Headfirst Editor's Pick
"Surreal echoes of history are embedded in unearthed archival footage of pre-fab training towns used for riot response simulation in the 60s. These bizarre pageants of militarised police brutality would have shocking consequences for the Civil Rights movements, BLM and America’s state psyche. More essential viewing for conscious minds from BRFF."
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A event held at The Cube on Saturday 4th November. The event starts at 11:00.
Part of the 2023 Bristol Radical Film Festival.
Tickets available on door.
RIOTSVILLE, USA is a poetic and furious reflection on the reaction of a nation’s citizens and institutions to the rebellions of the late 1960s. This artful, riveting documentary consists entirely of archival footage that was shot by the United States military or appeared on broadcast television. Director Sierra Pettengill shifts our historic gaze from the rebellions in Chicago, Newark, and Detroit, focusing on unearthed military training footage of Army-built model towns called “Riotsvilles,” where military and police were trained to respond to domestic civil disorder. Dissecting the anatomy of the Johnson administration’s Kerner Commission, which resulted in an explosive increase in federal funding for police, RIOTSVILLE, USA pulls focus on the machinations of American institutional control. Amid today’s shifting reckonings on power and identity, technology companies consolidating power, and a new generation’s coming-of-age, Pettengill delivers insight from a time similar to our own, urging us to understand how the machine of institutional power manages to rumble on.
Check out the rest of our screenings on headfirst and here: https://cubecinema.com
Entry requirements:
Tickets available on door.
RIOTSVILLE, USA is a poetic and furious reflection on the reaction of a nation’s citizens and institutions to the rebellions of the late 1960s. This artful, riveting documentary consists entirely of archival footage that was shot by the United States military or appeared on broadcast television. Director Sierra Pettengill shifts our historic gaze from the rebellions in Chicago, Newark, and Detroit, focusing on unearthed military training footage of Army-built model towns called “Riotsvilles,” where military and police were trained to respond to domestic civil disorder. Dissecting the anatomy of the Johnson administration’s Kerner Commission, which resulted in an explosive increase in federal funding for police, RIOTSVILLE, USA pulls focus on the machinations of American institutional control. Amid today’s shifting reckonings on power and identity, technology companies consolidating power, and a new generation’s coming-of-age, Pettengill delivers insight from a time similar to our own, urging us to understand how the machine of institutional power manages to rumble on.
Check out the rest of our screenings on headfirst and here: https://cubecinema.com
Entry requirements:
Tickets for similar Bristol events.
