Title: Godard in America
Authors: Grove Press.; Grove Press Film Collection (Harvard Film Archive)
Year: 1970
Subjects: Godard, Jean-Luc,; Gorin, Jean-Pierre.; Political activists United States; College students; Independent filmmakers France.; Political socialization.; Motion picture producers and directors; Arab-Israeli conflict; Palestinian Arabs Politics and government; Political violence; Palestinian Arabs Government policy Israel; Propaganda; Social change United States; United States Social conditions
Abstract: In April of 1970, Ralph Thanhauser, filmed French director Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin, as they toured American universities screening See You at Mao, in order to raise money for a new film on the Palestinian Al Fatah movement. Due to America's ongoing involvement in the Vietnam war, the zeitgeist on American campuses at the time was supportive of groups that in today's political context would be described as terrorist organizations. Thanhauser's documentary captures the intellectual and revolutionary fervor of the time, as dozens of Gauloise cigarettes are consumed during discussions focusing on the rights of the Palestinians, the PLO, and Godard's ideas for the film he hopes to make in the coming months. A number of scenes take place in university auditoriums filled with American students eager to see the well known director of Breathless. Godard and Gorin were both members of The Dziga Vertov Group which was formed in 1968 by a number of politically active filmmakers. The collective was credited with having made nine films: 1968 Un Film comme les autres (A Film Like the Others) , 1969 British Sounds/See You At Mao, 1969 Pravda, 1969 Le Vent d'est (Wind from the East) , 1969 Luttes en Italie (Struggles in Italy), 1970 Jusqu'à la victoire (Until Victory/Palestine Will Win) , 1971 Vladimir et Rosa (Vladimir and Rosa), 1972 Tout va bien (Everything's Fine), 1972 Letter to Jane.