Virginia Film Society Concludes Fall Schedule with Documentary on Iconic Photos From the New Deal Era
With Director Jeanine Butler, narrated by Julian Bond
In the 1930s and early ’40s, a group of New Deal-sponsored photographers traversed the country chronicling the lives of Americans — rich and poor, urban and rural, black and white — to create one of the most astonishing documentary portraits of America ever compiled.
These legendary still photographers, including Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Walker Evans, Marion Post Wolcott and Jack Delano, brought to life the New Deal programs of the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information under the direction of Roy Stryker who headed the organization during the Depression.
Now, a film, “Documenting the Face of America: Roy Stryker and the FSA/OWI Photographers,” brings their story to life. It will be screened Dec. 2 at Vinegar Hill Theatre at 7 p.m. The screening is the last in the fall schedule of the Virginia Film Society.
Documentary filmmaker Jeanine Butler, who has more than 15 years experience writing and producing documentary and educational films for PBS, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, National Science Foundation and The National Geographic Channel, directed the film and will lead a discussion after the screening.
Narrated by U.Va. history professor and civil rights leader Julian Bond, this documentary tells the remarkable stories behind the personal vision and the struggles experienced by the photographers who created some of the most iconic images in history.
