Hurry Tomorrow a documentary feature I made long ago about life in a state run psychiatric institution screens October 10 in Arlington, Mass. You need to get up before dawn since they are showing it at 8am. Details and description below. -- richard
http://RichardCohenFilms.com/
FRIDAY OCTOBER 10, 8 AM, REGENT THEATER, ARLINGTON
Thirty-nine years after the independent documentary feature HURRY TOMORROW opened eyes across America about conditions inside state run psychiatric institutions the landmark film will screen at the Mad In America’s International Film Festival on October 10, 2014 at 8 AM at the Regent Theater in Arlington.
HURRY TOMORROW a cinema verite16mm film by filmmakers Richard Cohen and Kevin Rafferty (1975) documents life in a locked psychiatric ward at Metropolitan State Hospital in Los Angeles. For six-weeks the filmmakers captured alarming images of forced drugging of patients, the use of restraints and isolation, brutality and psychological coercion. They also filmed moments of tenderness and friendship between inmates.
Produced on a budget of $19,000 HURRY TOMORROW premiered in San Francisco in September 1975. Amidst a fast growing storm of controversy the film then played at the Kenmore Square Cinema in Boston, the Orson Welles Cinema in Cambridge and the Royal Theater in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times reported on December 7 and 11 that hospital staff called for the film to be banned. In the words of one hospital employee the film created, “a stupid stinking internal horror of controversy.”
Nearly a year later California Governor Jerry Brown and his top administrators responded to these calls by launching an investigation into conditions in all state run mental hospitals. More than a thousand patient deaths were uncovered. All hospital directors were fired. On December 22, 1976 HURRY TOMORROW was featured on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. One reporter later commented the film created the biggest news story in California that year.
“A disturbing indictment of the assaults on human dignity practiced in many of this country’s mental hospitals” Mack. VARIETY (November 28, 1975)
“A crucifying indictment of ward conditions, drug companies and the violations of present laws. The film is an act of courage and a warning about mind control told with compassion and rage.” Linda Gross, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES (December 5, 1975)
“Shocking, important and apt to make us feel angry at both Hollywood and ourselves for wasting so much time on cinematic entertainment.”
Joe Kornfeld, BOSTON HERALD (December 5, 1975)
“A passionate, purposeful film document, all the more real for its righteous prejudice against unreasoning authority.”
THE REAL PAPER, Andrew Kopkind (January 14, 1976)
--------------------------------------------------------
MeCCSA mailing list
--------------------------------------------------------
To manage your subscription or unsubscribe from the MECCSA list, please visit:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=MECCSA&A=1
-------------------------------------------------------
MeCCSA is the subject association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies in UK Higher Education.
This mailing list is a free service and is not restricted to members. It is an unmoderated list and content reflect the views of those who post to the list and not of MeCCSA as an organisation.
MeCCSA recommends that the list be used only for posting of information (for example about events, publications, conferences, lectures) of interest to members or to promote discussion of current issues of wide general interest in the field. Posts to the MeCCSA mailing list are public, indexed by Google, and can be accessed from the JISCMail website (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/meccsa.html).
Any messages posted to the list are subject to the JISCMail acceptable use policy, which states that users should avoid engaging in unreasonable behaviour, or disrupting the general flow of discussion on a list.
For further information, please visit: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/
--------------------------------------------------------
