COMMUNE Movie Screening + Q&A with Director Jonathan Berman + Special Guest

COMMUNE Movie Screening + Q&A with Director Jonathan Berman + Special Guests

AUDITORIUM: 7:00 PM

$13

The Revolution Starts At Home!

In 1968, agroup of American dissidents move to the remote woods of Northern Californiato create a new, utopian society. They struggle with surviving the winter, an invading cult, and their wildly varying ideas of what utopia mightreally be.

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During the radical fervor of the early 1970s, utopian communities dotted the American landscape. They aimed to reshape the world with "free love" and common property, and they excited controversy and fear amongst citizensacross the country. Though the idea of communes is now often relegated to a naïvepast, the filmdiscovers a successful and lasting, if controversial, legacy at the influential Black Bear Ranch, in Siskiyou County, California. Premised on the idea of "Free Land for Free People," and financed by the largesse of Hollywood rock stars, the founders of Black Bear bought land deep in the wilderness and raised a rough-hewn homestead. Over the years, hundreds would join the community, and life would be complicated by conflicts about the role of women, child-rearing, proper communalist behavior, the FBI, and most traumatically, a child-snatching cult. With archival footage from the early days, and the present-day views of Black Bear members and their offspring, "Commune" is a revealing look at how our most basic choices about family, work, and the nature of our relationships send powerful and lasting shock waves through the fabric of society. Featuring herbalist Michael Tierra, who is credited with rediscovering echinacea; internationally renowned painter Elsa Marley; and actor Peter Coyote.

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Jonathan Berman (Producer/Director) began as a stock footage researcher and assistant editor. He is director and producer of The Shvitz, a film about the last traditional steam baths in New York. His film My Friend Paul,about his relationship to his bipolar best friend, was produced with ITVS, a part of the public broadcasting family.Calling All Earthlingsis an exploration of Joshua Treeand thearea’s UFO-inspired dome, The Integratron. Berman is a graduate of McGill University (B.A.) and Bard College (M.F.A.). Berman co-wrote the story for the US/France/Portugal co-production “On The Run,” and was U.S. producer on Claudia Heuermann’s film “Sabbath in Paradise,” which featured Harvey Pekar and John Zorn.

While not a personal work, “Commune” was created partially out of the dissidence between the filmmaker’s suburban upbringing and the seeming absolute “other” quality of the Black Bear Ranch commune. As the shooting progressed, the filmmaker, a “stranger in a strange land,” noticed similarities between himself and his subjects --for example, a bond in their common yearning for utopia. Most of the subjects, like the filmmaker, hold onto deeply optimistic views about the world and making it a better place, which is currently being tested by America 2025. Yet we persist: “tilt at windmills,” one participant in the film says, “see what makes you bleed.

CONTENT DISCLAIMER

The views, opinions, and thoughts expressed within exhibited works are solely those of their creators and may not represent those of the Philosophical Research Society (PRS), its affiliates, or any individuals associated with PRS. Screenings are intended for educational and entertainment purposes.

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