Last night’s Academy Awards show reminded us of some relevant archival moments… Steven Spielberg expected to be a big winner at the 1976 Academy Awards. TVTV was in the room documenting his reaction when he got the news that, despite dominating the box office that year with Jaws, he was not nominated for Best Director. Here’s an inside look at the young director like you’ve never seen him since. Watch the full documentary.
Although most people typically associate Mardi Gras with Bourbon Street and the French Quarter in New Orleans, there is another Mardi Gras tradition that has been practiced for generations in Louisiana’s Cajun Country. In 1975, video pioneers TVTV produced the documentary “The Good Times Are Killing Me” about the people they met in the towns of Basile, Mamou, and Eunice, Louisiana. The video documented the old culture and way of life, including the traditional Courir de Mardi Gras or “Mardi […]
The Apple II, released in 1977, was one of the first personal computers to gain a major foothold in the home market. At the time, it took some convincing for the public to see why they would ever need one of these machines. In 1982, Apple released “A Personal Guide To Personal Computers,” a simple and easy to understand booklet that made the case. This footage takes you inside Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California as the Apple team works […]
Before covering 1976’s Super Bowl X, TVTV experimented with some comedy journalism by covering the pickup game between the CBS Super Bowl Broadcast team. The game featured hall of famer Johnny Unitas with play-by-play by Phyllis George. It’s also one of the earliest TV appearances for Bill Murray and Christopher Guest. Also enjoy the full documentary, TVTV Goes To the Super Bowl.
Watch out! This 1955 film shows that germs and viruses are all around us…
In this disquieting video, a man describes the dangers he faces every day crossing the invisible gang borders running through the streets surrounding Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects. The footage was shot for Ronit Bezalel’s documentary, Voices of Cabrini. The interview took place in 1998, but it continues to be incredibly relevant to the problem of gun violence that still plagues our city today. The interview took place in George Robbins’s barbershop at 456 W. Division Street, which was torn down […]
Over 35 years after his death, Elvis Presley remains an American legend and cultural icon, and many of his fans are still cultishly devoted to their King. In honor of what would have been his 78th birthday, we bring you some excerpts from Thomas Corboy’s “Rock ‘n Roll Disciples” (1984), which documented the obsessive community of Elvis fans that congregated around Graceland in Memphis, TN, in the years following the singer’s death in 1977. To see the full documentary, plus […]
THANK YOU For helping Media Burn and FITV have our most successful year ever 10 MILLION Views of our videos as of December 2012 1,950 Archival documentary videotapes preserved and made available online since 2003 500 People attended one of our seven public events 60 Years since anyone had seen the four episodes of Studs’ Place we restored and screened this fall SIX Major government and foundation grants, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Historical Publications and Records […]