Radical media, politics and culture.

Eyes on the Screen: Direct action to save Eyes on the Prize [copyright]

Update

Following the removal of the tracker and vtorrent files (subsequent to a threat by lawyers for the film production company), several other torrent trackerts are now carrying the Eyes on the Prize. Here is one hosting the first three episodes.

This from Cory Dottow's Boing-Boing.


Eyes on the Screen: Direct action to save Eyes on the Prize

Eyes on the Prize is a seminal documentary about the US civil rights movement, a classic that is shown and re-shown every year around this time, for Black History Month. The problem (see earlier BB post) is that the archival footage in Eyes on the Prize was only cleared for the initial production, and the cost of clearing the copyrights again is prohibitive. It seems, then, that this documentary is doomed to vanish, once the existing VHS copies wear out.

Downhill Battle has decided to stage some direct action around this. They're running a site called Eyes on the Screen, which is distributing copies of Eyes on the Prize via Bittorrent, and they're organizing a national network of screenings on February 8th -- have your friends over to watch your downloaded copy of the documentary.
At 8pm on February 8th we will celebrate the struggle and triumph of the civil rights movement with screenings of Eyes on the Prize Part 1: Awakenings. Eyes on the Prize is the most renowned civil rights documentary of all time; for many people, it is how they first learned about the Civil Rights Movement (more about the film). But this film has not been available on video or television for the past 10 years simply because of expired copyright licenses. We cannot allow copyright red tape to keep this film from the public any longer. So today we are making digital versions of the film available for download. Join us in building a new mass audience for this film: organize or attend a screening in your city, town, school or home on February 8th.

This could be a seminal moment in technology liberty. It's a brilliant campaign on Downhill Battle's part. I hope you'll participate. Go to Downhill Battle's Eyes on the Screen."