Revolutionary Video
Part of the Global Perspectives on War and Peace Collection. Chuck Olin explains how camcorder video played an integral part in uniting the Czech people in a successful revolution.
Part of the Global Perspectives on War and Peace Collection. Chuck Olin explains how camcorder video played an integral part in uniting the Czech people in a successful revolution.
Chuck Olin’s documentary on the making of Marc Chagall’s America Windows created for the Art Institute of Chicago.
French artist Marc Chagall creates The Four Seasons Mosaic for the city of Chicago. Director Chuck Olin uses the style of direct cinema along with interviews, to show Chagall’s artistic process, and the evolution of his piece from model to its final unveiling in Chicago.
Documentary made up of narration, archive footage, and current footage and interviews highlighting human rights struggles. The first half focuses on the victorious fight for human rights in Czechoslovakia, concentrating on methods of underground information dissemination, including samizdat literature and The Video Journal created by Czech dissidents. The second half focuses on the ongoing struggle for human rights in Guatemala. This main concentration is on the human rights workers and the Guatemalan government’s attempts to squelch them through beatings, kidnappings, and killings.
Documentary about the only all-Jewish fighting unit during WWII.
Film made with the Kwakwaka’wakw Indians (also called the Kwakiutl) of British Columbia about their struggles to preserve their cultural heritage. As an introduction to the piece, Chuck Olin explains that the documentary was not made simply about the tribe from the point of view of an outsider, it was made with them and for their own use. The potlach was a fundamental part of the Kwakiutl’s culture and economy. However, the Canadian government declared it illegal, and in the 1920s they interrupted a potlach held by this tribe and stole all of the tribe’s important artifacts. The tape celebrates the return of these artifacts t o the tribe and the building of a cultural center to house them. The film also deals with the tribe’s attempts to preserve their language and culture.
Documentary about the death of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party. The film started out as a simple portrait of Hampton and features lots of footage of his powerful speeches. However, in 1969, Hampton was murdered in his bed at the Panther headquarters by the Chicago police. The event was extremely controversial as the police and the Black Panthers told drastically different versions of the events. The film became instrumental in proving the Panthers’ story that the police broke in to headquarters without warning and killed Hampton without resistance.