Media Burn Archive - Four decades of documentaries

Latest Blog Posts

Announcing the filmmakers selected for Media Burn’s Russia-US project

March 18, 2019 at 7:47 pm / Blog

In December, we announced our project, Countering Fake News in Russia and the US, funded by your contributions and a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This project will bring together a group of four Russian and American filmmakers, each creating an approximately 15 minute-long found-footage film which will then be assembled into an anthology film. The film will be screened in Chicago and St. Petersburg this summer. The project is a statement about the power of archives to safeguard truth in an era … Continue reading →
“Radicalized By A Video Archive” By Andrew Seeder

March 6, 2019 at 11:49 am / Blog

I was radicalized by watching hundreds of hours of camera original video tape at the Media Burn Independent Video Archive. Like any true convert, I believe that watching Media Burn’s tapes changed my life and think that watching their tapes can change your life, too. When I first came to Media Burn, I thought that being well-informed meant reading as many high quality news outlets as I could. Yet as I watched more unedited documentary video, I realized that, informative … Continue reading →

New Videos

Screening: Historic Social Justice Videos

February 18, 2019 at 3:02 pm / Blog

Premiere screenings with Q&ASaturday Feb 23 and Sun Feb 24 NANCY BUCHANAN, whose breakthrough videos on art and politics are recognized worldwide, will be screening two Chicago premieres on February 23 at 7pm at Uri-Eichen Gallery and Feb 24 at 2pm at the National Public Housing Museum. The videos are from the Message to the Grassroots TV series, produced by Michael Zinzun (1949-2006), a former Black Panther, tireless community organizer, and architect of the 1992 Watts gang truce. Nancy Buchanan, a Los Angeles artist who uses … Continue reading →
The Weird and Wild World of Sex in the ’90s

February 14, 2019 at 11:01 am / Blog

Celebrate Valentine’s Day by exploring the weird world of love in the ’90s. Watch videos of a man who sells condom dispensers, a couple who met in an online sex chatroom, and the wild world of horse breeding. Get to Know Mr. Condom Ever wonder who stocks the condom dispensers in bathrooms and bars? Meet Nolan Panisak, aka Mr. Condom, from Trevor, Wisconsin. In this clip from “The ’90s,” Joe Cummings interviews Nolan to learn about his business and what flavor lube goes best with … Continue reading →
Before Ida B. Wells Drive, There Were the Ida B. Wells Homes

February 12, 2019 at 2:49 pm / Blog

After today, Congress Parkway will now be known as Ida B. Wells Drive. This dedication marks the first downtown street to be named after an African American woman. Ida B. Wells was an investigative journalist, civil rights activist, and suffragist. She was also a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as several other national organizations. In the 1890s, she investigated and exposed instances of white mob violence and lynching in the South. Her work against lynching led … Continue reading →
Watch and Share Your Favorite Family Movies at Home Video Day

February 8, 2019 at 9:08 am / Blog

Dig out those old video tapes and bring them to Home Video Day this Friday! We worked with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Video Data Bank to put on this event that invites you to laugh and cry at the touching and beguiling world of home movies made public. If you don’t have any tapes, you can sit back and watch decades past as captured by others. If you don’t quite remember what’s on a tape, there will be stations … Continue reading →
In Football, It’s All Fun and Games Even If Someone Gets Hurt

February 1, 2019 at 11:19 am / Blog

In anticipation of this Sunday, we pulled a few clips from the archive from TVTV’s coverage of the 1976 Super Bowl that highlight football’s effects on the body. Continue reading →
Each One, Teach One: A Tribute to Michael Zinzun

2007-01-01 / Outside Agitators

A series of eulogies from the funeral of Michael Zinzun — the prominent Civil Rights activist — examine his life and impact on the world. This is done in the context of the Black Panther Party, as the Party’s manifesto is read out, each of the ten demands paralleling some part of Zinzun’s life or personal creed. The stories are truly amazing, and to position them within such a context is chillingly adept. Continue reading →
Remembering Chicago’s 1979 Blizzard

January 25, 2019 at 10:13 am / Blog

It’s going to be a freezing cold weekend in Chicago, with temperatures dropping into the negatives. If you’re avoiding the outdoors at all costs, curl up with some of these videos from the archive about the 1979 blizzard. In January of 1979, a massive blizzard hit Chicago. While only 2 to 4 inches of snow were expected, the city was actually hit with approximately 21 inches. The snow remained on the ground until the beginning of March, which became a political issue … Continue reading →
A Brief History of 1/2″ Video Tape and Why It Needs to be Preserved

January 11, 2019 at 2:24 pm / Blog

By the mid-1960s, broadcast television had firmly cemented its place as the most powerful medium of mass communication in history. Then, in 1965, the Sony Portapak 1⁄2” video camera was released. Since the Portapak was affordable, portable, and easy to use, it was quickly seized upon by artists and activists as a revolutionary tool for communication that had the potential to decentralize television production and distribution; ordinary people could tell their own stories. The vision fit perfectly with the social … Continue reading →