Movie Reviews

Robert Brent Toplin
Contributing Editor

Reel Report, 2000–2001

"Reel Report," introduced in the Journal of American History last year, identifies important activities related to film and history. The report discusses recent events and film-related projects that are currently in development. Individuals wishing to bring information to the attention of the author of "Reel Report" should contact Robert Brent Toplin at <Toplinrb@uncwil.edu>.	1
Programs dealing with film and history are becoming quite prominent in historians' professional meetings. There were a number of film sessions in the recent annual meetings of the American Historical Association (AHA) and the Organization of American Historians (OAH), for instance. The OAH convention, held in Los Angeles in 2001, gave particular emphasis to film because of the site of the conference. Also of interest was a special conference on "The Presidency in Film and TV," sponsored by the journal Film & History at the Reagan Presidential Library in California. Some two hundred speakers participated in the meetings, and a book will be published that relates to the proceedings, The American Presidency in Film and Television (2002). Information on the conference is available through <Rollinspc@aol.com>. Information on the journal Film & History can be found at <www.filmandhistory.org>.	2
The International Association for Media and History (IAMHIST) also held an important meeting that dealt with film. IAMHIST held its biennial convention in Leipzig, Germany, in July 2001; the theme was "Changing Identities in Film, Television, and New Media." IAMHIST's next meeting takes place in Leicester in 2003, and it will focus on visions of the future in film, television, and radio. Presentations will also give attention to new approaches to media that are likely to make a significant impact in the future. Information can be obtained at <www.iamhist.org>.	3
The OAH and the AHA have awarded prizes in the last year for films about American history. The OAH's most recent Erik Barnouw Award for an outstanding film dealing with American history went to Freedom Never Dies: The Legacy of Harry T. Moore. The producers were Sandra Dickson and Churchill Roberts. Freedom Never Dies is a production of the Documentary Institute at the College of Journalism and Communications of the University of Florida. The film deals with Harry T. Moore's work as the executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Florida. Moore's struggles for equal rights during the 1930s and 1940s presaged the activism of the 1960s. The committee noted that the film, "using re-creations, archival footage and documents, testimony from local participants, commentary by scholars, and evocative a cappella music . . . breaks out of the traditional 1954–1965 narrative and dramatically restores Moore to the forefront of the struggle against racial injustice." The American Historical Association's John E. O'Connor Award went to the producers of Coming to Light: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indians, a co-production of Anne Makepeace Productions, Inc., and WNET. Coming to Light deals with the photographic activities of Edward Curtis, who tried to capture the religious practices, beliefs, and customs of the American Indians. Curtis published twenty volumes on Native Americans from 1906 to 1930. The committee recommended the film "for its sensitivity to text and historical context, and its ability to make competing historiographical arguments interesting to a mass audience."	. . .