Saturday February 9 | 2pm

Prisoner Rights are Human Rights: History of the Attica Uprising

Enough is Enough (EIE) is a grassroots activist organization with a mission to support survivors of police brutality and to advocate policing reform in Rochester. They have chosen two powerful and unique works from the VSW Film/Video collection that tell the story of the 1971 uprising led by prisoners at the Attica Prison: Cinda Firestone’s 1974 film ATTICA and outtakes from Attica Inmate Interviews, produced in 1972 by Rochester-based media activists Portable Channel. Both of these films were chosen for their honest portrayal of the event from the point of view of the prisoners who led the uprising, rather than through the inaccurate perspective of the popular media. Portable Channel producer Sanford Rockowitz, who conducted interviews with Attica inmates involved in the uprising, will participate in the discussion.

16mm print of ATTICA courtesy of the Reserve Film and Video Collection at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Preservation of this film was made possible by a grant from the Women’s Film Preservation Fund of New York Women in Film and Television.

The Community Curator program invites representatives from community groups in the Rochester region to curate film screenings using VSW’s collection of over 9,000 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.