Riotsville, USA – Thursday February 16th

Co-presented with the DocYard, LEF Foundation, the Independent Film Festival Boston   the Boston Women’s Film Festival and Globedocs

Directed by Sierra Pettengill, documentary, English, United States, 91 minutes, 2022.

Welcome to RIOTSVILLE, USA, a turning point in American history where the protest movements of the late 1960s came into conflict with increasingly militarized police departments. Focusing on unearthed military training footage of Army-built model towns called “Riotsvilles,” where military and police were trained to respond to civil disorder in the aftermath of the Kerner Commission created by President Lyndon B. Johnson, director Sierra Pettengill’s kaleidoscopic all-archival documentary reconstructs the formation of a national consciousness obsessed with maintaining law and order by any means necessary. Drawing insight from a time similar to our own, RIOTSVILLE, USA pulls focus on American institutional control and offers a compelling case that if the history of race in America rhymes, it is by design. Discussion with producer Sara Archambault to follow. W, SJ

SCREENINGS WILL BE HELD ON THURS., FEBRUARY 16TH AT 7PM IN THE BRIGHT FAMILY SCREENING ROOM. DOORS OPEN AT 6:30PM.

TICKETS ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED.