Between two rivers [videorecording] : [the struggle for civil rights in small-town America] / a Wurstundgritz production ; directed by Jacob Cartwright & Nick Jordan.

9781463117061
146311706X

[New York] : Wurstundgritz ; [distributed by] Filmakers Library, c2012.

English

1 videodisc (96 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences ; 4 3/4 in.

F549.C2 B489 2012

"Between Two Rivers shines a spotlight on Cairo, Illinois, a historic town with a dark and troubled past, located between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, where North meets South in America's heartland. The film offers a remarkable insight into a community struggling with severe economic, social, and environmental pressures. The city's tumultuous past serves as an undercurrent to the latest community crisis: the record-breaking floods of spring 2011, when the rising rivers threatened to destroy the town. With lyrical and striking contrasts between the past and present, the film explores the factors that have led to the city's rise and fall, from booming river trade and juke joints to mob lynchings and race riots which tore apart the community. Once renowned for its wealth and fine architecture, Cairo today has countless derelict homes, abandoned businesses, and empty lots, which nature is steadily reclaiming. Researched and filmed over a four-year period, the film combines original cinematography and candid interviews with archival footage, unseen for more than 40 years, capturing the town at the height of explosive racial tensions in the late 1960s. Between Two Rivers illustrates the long-term impact of the violent civil unrest, economic boycotts, curfews, and martial law that so deeply divided the community. From the vivid childhood recollections of a car salesman to the emotive music of a local soul guitarist, individuals share their feelings, insights, and experiences of life in Cairo, and their hopes for a better future. The residents' hope and resolve to keep their city alive is belied by a mix of nostalgia and fatalism, as Cairo's once-thriving downtown district is gradually demolished and the population steadily declines. At a time when national governments are reeling from the effects of a global financial crisis, Between Two Rivers reveals the stark effects of economic inequalities, environmental disasters, and social injustice, as experienced by the people of one beleaguered town caught between two mighty rivers."--Distributor's website.

Narration: Robert Streit.

Camera & editing, Jacob Cartwright & Nick Jordan ; original soundtrack, Kurt Tietz.

DVD.

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