• This event is streaming on VSW.ORG

    All programs are free to view. Please consider a donation to the VSW Film Series so that we can continue to support artists, and preserve and share our collections with the public.



    Holding the Line Against Police Violence

    Community Perseverance and Police Accountability in Rochester 1972 – 2019

    Content Warning: Graphic images of police brutality
    The VSW Film Series is pleased to announce the first program in the Summer 2021 series: Holding the Line Against Police Violence: Community Perseverance and Police Accountability in Rochester. This streaming program is presented by the Police Accountability Board Alliance (the Alliance) as part of VSW’s Community Curator program. The Alliance has selected videos from both the VSW collection and contemporary sources to illustrate the ongoing problems surrounding police violence and police accountability in Rochester, New York. This program will focus on police accountability and community control of police dating back to the 1970s.

    Titles from the VSW video archives include: Police Brutality (1972) produced by the People’s Defense Committee, and WHEC News Coverage of Police Attacks on Protestors (1972); contemporary material has been sourced from Rochester Indymedia, a local independent media collective since 2002.

    Part 2 of this screening features a recorded interview between  representatives of the Alliance and Bob Bonn and Brian Curran, two protesters arrested and brutalized by police during the anti-vietnam war protests in downtown Rochester in 1972. Video of this demonstration is included in the program and discussed during the interview.

    On Wednesday June 23rd at 7pm, VSW and the Alliance will host a live community talk back to discuss the program and how the community can support the Police Accountability Board.

    The Alliance nominates community members to serve on the Police Accountability Board; they also engage in educational and advocacy work around policing issues. For more information: https://paballiance.org/

    The Community Curator program invites representatives from community groups in the Rochester region to curate film screenings using VSW’s collection of over 10,000 film and video titles. The goals of the Community Curator program are to empower cultural organizations to create their own media programming, expand global and cultural awareness within the Rochester community, and strengthen ties between students, artists, and communities that will cultivate multi-cultural relationships.

    The Community Curator Program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the National Endowment for the Arts Art Works program.