Taylor's Campaign is available to purchase for classroom use and community
education. It is a compelling story about people living on the streets of
Santa Monica, California, and a destitute ex-truck driver who runs for
city council. He speaks out against the criminalization of homelessness,
and for tolerance.
To learn more about Taylor's Campaign (and other documentary films on
involuntary psychiatric treatment, and police accountability) please keep
reading or visit my web site http://www.richardcohenfilms.com
"Few social problems have had so visible a place on the urban landscape in
the last decade as homelessness. "Taylor's Campaign" stands as the best
documentary on homelessness in this era. It is an impressive work at the
intersection of documentary film-making and social research, and
invaluable resource for teaching about homelessness and poverty. The class
discussions following the showing of this film are among the best
discussions I've ever had. If there is one "must" film on homelessness for
every sociology film library, "Taylor's Campaign" is it." --Leon
Anderson, Associate Professor of Sociology, Ohio University
Co-author of DOWN ON THEIR LUCK (UC Press)
Please post this message and share the information with friends and
associates. Additional comments & purchase information follow.
Best,
Richard Cohen
film director & distributor
[log in to unmask]
* "Excellent documentary" Kevin Thomas, The Los Angeles Times
* "Lively, compassionate... illuminating" David Sterritt, Christian
Science Monitor
* "Quiet, heartfelt...about civilized society's attempt to criminalize
homelessness to the point
where the people on the streets are no longer human beings."
Joe Baltake,
The Sacramento Bee
* "The Grapes of Wrath for today, a stirring uphill fight for justice."
Terry Messman, Street
Spirit (Berkeley, CA)
Purchase information (Lease for the life of the tape.)
$39 public library, home video
$99 academic library, schools
plus $5 shipping/handling, tax for purchases delivered in CA
Send your check or money order to
Richard Cohen Films, Post Office Box 1012, Venice, CA 90291
A tape will be mailed to you immediately.
Review from Library Journal ( June 15, 1999)
Richard Cohen's fascinating film, narrated by Martin Sheen, stands out
among documentaries on homelessness. Ron Taylor, a destitute former truck
driver living on the streets of posh Santa Monica, CA, runs for city
council in hopes of changing increasingly punitive city ordinances against
people living in parks and vacant lots. Taylor and the people he knows are
portrayed with dignity and compassion; lengthy interviews with the
homeless show articulate, thoughtful people who are down on their luck --
but Cohen pulls no punches by also including the mentally ill, the
alcoholic, and the goofily irresponsible. footage of arrogant city
council members and ignorant, insensitive residents and tourists presents
a foil to interview clips of a former city council attorney who resigned
because he would not collaborate in creating what he perceived to be
unconstitutional invasions of the rights of the homeless. Because of its
examination of the rights of all individuals, this film is highly
recommended for all collections.
-- Kellie Flynn, Cook Memorial P.L., Libertyville, IL
Other comments:
"Taylor’s Campaign challenges belief systems... gives voice to the
voiceless, to those whose basic rights have been stripped. This
documentary accurately represents the crisis of homelessness."
-Kym Meyer, Executive Director
National Association of Social Workers, Utah Chapter
"An excellent job at portraying the nature of community among homeless
people living on the street, and how vital these social ties are when
people are faced with such extremely adverse conditions. Excellent
documentary!"
--Jennifer Wolch, co-author "Malign Neglect"
Prof. of Geography, Univ. of Southern California
"Extremely compelling. This film illustrates several dimensions of
homelessness in contemporary U.S. cities ...a wonderful resource for
researchers, undergraduate and graduate programs in anthropology,
sociology, social work, urban planning, public policy and urban studies."
--Lois M. Takahashi,Prof. Urban and Regional Planning UC Irvine,
author Homelessness, Aids and Stigmatization
Taylor's Campaign is a production of Raindog Films in association with
Film Arts Foundation. Directed and edited by Richard Cohen, Produced by
Amy Ziering Kofman & Richard Cohen
Distributed by Richard Cohen Films. (310) 395-3549 [log in to unmask]
http://www.richardcohenfilms.com
ALSO, 2 CLASSIC DOCUMENTARY FILMS ON ISSUES CRITICAL TODAY
HURRY TOMORROW 78 minutes black and white
A film by Richard Cohen and Kevin Rafferty, 1975
Hurry Tomorrow is a compelling verite documentary investigating the loss
of human rights suffered by psychiatric patients in a state institution.
Filmed over a six-week period in a locked ward at Metropolitan State
Hospital in Los Angeles, Hurry Tomorrow shows patients being tied down
with straps and cuffs, forcibly medicated with powerful tranquilizers,
reducing them to helpless, zombie-like states. The film illustrates how
individuals struggle to maintain their dignity in a dehumanized
environment.
An effort to ban Hurry Tomorrow by hospital staff led instead to a major
investigation into conditions at California’s state hospitals, and the
tragic deaths of several hundred patients.
Hurry Tomorrow has become a landmark documentary. It continues to
astonish and move audiences today.
"Hurry Tomorrow is the most important film on hospital life to emerge in
the last ten years and goes way beyond "Titicut Follies" or "One Flew Over
the Cuckoo’s Nest" in its indictment of mental hospital conditions. It
is beautifully made and at times almost brings one to tears."
Alan Rosenthal, The Documentary Conscience (UC Press)
"This ever timely, remarkable film provides a rare look into the workings
of the mental health care system. Educators and students in a wide
range of disciplines can make a personal connection with the film’s
insights into the harsh realities of treatment of mental health
patients, staff attitudes, and issues of patients’ rights."
Jean La Cour, Professor of Psychology and Ethics
California State University, Los Angeles
DEADLY FORCE 60 minutes, black and white
A film by Richard Cohen, 1980
At dawn on August 4, 1977, Sgt. Kurt Barz of the Los Angeles Police
Department stopped his car to investigate Ron Burkholder, a naked unarmed
man on a Los Angeles street corner. Within two minutes, Burkholder lay
dead, shot six times.
The use of deadly force is a recurring and divisive issue in communities
across the nation. This powerful and provocative documentary examines
police accountability for civilian fatalities by zeroing in on a case that
rocked city hall, stirred national press and resulted in the re-writing of
gun policy for LAPD officers.
Deadly Force follows the Burkholder killing through a coroner’s inquest
and investigation by the district attorney’s office. It provides telling
insights into the conflicting views of police officials who defend the use
of deadly force in dangerous situations and Burkholder’s
friends and relatives who charge authorities with engineering a cover-up.
"Deadly Force is a gripping and persuasive investigation. Really, it is a
troubling, thoughtful inquiry into the wider subject of police brutality
and the whole relationship between society and its custodians of order.
…chilling."
Tom Shales, The Washington Post
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