“The Reagans Speak Out on Drugs” and Birth of a Nation
Saturday, October 10, 2026 · 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM EDT
Winifred Moore Auditorium · Webster, NY
About this event
(Jonas Mekas, 1997, USA, 85 minutes) Screening in 16mm! No, not THAT Birth of a Nation, don’t worry. Jonas Mekas’ Birth of a Nation’s nation in question is that of the western world’s greatest avant-garde and independent filmmakers, as well as our best film activists and film thinkers. With 160 total portraits from between 1955 and 1996, viewers will spot titans like Chantal Akerman, Jacques Tati, Shirley Clarke, Morris Engel, Peter Bogdanovich, Roberto Rossellini, Fred Halsted, or Henri Langlois; experimental filmmakers such as Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, Andy Warhol, Ken and Flo Jacobs, Stan and Jane Brakhage, Bruce Baillie, and Carolee Schneemann; recently-departed legends such as Anna Karina and Rosa von Praunheim; great film critics/scholars Amy Taubin and Donald Richie; less-great figures like Leni Riefenstahl or Bosley Crowther; and many more. Showing with “The Reagans Speak Out on Drugs” (Cliff Roth, 1988, USA, 7 minutes) "The Reagans Speak Out on Drugs" began as audio professor Roth assigned his students to re-edit the 1986 Ronald and Nancy Reagan "Just Say No" speech to make it sound like the Reagans were pro-drugs. Turned out that one of the students in the class worked at the local ABC news affiliate and could get his hands on a pristine 16mm print of the original Reagans speech, and the rest is editing history—Roth went on to work on this project for two years, getting it as good as he could possibly make it. Both films screening from 16mm prints courtesy of The Film-Makers’ Cooperative.
Event details
- Date and time
- Saturday, October 10, 2026 · 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM EDT
- Venue
- Winifred Moore Auditorium · Webster, NY
- Category
- Arts & culture
- Cost
- Cost not stated
- Age guidance
- Age guidance not specified
- Format
- In person
- Last verified
- October 1, 2026
Accessibility
Wheelchair: Not stated
Assistive Listening: Not stated
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