1971 Wins IDA Documentary Award
1971 wins ABCNews VideoSource Award for archival footage at the 30th annual Independent Documentary Association Awards held at the Paramount Theatre on December 5th 2014. Click here to read full list of winners.
Herald Sun: ‘1971’ is a piece of history and a thriller
by Cliff Bellamy In 1971, long hair and other outward signs of the political spirit of the 1960s had become mainstream. Opposition to the Vietnam War remained strong, and that year, a group of eight citizens living in and around Philadelphia who were anti-war activists staged a well-planned break-in of an FBI field office Read More
Indiewire: Michael Moore Wants The World To Watch ‘1971’ Today
Indiewire August 1, 2014 Academy Award-winning documentarian Michael Moore is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Traverse City Film Festival today with a worldwide screening of one of his favorite documentaries of the year, Johanna Hamilton’s “1971.” In July, Moore enlisted the help of his Facebook friends and Twitter followers to find venues around the Read More
Wisconsin Public Radio: An FBI break-in that rocked the nation
We head back in time now, to the evening of March 8th, 1971. The night 8 young Vietnam war protestors broke into their local FBI office – in Media, PA – and stole top-secret documents that would rock the nation. Guest(s): Bonnie and John Raines Click here to listen to the segment >>
Variety: Film Review
A well-constructed, vividly detailed account of the FBI break-in that exposed the agency’s shocking illegal practices to the public. Joanna Hamilton’s well-constructed documentary “1971” showcases ordinary people who broke into a local FBI office, stole all the files and published them, thereby revealing to the unsuspecting American public the shocking illegal practices of J. Edgar Read More
Washingtonian
On March 8, 1971, a group of eight political activists broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, and removed every file from the room. The documents contained evidence of the federal government’s secret efforts to spy on its own people—a revelation that, when it became public, led to the first-ever Congressional investigation into an Read More
The Credits: 2014 Tribeca Film Festival at a Glance
“Calling themselves ‘The Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI,’ this group of “ordinary Americans” broke into the FBI office on March 8 while the rest of the country was watching the ‘Fight of the Century’ between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. What they discovered would effect the way the country understood government surveillance forever—at the Read More
Forbes: Film About 1971 FBI Break-in Traces Path To Snowden And Wikileaks
“Reaction to the film at Tribeca has been effusive, both from audiences and critics. At the first screening…the thunderous ovations for the…subjects of the film were extraordinary.” Click here to read the full article >>
PopMatters
Deftly tracing the skullduggery of the mission and the Committee member’s need to keep quiet about it afterward, as well as the impact of the find itself, 1971 crafts a thrilling lesson about how authoritarianism can be curbed, sometimes, by one simple and well-targeted blow. To that last point, the film also underlines the importance Read More
Hollywood Reporter: 1971 Tribeca Review
“They stayed anonymous longer than Deep Throat: eight activists who broke into a Pennsylvania FBI office in 1971 and stole records proving the government was actively targeting groups that disagreed with U.S. policies — including some, like Women’s Liberation groups, whose activities weren’t remotely threatening to break the law. Building on research in a new Read More