OLLI Presents 2 parts of Freedom & Unity
April 30, May 7, 1:30 p.m. – Montpelier Senior Activities Center
58 Barre Street, Montpelier
Freedom & Unity: The Vermont Movie is the first-ever documentary series about Vermont; it explores themes that recur throughout the state’s history from 1777 to the present. The six-part film is a collaboration of three dozen critically acclaimed Vermont filmmakers led by award-winning filmmaker Nora Jacobson and advised by well-known historians, educators, curators, authors, artists, politicians, and activists. Sponsors include the Vermont Arts Council, Vermont Community Foundation, Vermont Humanities Council, Bay and Paul Foundation, John M. Bissell Foundation, Green Valley Media, National Life of Vermont Foundation, and the Vermont Country Store.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute presents 2 of the six films at the Montpelier Senior Activities Center on Barre Street in Montpelier with filmmakers present to lead discussions and answer questions. Each film is 80-90 minutes in length.
Wednesday, April 30, 1:30 p.m. Part II – Under the Surface with filmmaker Louise Michaels
Under the Surface digs beneath the surface of Vermont’s bucolic image to explore labor wars,
eugenics experiments, the McCarthy era, and progressive Republicanism. Covering over a century—from pre-Civil War to 2009—it chronicles the rise of unions and quarry work, Barre’s Socialist Labor Party Hall, the marketing of Vermont, the state’s reaction to New Deal policies, George Aiken's gentle populism, and Republican Ralph Flanders’ heroic stand against Joe McCarthy during the Red Scare. Emigrés from urban areas, “back-to-the-landers” like Helen and Scott Nearing and filmmaker Nora Jacobson’s father, Nicholas Jacobson, came to Vermont in search of an alternative lifestyle.
Wednesday, May 7, 1:30 p.m. Part IV - Doers and Shapers with filmmaker Kenneth Peck
Doers and Shapers explores the people and institutions that push boundaries. Starting with education, we take an engrossing journey through the philosophy of John Dewey, leading to the hands-on style of Goddard College, the Putney School, and the inseparable connection between education and democracy. We explore other progressive movements: Vermont’s famous Billboard law and Act 250, cultural movements such as Bread and Puppet theater and finally Vermont’s groundbreaking civil union law. Democracy at work—differing voices, different points of view.
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