‘A document of America’s struggle for liberty in recent years’, Frontier Film’s magnum-opus, and swansong, was a five years in the making culmination of their ideas and experiments in 30s social documentary. Mixing extensive scripted dramatic construction with actuality in an ambitious formal melange that remains a touchstone in the history of hybrid filmmaking, Native Land transforms an exposé of union-busting by ‘fascist corporations’ into a patriotic reclamation of the ‘freedom’ integral to American identity as belonging to the ideals of organised labour and the Left. Narrated by Paul Robeson.
35mm preservation print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive
Introduction by Tom Hurwitz on October 26th
