filmmakers and artists; a good many are documentary, in that they cover a particular segment of the scene. And not to be parochial, we end with a European commentary on the sixties made in the seventies. Panel discussions in which artists and political activists will participate will follow the films. Films, like written documents, focus on and offer limited views of particular events; with the speakers, we hope to add another dimension, for the attitude of the fixed image must also be challenged.
“When Peter Gessner, Arlene Goldbard and I began discussing the program, three themes were suggested: Leadership, Magic Thinking and Prefiguration. Many facets of this complex epoch may not be touched on, for we haven't the resources to undertake “The Sixties” in all its scope. For instance the Chicano and Women's movements are not well represented, although they along with other liberation movements have their roots in the period. Nor does the film program directly reflect the importance of the Communists, Trotskyites, Socialists and Social Democrats that abetted, inspired, annoyed and generated the New Left and Hippie Culture. ‘Our corner of the investigation,' as Arlene Goldbard suggests, might be called ‘white cultural and political radicalism in the '60s.'
“As Hollywood enters the dis-information campaign about this period with its corporate view, as in The Big Chill, and serious attempts to resurrect radical history (e.g. Seeing Red) also emerge, our common concern, as Goldbard has written, ‘is that this picture of individuals and their memories leaves aside the ideas which animated historical radicalism and which still exercise great influence today.'
“There is a way to look at the sixties that is critical and investigatory, both subjectively and objectively. From inside the sixties, many things were too ‘instant' and on demand; others were fantastic and actually occurred. Magic thinking also produced some magic events... That we had a chance to influence international affairs and arts, and intervene in community, government and capitalist life, was fascinating. We do not intend a nostalgic return to the good old days, rather a look back to find creative resources for the struggles ahead, in the bad news days.” R. G. Davis
