California Newsreel, was founded in 1968 as the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

branch of the national film making collective

Newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, inform ...

. It is an American

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

film distribution and production company still based in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Their educational media resources include both documentary and

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

s, with a focus on the advancement of racial justice and diversity, and the study of

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

life and history, as well as African culture and politics. In 2006, Newsreel launched a new thematic focus for their work:

Globalization Globalization, or globalisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is the process of foreign relation ...

, with an emphasis on the global economy and the international division of labor. Several of California Newsreel's films have been broadcast on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. California Newsreel has produced a small number of films related to racial and economic justice, including ''Race: The Power of an Illusion'' (2003), and ''UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?'' (2008) a new video series ''The Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation'' is scheduled for release in 2015.

Film and video collections

The Library of African Cinema: Films from Africa made by Africans, offering restorative images and a new film language. Several of the newest releases touch upon issues such as war,

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

and the AIDS pandemic. African American Perspectives: The video resources in this collection provide historical, cultural, political and sociological chronicles about the people and events that have shaped America from

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

to present day. This collection aims to provide a context for understanding current issues of

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

and

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

. Globalization: These films examine the impact of

neo-liberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

economic policies on

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

, trade, health, culture and the environment. Their

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is the process of foreign relation ...

videos are intended to serve as analytical educational tools, offering alternative views to mainstream coverage of global economic issues. Health and Social Justice: Starting with the cornerstone release of ''UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?'' (2008) which attempts to frame the conversation around social determinants of health, this video collection looks at the ways socioeconomic and racial inequities effect health outcomes in the United States and abroad.

References

External links

California Newsreel official siteThe Library of African Cinema collectionAfrican American Perspectives collectionGlobalization collectionHealth and Social Justice collectionThe Unnatural Causes websiteThe Raising of America websiteThe Original PBS RACE - The Power of an Illusion websiteThe new RACE - The Power of an Illusion companion website
{{Authority control Film organizations in the United States Film archives in the United States Mass media companies established in 1968 Non-profit organizations based in San Francisco Cinema of the San Francisco Bay Area Counterculture of the 1960s

Film and video collections

See also

References

External links