{"id":11243,"date":"2026-05-12T11:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unarchivefest.it\/?post_type=portfolio&p=11243"},"modified":"2026-05-12T11:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:34:07","slug":"untitled-bicentennial-film","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/unarchivefest.it\/en\/eventi\/untitled-bicentennial-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Untitled Bicentennial Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_empty_space empty_h=”3″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”0″ bottom_padding=”2″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ uncode_shortcode_id=”866162″][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ gutter_size=”0″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ width=”2\/3″ uncode_shortcode_id=”162486″][vc_single_image media=”11247″ media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”163424″][vc_empty_space empty_h=”2″][vc_separator sep_color=”color-855811″ uncode_shortcode_id=”111419″ sep_color_type=”uncode-palette” el_height=”10″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”146642″]USA\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator sep_color=”color-855811″ uncode_shortcode_id=”111419″ sep_color_type=”uncode-palette” el_height=”10″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”165271″]Sierra Pettengill\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator sep_color=”color-855811″ uncode_shortcode_id=”111419″ sep_color_type=”uncode-palette” el_height=”10″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”206122″]In development<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator sep_color=”color-855811″ uncode_shortcode_id=”111419″ sep_color_type=”uncode-palette” el_height=”10″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”726519″]Cinetic Media<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator sep_color=”color-855811″ uncode_shortcode_id=”111419″ sep_color_type=”uncode-palette” el_height=”10″][\/vc_column][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ gutter_size=”1″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ width=”1\/3″ uncode_shortcode_id=”207555″][vc_custom_heading uncode_shortcode_id=”112258″]<\/p>\n

Project Amplifier<\/strong><\/h6>\n

[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_custom_heading auto_text=”yes” text_color=”color-855811″ uncode_shortcode_id=”119310″ text_color_type=”uncode-palette”][\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”126677″]BOTANICAL GARDEN
\nAranciera – May 27 9:30 a.m.
\nENG<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”615163″]In the mid-1970s — amidst the disastrous end to the Vietnam War, the political crimes of Watergate, the disillusionment of the idealism of the 1960s, and a disintegrating industrial economy — America confronted the past.
\n<\/span>It was well past\u00a0 time to reckon with imperialism and inequality. But, as historian Rick Perlstein notes, the US \u201cis a nation that has ever so adored its own innocence, and so dearly wishes to see itself as an exception to history.\u201d So rather than face the darkness, the US instead turned towards hysterical spectacle. There were tall ships in NYC, parades, fireworks, television specials, and endless sponcon memorabilia and commercial grift. There were also anti-corporate protests, right-wing evangelical Christian fear mongering, and ultimately, when the dust had settled, a Congressional Investigation into purported attempts to \u201csteal the Bicentennial.\u201d
\n<\/span>Told through a dizzying array of archival footage and objects that reflect the shifting POV of the film, from propaganda to resistance, the film is an archival excavation of the dark pageantry of America\u2019s 200th birthday party and a portrait of the libidinal economy of the United States\u2014the desires, drives, and delusions that define a society.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator sep_color=”color-855811″ uncode_shortcode_id=”160454″ sep_color_type=”uncode-palette” el_height=”10″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”170482″]Archives<\/strong>: <\/span>TThe archival footage will be drawn from a wide range of archives, both public and private, carefully edited to reflect the shifting POV\u00a0 of the film, from propaganda to resistance. Every state – and most cities – in the United States held Bicentennial celebrations, and the\u00a0 film will use footage from state and university archives across the country, as well as the National Archives and the Richard Nixon\u00a0 Library.\u00a0 One key character is activist Jeremy Rifkin, who, with his People\u2019s Bicentennial Commission, rejected the official festivities as a\u00a0 corporate spectacle and called for a reckoning with economic inequality and unchecked corporate power. The archives of Rifkin\u2019s\u00a0 organization are held partially at the University of Michigan Libraries and partially by private individuals. Shell Oil is another\u00a0 \u201ccharacter,\u201d sponsoring the nightly Bicentennial Minute<\/i> on CBS, 60-second vignettes that epitomized the era\u2019s contradictions: an oil\u00a0 corporation using patriotism as marketing while American society was gripped by stagflation and unprecedented gas prices. This\u00a0 \u201cspon-con\u201d will largely be fair-used due to the new status of CBS News and the limitations placed on access to their archives. The\u00a0 archives for other threads of the film – Richard Pryor records a blistering comedy album confronting America\u2019s racism juxtaposed to\u00a0 the celebration\u2019s official platitudes; evangelical preacher Jerry Falwell, <\/span>facing financial troubles, sells \u201cBicentennial Bibles\u201d while\u00a0 railing against secular drift – will be pulled from Richard Pryor Collection at Yale University and the Liberty University archives,\u00a0 respectively.\u00a0 The film layers in its own take on <\/span>Bicentennial Minute<\/span><\/i>\u2014archival snapshots capturing the strange texture and unease of 1976. A New\u00a0 Jersey man\u2019s voyage across the Atlantic in a hot air balloon called The Spirit of \u201976 ends with shark attacks and a Soviet rescue.\u00a0 Baltimore\u2019s 35-ton birthday cake collapses into farce when a thunderstorm washes it away and rats swarm the ruins. These will be\u00a0 pulled from the archives of local news networks, including collections held at universities like the Texas Archive of the Moving Image\u00a0 at UT Austin, and the Wolfson Archives at Miami Dade College.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator sep_color=”color-855811″ uncode_shortcode_id=”641202″ sep_color_type=”uncode-palette” el_height=”10″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image media=”11238″ media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”157347″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”134164″]Sierra Pettengill<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sierra Pettengill is a filmmaker from Brooklyn whose heavily archival-focused work focuses on the warped narratives of American history. Her films have screened at MoMA, Lincoln Center, Sundance and Locarno Film Festivals, on the Criterion Channel, and in festivals and venues around the world. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and a board member of cinema nonprofit Screen Slate. Her most recent film was Riotsville<\/em> USA<\/em>, nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. She is in post-production on Argonauts at the End of History.<\/em><\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”1″ bottom_padding=”1″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ uncode_shortcode_id=”183712″][vc_column width=”1\/1″][uncode_share layout=”multiple” bigger=”yes” separator=”yes” css_animation=”bottom-t-top” title=”share”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

USA \/ Sierra Pettengill \/ In development \/ Cinetic Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11247,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"portfolio_category":[102],"class_list":["post-11243","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_category-project-amplifier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unarchivefest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/11243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unarchivefest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unarchivefest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unarchivefest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unarchivefest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11243"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unarchivefest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/11243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11285,"href":"https:\/\/unarchivefest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/11243\/revisions\/11285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unarchivefest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unarchivefest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"portfolio_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unarchivefest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_category?post=11243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}