2009 Film Series Descriptions

Selections from Eyes on the Prize: American's Civil Rights Movements (1954-1985). (1987) Created and produced by Henry Hampton. Apx. 120 minutes

Thursday, February 16, 2009, 5:00 p.m., Glatfelter G104

Eyes on the Prize is an award-winning 14-hour television series produced by Blackside and narrated by Julian Bond. Through contemporary interviews and historical footage, the series covers all of the major events of the civil rights movement from 1954-1985.

Series topics range from Montgomery bus boycott in 1954 to the Voting Rights Act in 1965; from community power in schools to "Black Power" in the streets; from early acts of individual courage through to the flowering of a mass movement and its eventual split into factions.

Eyes on the Prize was created and executive produced by Henry Hampton (1940-1998), one of the most influential documentary filmmakers in the 20th century. His work chronicled America's great political and social movements and set new standards for broadcast quality. Blackside, the independent film and television company he founded in 1968, completed 60 major films and media projects that amplified the voices of the poor and disenfranchised. His enduring legacy continues to influence the field in the 21st century. (From the Official Website.)

Keywords:  Social Movements, Social and Economic Inequality, Black History Month

There will be Blood. (2007) Directed by Paul Anderson Thompson. 158 minutes.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 5:00 p.m., Glatfelter G104

A sprawling epic of family, faith, power and oil, There will be Blood is set on the incendiary frontier of California's turn-of-the-century petroleum boom. The story chronicles the life and times of one Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), who transforms himself from a down-and-out silver miner raising a son on his own into a self-made oil tycoon. When Plainview gets a mysterious tip-off that there is a little town out West where an ocean of oil is oozing out of the ground, he heads with his son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), to take their chances in dust-worn Little Boston. In this hardscrabble town, where the main excitement centers around the holy roller church of charismatic preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), Plainview and H.W. make their lucky strike. But even as the well raises all of their fortunes, nothing will remain the same as conflicts escalate and every human value love, hope, community, belief, ambition and even the bond between father and son is imperiled by corruption, deception and the flow of oil. (From the Official Website.)

Keywords: Economic History of the US; Political Economy of Oil

Capitalism Hits the Fan: Rick Wolff on the Economic Crisis. (2009) Directed by Sut Jhally. 58 mins.

Thursday, April 2, 2009, 5:00 p.m. Glatfelter G104

With breathtaking clarity, renowned UMass Economics Professor Rick Wolff breaks down the root causes of today's economic crisis, showing how it was decades in the making and in fact reflects seismic and systemic failures within American-style capitalism as a whole. Wolff traces the source of the economic crisis to the 1970s, when wages began to stagnate and American workers were forced into a dysfunctional spiral of borrowing and debt that ultimately exploded in the mortgage meltdown. By placing the crisis within this larger historical and systemic frame, Wolff argues convincingly that both the government "bailouts" and calls for increased market regulations will not be enough to address the real causes of the crisis - in the end suggesting that more fundamental changes will be necessary to avoid future catastrophes. (From the Official Website.)

Keywords: Capitalism, Debt Crisis, Mortgage Meltdown, Exploitation, Marxian Economics, Recent Economic History of the US