The Back Row Film Series continues with a screening of Documenting the Face of America on Thursday, Aug. 2. Presented by the Arts & Education Council (AEC) and Hunter Museum of American Art, the film event also features remarks by the filmmaker Jeanine Butler.
Documenting the Face of America celebrates the courage and vision of a small group of legendary photographers and artists such as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Gordon Parks, Marion Post Wolcott, Russell Lee and others who worked with the U.S. government during the Great Depression under the unorthodox leadership of Roy Stryker from 1935 - 1943. Together they helped change the course of documentary photography, and introduced Americans to America.
With an eye for detail and moments of truth, the photographers were given unprecedented freedom to travel and photograph American life from coast to coast. Their resulting achievement �now considered a national treasure -- includes over 270,000 images archived at the Library of Congress.
The one-hour documentary features on-camera interviews with the surviving photographers and their colleagues, as well as candid commentary by respected historians and photo curators who spotlight the stories that emerge from the rich archive of shooting scripts, letters and diaries from the photographers.
The film program will take place at the Hunter Museum of American Art on Thursday, Aug. 2. Cash bar opens at 5:30 p.m., and the film program begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10 for the general public, and $5 for members of the AEC and Hunter, or with an AEC Film Club Card. Tickets will be available at the door, but seating is limited. Call 267-0968 to purchase tickets in advance.
