Film and Photo League Program

The Film and Photo League was begun in New York in 1930 by a dedicated group of leftist and left-liberal photographers, filmmakers, and critics (including Leo Hurwitz). Branches opened in other cities as the Depression lengthened, with participants documenting the breadlines and Hoovervilles, hunger and unemployment marches, restless protests and labor disputes. Their films were shown directly to workers' groups, in union halls or strike headquarters, or even outdoors at night. Workers often knew little of similar struggles occurring around the country or abroad, nor of the widespread results of economic crisis and class conflicts. The Film and Photo League films thus became solidifying agents in political education, aiming to inform, to build morale, to agitate. These programs present a selection of the League's films.
WORKERS Newsreel Unemployment Special 1931 (1931, 7 minutes, 16mm)
DETROIT Workers News Special 1932: Ford Massacre (1932, 7 minutes, 16mm)
HUNGER: The National Hunger March To Washington 1932 (1932, 18 minutes, 16mm. Photographed by Leo Hurwitz and others.)
THE National Hunger March 1931 (1931, 11 minutes, 16mm)
AMERICA Today And The World In Review (1932-34, 11 minutes, 16mm)
BONUS March 1932 (1932, 12 minutes, 16mm)
Total running time: ca. 70 minutes.
Click here for the full listings in the seriesLEO Hurwitz And The New York School Of Documentary Film