Radical media, politics and culture.

"Weather Underground" Film Opening, New York City, June 4, 2003

On Wednesday, 6/4, THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND opens at Film Forum. It's a new
documentary that explores the rise and fall of the infamous American
radicals whose goal was to overthrow the U.S. government.


These days, many of us continue to fight capitalism and the actions of the
U.S. government both abroad and at home. This film is riveting-- as a piece
of filmmaking, an historical document and as a catalyst for discussion. THE
WEATHER UNDERGROUND presents portraits of young people who were compelled
to
"bring the war home." It raises myriad questions for us as activists and
global citizens.

We'll be doing some panel discussions in June with former Underground
members.


I attach a synopsis of the film below.


All best,


Kate Crane for

THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND


********


Weather


Film Forum: W. Houston btwn. 6th Ave. and Varick St. (aka 7th Ave.),
212.727.8110


Times: 1:15, 3:15, 6, 8, 10


Opens Wednesday, 6/4


********


THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND


Featuring: Bill Ayers, Kathleen Cleaver, Bernardine Dohrn, David Gilbert,
Mark Rudd, Laura Whitehorn and Todd Gitlin.


SYNOPSIS


"Hello, I'm going to read a declaration of a state of war...within the next
14 days we will attack a symbol or institution of American injustice." --Bernardine Dohrn

Thirty years ago, with those words, a group of young American radicals
announced their intention to overthrow the U.S. government. In THE WEATHER
UNDERGROUND, former Underground members, including Bernardine Dohrn, Bill
Ayers, Mark Rudd, David Gilbert and Brian Flanagan, speak publicly about
the
idealistic passion that drove them to "bring the war home" and the
trajectory that placed them on the FBI1s most wanted list.


Fueled by outrage over racism and the Vietnam War, the Weather Underground
waged a low-level war against the U.S. government through much of the
'70s--bombing targets across the country that they considered emblematic of
the real violence that the U.S. was wreaking throughout the world.
Ultimately, the group1s carefully organized clandestine network managed to
successfully evade one of the largest manhunts in FBI history, yet the
group1s members would reemerge to life in a country that was dramatically
different than the one they had hoped their efforts would inspire.


Extensive archival material, including photographs, film footage and FBI
documents are interwoven with modern-day interviews to trace the group1s
path, from its pitched battles with police on Chicago1s streets, to its
bombing of the U.S. Capitol, to its successful endeavor breaking acid-guru
Timothy Leary out of prison. The film explores the Weathermen in the
context
of other social movements of the time and features interviews with former
members of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Black
Panthers. It also examines the U.S. government1s suppression of dissent in
the 1960s and 1970s. Looking back at their years underground, the former
members paint a compelling portrait of troubled times, revolutionary times,
and the forces that drove their resistance.