*Presented by Nora Guthrie

In this program, Nora Guthrie discusses the artistic implications of Woody's relationship with his Jewish mother in law, Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt. The program includes a presentation of photographs, music excerpts (from the Klezmatics 2 disc project Wonder Wheel and Happy Joyous Hanukkah), writings, and artwork that illuminate their personal and creative relationship.

Time: 1½ hours followed by Q&A

*Presented by Anna Canoni

Who better to introduce Woody Guthrie's life and legacy to our youngest citizens than Woody's own granddaughter, Anna Guthrie Canoni! Especially designed for elementary grade school students, Anna introduces Woody to the next generation. Working with family photographs, Woody's art and children's songs, and personal anecdotes, Anna brings Woody's story to life for young children. Anna works with small groups of students for 30-40 minute gatherings. Teachers are invited to view our online Teacher's Curriculum as preparation for this program.

Time: 30-45 minutes

Inspired by a Woody Guthrie Song – A Story of Greed and the Ruin It Brought to an American Town.

1913 Massacre follows singer/songwriter Arlo Guthrie to the town of Calumet, a once-thriving mining town on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula still haunted by the tragic events that inspired Woody Guthrie’s ballad, ’1913 Massacre.’

On December 24, 1913, the striking copper miners of Calumet were gathered with their wives and children for a holiday party at the Italian Hall. After the festivities had begun, someone — to this day, no one knows who — yelled Fire!

Despite efforts to keep the Hall under control, panic took hold of the crowd. The miners, their wives and children made a mad rush for the stairs. In the ensuing chaos, seventy-four people were crushed and suffocated to death on the stairway. Fifty-nine of the dead were children. There was no fire.

In the version of events that found its way into Woody Guthrie’s song, the “copper-boss thug-men” had plotted to yell Fire! and were holding the door of Italian Hall shut, so that the miners and their families could not escape.

The town itself is still divided over exactly what happened. And no one can explain why they tore down the Italian Hall in 1984.

1913 Massacre captures the last living witnesses of the 1913 tragedy and reconstructs Calumet’s past from individual memories, family legends and songs, tracing the legacy of the tragedy to the present day, when the town –out of work, out of money, out of luck — still struggles to come to terms with this painful episode from its past.

Time: 65 min.
For Screening Permissions contact: Producers@1913Massacre.com

Narrated by Billy Bragg, this film includes the definitive history of the life & times of Woody Guthrie, with historical and rare documentary photos and footage, excerpts from over 40 Guthrie compositions and contemporary interviews with friends, family and musicians, including his son Arlo, his daughter Nora, his sister Mary Jo, close friends Pete Seeger and Jimmy Longhi, manager Harold Leventhal, biographer Ed Cray, and Guthrie scholars such as Guy Logsdon, Loralee Cooley, Henrietta Yurchenco, Phil Buehler and Jorge Arevalo.

Time: 160 min.

For Screening Permissions contact: Snapper Music
Johnny Wilks
E: johnny@snappermusic.co.uk
T: UK + 44-20-7563-5500

Woody Guthrie's recorded output represents a mere 10% of the songs he wrote. The rest he carried with him on his travels; words he scribbled down in numerous notebooks and tunes humming in his head. When he died in 1967, those tunes were lost forever. Thirty years later his daughter, Nora, went looking for somebody to write new music for these "lost" lyrics. She found Billy Bragg. Man in the Sand is the story of how together they brought Woody's words back to life and created the acclaimed album Mermaid Avenue. Union Productions – filmed in 1999

“Beautiful to listen to and beautiful to look at.” Time Out

This incredible collection of artists and songs features powerful new versions of Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly's most important and influential music. In interviews and performances musicians of today pay tribute to these two legendary folk heroes through classic songs such as, Deportee, Goodnight Irene, Union Maid, Vigilante Man, and others. Performances by John Cougar Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, U2, and Bob Dylan, to name a few.

Sony Music EntertainmenT

Time: 72 min.

For Screening Permissions contact: Jim Brown Productions
T: (212) 505-0138
E: JimBrownProductions@gmail.com

Starring: Arlo Guthrie Woody Guthrie wrote and sang more than 1,000 songs that charged a unique mixture of blues and country music with a social consciousness that cam straight from the heart. His distinguished career inspired Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, and a host of other folk luminaries who pay tribute to him here. This revealing program traces Guthrie's life through the eyes of his son Arlo Guthrie. Woodrow Wilson Guthrie's life was truly Hard Travelin', but he lived it to the fullest and his songs remain a gift to the world.

MGM / UA
Time: 74 min.

For Screening Permissions contact: Mermaid Media
16 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010
E: gngrbrwn@gmail.com

ROLL ON COLUMBIA
Documentary
Directors: Michael Majdic & Denise Matthews / 2000

In early May of 1941, an unemployed Woody Guthrie and his wife, Mary, packed their three children into a battered Pontiac and left southern California for Portland, Oregon. All he had waiting for him in the Northwest was the vague possibility of writing songs for a documentary film about the dams being built on the Columbia River.

When Guthrie arrived with his guitar and family, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) took pity and gave him a thirty-day contract as a temporary employee, paid at the rate of $266.66 per month. Guthrie was expected to write a song a day--which he nearly did, producing 26 songs in 30 days, including American folk classics Roll on Columbia, Jackhammer Blues, Pastures of Plenty, and Grand Coulee Dam.

University of Oregon
Time: 56 min.

For Screening Permissions contact: Michael Majdic
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon 97403-1299
E: majdic@uoregon.edu
T: (541) 346-1945

BOUND FOR GLORY
Feature Film
Director: Hal Ashby / 1976
Starring: David Carradine & Ronny Cox

Winner of 2 Academy Awards, Woody's story of his book set against the Great Depression. Academy Award nomination for best film. Rated by movie critics as "4 Stars."

Academy Award - Cinematography, Original Song Score and/or Adaptation
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award - Cinematography
National Board of Review Award - Actor: David Carradine
National Society of Film Critics Award - Cinematography MGM UA

Time: 149 min.

For Screening Permissions contact: Latanya Taylor
T: (310) 449-3348

*We are currently working on a new exhibit. Check back soon!