MSPIFF Festival in April

Please join us at two film programs in April as part of the 35th Film Society of Mpls/St. Paul International Film Festival. One produced by local media maven, Mike Hazard and the second a profile of The VIDEOFREEX, links include a clip about their video archive process. Media artist Melsande Charles short film is also presented. 

George Stoney Happy Collaborator April 13th Wednesday 6:30 PM St. Anthony Main Theaters #3 and Here comes the VideoFreex Friday April 8th, 2016 @ 3:15 PM St. Anthony Main Theaters #2  Tickets $10 Members $13 Public 

Excerpted from MSPIff Program guide. 

George Stoney Happy Collaborator Director Mike Hazard Attending
In competition: Minnesota Made Documentary Feature 

Trailer 1:20  Propaganda 1:42

Mike Hazard and George Stoney

George Stoney, founding father of public access and trailblazer for social reform in documentary, has been hailed as the Johnny Appleseed of documentary film and is the self-anointed “happy collaborator.” His film All My Babies (1952), an educational film on an African American midwife, was chosen in 2006 for the National Registry by the Library of Congress. Local filmmaker Mike Hazard uses clips from Stoney’s extensive body of work, interviews with his colleagues and friends, and intimate recordings with Stoney himself to build a portrait of this one-of-a-kind man.

Here comes the VIDEOFREEX      Trailer 2:16   Old tapes 4:41  Facebook

VIDEOFREEX 

Forty years before YouTube, a collective of intrepid journalist in the 1960s changed the landscape of television by adopting the portable video camera. Calling themselves the Videofreex, the group initially worked for CBS documenting some of the most important stories of the time—interviewing Abbie Hoffman during the trial for the Chicago 8, as well as Black Panther Fred Hampton weeks before he was killed—until censorship sent them to work independently paving the road for cable access and democratized reporting. Using restored archival video, Here Come the Videofreex highlights the unsung victories of these heroes of free speech.

Melisande Charles



Through her public art project, Post Offices:  An Endangered Species, 6:00 
Melisande Charles engages her fellow artists to create work that celebrates this threatened institution that has served Americans for over 200 years.   Screening with  Here Come the Videofreex.