Newsreel: A Polyphonic History of 1968
A discussion with filmmakers, scholars, and activists Matt Peterson and Giulia Gabrielli about their work to document, archive, and advance the legacy of the legendary Newsreel collective.
This conversation will take place in the Wells Screening Room (Wells Library 048).
Filmmakers, scholars, and activist artists Giulia Gabrielli and Matt Peterson share the story, implications, and lessons learned from their oral history project of the legendary Newsreel collective. Known as the “propaganda arm of the New Left,” Newsreel saw itself as more than an independent production and distribution company, but as a national political network and infrastructure of radical media, revolutionary life, and full-time protest that was embedded in the most insurrectionary trends of its time.
Peterson and Gabrielli realized while beginning their project that although Newsreel seemingly involved more than 100 people, only a handful of (male) names involved in the collective’s founding appeared in the few texts that were available. Hoping to meet with as many participants as possible, they initiated an oral history project, speaking with more than 50 surviving members to date.
