Native Land | |
---|---|
Directed by | Leo Hurwitz Paul Strand |
Written by | Leo Hurwitz Ben Maddow |
Produced by | Leo Hurwitz |
Starring | Paul Robeson (Narrator/Vocalist) Fred Johnson |
Cinematography | Paul Strand |
Edited by | Lionel Berman Leo Hurwitz Bob Stebbins |
Music by | Marc Blitzstein |
Production company | Frontier Films |
Distributed by | Frontier Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 79 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Native Land is a 1942 docudrama film directed by Leo Hurwitz and Paul Strand. [1]
A combination of a documentary format and staged reenactments (influenced by the cinematic works of Sergei Eisenstein and Aleksandr Dovzhenko), the independently produced film depicted the struggle of trade unions against union-busting corporations, their spies and contractors. It was based on the 1938 report of the La Follette Committee's investigation of the repression of labor organizing. [2] [3]
Famous African-American singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson participated as an off-screen narrator and vocalist. [4] [5]
A restored version of the film was released in 2011. The film was restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, funded by the Packard Humanities Institute. [6]
The new print was made “from the original 35mm nitrate picture negative, a 35mm safety duplicate negative, and a 35mm safety up-and-down track negative.” [6]
The restoration premiered at the UCLA Festival of Preservation on March 26, 2011 [6] and was screened at other North American cities in 2011 including Vancouver. [7]
The Plow That Broke the Plains is a 1936 short documentary film that shows the cultivation of the Great Plains region of the United States and Canada following the Civil War and leading up to the Dust Bowl as a result of farmers' exploitation of the Great Plains' natural resources.The Plow That Broke the Plains was the first film created by the US government for commercial release and distribution through the Resettlement Administration as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal program. The Resettlement Administration recruited Pare Lorentz to produce The Plow That Broke the Plains to support its campaign of showing the public that the search for profits in the West resulted in the displacement of settlers, misuse of the land, and ultimately resulted in the dust storms that affected the Great Plains regions in the 1930s. The film was one of the most widely publicized attempts by the U.S. federal government to communicate to its citizens through motion pictures.
Film preservation, or film restoration, describes a series of ongoing efforts among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images they contain. In the widest sense, preservation assures that a movie will continue to exist in as close to its original form as possible.
Cry Danger is a 1951 film noir thriller film, starring Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming. The film was directed by Robert Parrish, a former child star and later editor in his debut as a director.
Kinopanorama is a three-lens, three-film widescreen film format. Although Kinopanorama was initially known as Panorama in the Soviet Union the name was later revised to include its current name prior to the premiere screenings in Moscow in 1958. In some countries, including Cuba, Greece, Norway and Sweden, it was usually marketed as Soviet Cinerama. When Great Is My Country and The Enchanted Mirror, were exhibited at the Mayfair Theatre in New York City in 1958, it was briefly advertised as Cinepanorama. Kinopanorama is for the most part identical in operation to that of Fred Waller's American-designed Cinerama format.
The Inner Eye is a 1972 short documentary film made by Satyajit Ray on Benode Behari Mukherjee, a blind artist and a teacher from Visva-Bharati University, a university founded by Rabindranath Tagore at Santiniketan. The twenty minutes documentary features the life and works of Mukherjee in the form of paintings and photographs, starring himself. The documentary covers his journey from childhood till his blindness along with much of his works and features his words, "Blindness is a new feeling, a new experience, a new state of being". The documentary was awarded as Best Information Film (Documentary) at 20th National Film Awards in 1972.
Duck Soup is a 1927 American silent comedy short film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy prior to their official billing as the duo Laurel and Hardy. The team appeared in a total of 107 films between 1921 and 1951.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Ben Maddow was an American screenwriter and documentarian from the 1930s through the 1970s. Educated at Columbia University, Maddow began his career working within the American documentary movement in the 1930s.
The Emperor Jones is a 1933 American pre-Code film adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's 1920 play of the same title, directed by iconoclast Dudley Murphy, written for the screen by playwright DuBose Heyward and starring Paul Robeson in the title role, and co-starring Dudley Digges, Frank H. Wilson, Fredi Washington and Ruby Elzy.
I Take This Woman is a 1931 American pre-Code romance film directed by Marion Gering and starring Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard.
Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist is a 1979 American short documentary film directed by Saul J. Turell. In 1980, it won an Oscar at the 52nd Academy Awards for Documentary Short Subject. It was released alongside Robeson's other films on a Criterion Collection box set in 2007.
Salomy Jane is a 1914 silent Western-drama film based on Bret Harte's 1898 novella "Salomy Jane's Kiss" and Paul Armstrong's 1907 play based on Harte's story, Salomy Jane.
The Forgotten Village is a 1941 American documentary film—some sources call it an ethnofiction film—directed by Herbert Kline and Alexander Hammid. The film was written by John Steinbeck, narrated by Burgess Meredith, and with music by Hanns Eisler. The film was released by the film distribution partnership of Arthur Mayer & Joseph Burstyn.
The Paul Robeson House was the home of internationally renowned American bass-baritone concert singer, actor of film and stage, All-American and professional athlete, writer, multi-lingual orator, human rights activist, and lawyer Paul Robeson from 1966 until 1976. Located in West Philadelphia, the Robeson House produces, presents and promotes traveling lectures, concerts and exhibits so that learning about Robeson is accessible to all ages and cultures.
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is a 1950 film noir starring James Cagney, directed by Gordon Douglas, produced by William Cagney and based on the novel by Horace McCoy. The film was banned in Ohio as "a sordid, sadistic presentation of brutality and an extreme presentation of crime with explicit steps in commission."
Thampu is a 1978 Indian Malayalam-language film written and directed by Govindan Aravindan. Bharath Gopi, Nedumudi Venu, V. K. Sreeraman, Jalaja and the artistes of the Great Chitra Circus form the cast. The film deals with the roving street circus of Kerala. It is shot in black and white in a direct documentary mode.
Leo Hurwitz was an American documentary filmmaker. Among the films he directed were Native Land (1942) and Verdict for Tomorrow (1961), the Peabody Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated film of the Eichmann trial. He was blacklisted during the McCarthy period for his strong left-wing political beliefs.
Ross Lipman is an American restorationist, independent filmmaker and essayist. He is best known for his 2015 documentary Notfilm, his work with the Bruce Conner Family Trust and as Senior Film Restorationist at the UCLA Film & Television Archive, where he restored numerous independent and avant-garde works.
The Yale Film Archive is a film archive located in Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University, and is part of the Yale University Library. The film collection consists of more than 7,000 35mm, 16mm, 8mm, and Super 8mm prints and the video collection includes more than 50,000 items on DVD, Blu-ray, LaserDisc, and VHS. The Film Archive engages in the conservation, preservation, presentation, and circulation of moving image materials. The Yale Film Archive is an Associate of the International Federation of Film Archives.
Queens at Heart is an American short film described as both a documentary and an exploitation film in which four trans women are interviewed about their lives. It was produced in the mid-1960s. The film was digitally preserved in 2009 by the UCLA Film and Television Archive as part of the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation. Andrea James and Jenni Olson were among those who worked on its restoration.