Primary, The Collective

Program:

Primary (dir. Robert Drew, 1960, 53min) 

Robert Drew's groundbreaking 1960 film Primary is one of the most important and influential documentaries in the history of the medium. A pioneering work in the documentary movement that came to be known as cinéma vérité, Primary follows the young charismatic senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, as he goes head-to-head with established Minnesota senator Hubert Humphrey to win the Wisconsin presidential primary in April 1960. 

The Collective (dir. Richard Broadman, 1985, 60min) 

In 1970, thousands of young people thought of themselves as agents of change. They wanted to restore America's democratic vision; they wanted to end the war in Vietnam. This is the story of one collective—their successes and failures, and what they do and think fifteen years later. 

The Collective: Fifteen Years Later, released in 1985, is a portrayal of political activism, "reflecting on both the excitement and the disappointment of their political engagement, informants are, by turns, candid, rueful, and idealistic; they're unsparing in acknowledging their own mistakes both in analyzing and in organizing against a structure of oppression centering on, but extending beyond, militarism and neocolonialism." – Chris Wellin, "Documentary Film, Teaching, and the Accumulation of Sociological Insight: The Work of Richard Broadman",Teaching Sociology (2013)