Newsreel

Formed in 1968 in New York City after the Pentagon protests against the Vietnam War, Newsreel was a filmmaker's collective linked with the New Left. About four dozen filmmakers participated, initially under the umbrella name of Camera News Inc. The goal was to have their films usher in a people's democracy in the US. Chapters emerged in New York, Boston, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, and Vermont. Newsreel’s credo was to smash the capitalist oppressors and confront the military/industrial complex leading America and the world toward a police state. They did not list makers on their films, identifying works only by Newsreel. Key films produced by Newsreel included Columbia Revolt (1968), People’s War (1969), The Woman’s Film (1971), and Amerika (1969). They also were among the first to distribute films from Cuba, Vietnam, Africa, and the Middle East. Former Newsreel member Roz Payne mounted an extensive archival website on Newsreel, available at www.newsreel.us

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