Nicholas Gardiner Macdonald (born October 22, 1944) is an American author and filmmaker (as Nick Macdonald) who made several independent films during the 1970s, including ''Break Out!'' (1971) and ''The Liberal War'' (1974). His book ''In Search of «La Grande Illusion»: a Critical Appreciation of Jean Renoir's Elusive Masterpiece'' was published in November 2013. Macdonald's anti-

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

film, ''The Liberal War,'' is set in a utopian, anarchist future, looking back critically on the

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

administration's prosecution of the war in Vietnam. Contrary to the belief held by many that JFK intended to decrease American military involvement in Southeast Asia at the time of his assassination, ''The Liberal War'' argues that he had every intention of continuing his expansion of the conflict in Vietnam. ''The Liberal War'' was acquired for the Study Collection of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

(MoMA) in 1976. His films have been shown in New York City at Film Forum, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music and many independent forums and universities. In 2016, the first major retrospective of Macdonald's films outside of New York was held at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, sponsored by

South Side Projections South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

(which originated the screening) and the

Chicago Underground Film Festival Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF), founded in 1993, is the longest running underground film festival in the world. It's an internationally recognized program providing a venue for documentary, experimental and avant-garde narrative film and ...

. The same program showed at UnionDocs in New York in April 2017. Macdonald lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, and is the son of American writer and critic

Dwight Macdonald Dwight Macdonald (March 24, 1906 – December 19, 1982) was an American writer, editor, film critic, social critic, literary critic, philosopher, and activist. Macdonald was a member of the New York Intellectuals and editor of their leftist maga ...

References

American non-fiction writers Living people People from Brooklyn American documentary filmmakers American male screenwriters 1944 births American male non-fiction writers Screenwriters from New York (state) {{US-film-bio-stub