Berkeley In the Sixties
Six years in the making and with a cast of thousands, Berkeley in the Sixties recaptures the exhilaration and turmoil of the unprecedented student protests that shaped a generation and changed the course of America. Many consider it to be the best filmic treatment of the 1960s yet made.
This Academy Award-nominated documentary interweaves the memories of 15 former student leaders, who grapple with the meaning of their actions. Their recollections are interwoven with footage culled from thousands of historical clips and hundreds of interviews. Ronald Reagan, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mario Savio, Huey Newton, Allen Ginsburg, and the music of Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez and the Grateful Dead all bring that tumultuous decade back to life.
Its reflective and insightful analysis of the era - from the HUAC hearings and civil rights sit-ins at the beginning of the decade through the Free Speech Movement, the anti-war protests, the growth of the counter-culture, the founding of the Black Panther Party and the stirrings of the Women's Movement - confronts every viewer with the questions the 1960s raised, which remain largely unanswered.
"A rigorously bright study...The film's intellect is matched by a vivid sense of history: this really is the '60s again."
Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times
"A lively and provocative look at protest and dissent...as vivid and astonishing as any fiction to arrive on screen. "
David Sterrit, Christian Science Monitor
"A riveting but always thoughtful and sensitive portrayal of our history. I encourage the widest possible audience especially young people to see it."
Mario Savio
"Magnificent...It is a film that deserves to be seen by anyone interested in a better America. There are lessons here that cannot possibly be absorbed from any other source."
Phil Elwood, San Francisco Examiner
"A powerful, evocative and poignant film that brilliantly recaptures the excitement, the aspirations and the conflict of a turbulent era. Better than any other single film, it illuminates the complex story of the '60s. Every teacher of 20th Century American history will want to use it."
William H. Chafe, Alice Baldwin Professor of History, Duke University
"The best (documentary on the '60s) that's been done to date...Makes it possible to track a complicated arc in civilization and its discontents, underscoring the era's unequivocal triumphs as well as its confused fade-out."
Gary Giddens, Village Voice
"Imaginative and realistic...As it was and as it should be remembered."
George McGovern
Berkeley In the Sixties
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Ways to Watch
Educational Streaming
Recommended for Colleges, Universities, Government Agencies, Hospitals and Corporations
Community Screening
Short-term use for small groups, organizations, or high school classes (where no admission is charged)
Home Viewing
48-hour, personal rental for in-home use only, restrictions apply