"Ossining in Wartime is a sincere cinematic record of civilian war activities which every community in the land would be pleased and proud to have. It was not an easy production to complete. Conceived only in the later years of our war effort, the majority of the picture's sequences had to be especially recreated for the ubiquitous camera of its producer, Robert F. Gowen. Newspaper headlines, posters, placards and an occasional subtitle maintain the film's episodic continuity from the earliest efforts of airplane spotters and air wardens to the final joyous ceremonies marking victory over Germany and Japan." Movie Makers, Dec. 1945, 496.
"En este cortometraje se narra la resistencia al régimen en la ciudad de Monterrey, en el estado de Nuevo León, a través de varios frentes: la irrupción de un grupo de sindicalistas independientes en el desfile oficial del 20 de noviembre, con la presencia del gobernador Luis M. Farías; la invasión de tierras y la presencia de organizaciones vecinales en Topo Chico; los muertos por un accidente laboral en la Fundidora Monterrey; las huelgas de obreros de la CTM y de panaderos de la CROC (dos poderosos sindicatos oficiales), o la actividad vecinal del Grupo 2 de Octubre en la colonia Días Ordaz" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"This short film tells the story of the resistance against the regime in Monterrey city, in the state of Nuevo León, through several perspectives: the irruption of a group of independent union laborers in the official November 20th parade, with the presence of governor Luis M. Farías; the invasion of land and the presence of neighborhood organizations in Topo Chico; the dead by a working accident in Fundidora Monterrey [Monterrey Foundry]; the strikes of CTM workers and CROC bakers (two powerful official labor unions), or the activities of neighbors of the October 2 Group in Diaz Ordaz vicinity" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"Hacía un alegato sobre lo que sucede al otro lado de la tranquilidad de la vida burguesa. Se alternaban imágenes de placidez doméstica de la clase media con escenas de la guerra de Vietnam y las rebeliones estudiantiles de la época. Al final de la cinta, sobre la fotografía de un mitin en Tlatelolco, una pregunta: "saber, darse cuenta, ¿cuándo?" "(Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"It was an allegation about what happens at the other side of the bourgeois life tranquility. Images of middle class house placidity were alternated with scenes from the Vietnam war and the students' rebellions of the time. At the end of the film, over the photography of a political rally in Tlatelolco, a question: "to know, to notice, when?" " (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"En Patria Libre, Sergio García documentó los primeros logros de la revolución sandinista en Nicaragua. [...] Se trataba de un documental convencional, con una voz off (leída por Felio Eliel) sobre un momento de frescura y esperanza por el triunfo del Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional. El arranque del documental con una serie de imágenes de Sandino en alto contraste que culminan en la foto de un adolescente guerrillero (mientras que en la banda sonora se escucha a Pablo Milanés cantar "Los caminos") preludian el tono que se desarrollará sobre el caso de la revolución sandinista" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012.)
"In Patria Libre [Free Country], Sergio García documented the first achievements of the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. It was a conventional documentary, with an off voice (read by Felio Eliel) about a moment of freshness and hope because of the triumph of the Sandinista National Liberation Front. The documentary begins with a series of highly contrasted images of Sandino that end with the picture of a guerrilla teenager (while the soundtrack plays "Los caminos" [The roads] by Pablo Milanés), which is a prelude to the tone that will be used to describe the Sandinista Revolution" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"A short amateur film that show “how to stop a war without trying anything much.” Footage of protesters and activists advocating against the war in Vietnam are intercut with altered images of war." via Chicago Film Archives
Documentary about how a wealthy family from Barcelona spends the last year of the Spanish Civil War, from the Francoist point of view. The film includes very rare footage of everyday life during the war, as well as reenacted scenes shot after the end of the conflict, and the use of stop motion and archival materials.
"RATAMATA is a portrait of the diverse opinions of Chicagoans (ranging from high school students to habitual mayoral candidate Lars Daly) as they reflect on the general state of affairs in America, the war in Vietnam, social and racial conflict, freedom and personal liberty, happiness, and social justice." Chicago Film Archives
"The true story of a French woman, Madame Baudhuin, who was presented to King George V in 1927 in recognition of her heroism in the Great War. Following a battle in Flanders on 26th August 1914, near Le Cateau, Mme. Baudhuin hid a British soldier, John Herbert Cruickshanks. Despite his discovery and their imprisonment they are saved by the rapid advance of British troops. (EAFA Database)
A 'Musical Direction' credit for Eric Freeman, suggests a specially-composed accompaniment, but no recordings were passed to the IAC (EAFA Database).
"This amateur film attempts to portray conflict within a religious sect where blind adherence to a selfish demanding leader is compared to the freedom offered by progressive contemporary society" Library and Archives Canada.
"Return from Fire, as defined by its producer, Dr. W. Lynwood Heaver, is the "biography of a mental breakdown." In its opening we meet a boy and girl idyllically in love. But the clouds of war fall across their summer sunshine, the young man is called up and, in a short time, is announced as missing in combat. It is then that the fires of apprehension, misery and terror sear into the girl's mind. How modern psychiatry serves, at last, to recall her from this self inflicted limbo is the climactic denouement of Dr. Heaver's drama. The conception of Return from Fire is imaginative and exciting. The acting and its correlative direction are excellent throughout. A provocative musical score contributes markedly to the maintenance of dramatic tension. Dr. Heaver's camera work, rising occasionally to heights of cinematic imagination, is sound, satisfying and suggestive of still greater things to come. Put down his name as one to watch!" Movie Makers, Dec. 1945, 494.
Total Pages: 8
Amateur Cinema