BRATTLEBORO — "Far Out: Life On & After the Commune," an 85-minute documentary that tells the story of two local communal farms, will run at the Latchis from Sept. 6 to Sept. 12, with a special premiere event and discussion with the filmmakers and commune residents on Sept.
7. In addition, there will be an art exhibit with work from members of the community at the Latchis Gallery that will open on Sept. 6.
In the summer of 1968, in the middle of a left-wing faction fight, a group of radical journalists from Liberation News Service (LNS) left New York City for the country. They founded two communes — at Packer Corners in Guilford, and in Montague, Mass. After leaving the city and turning away from national politics, the group of mostly young city slickers became pioneers in the back-to-the-land and organic farming movement.
With the help of their neighbors, they spent the first five years learning rudimentary agricultural skills as well as how to live and work with each other as a communal family. In 1973, when the local utility proposed a giant twin nuclear plant 4 miles from the Montague Farm, they became active opponents. In a dramatic act of civil disobedience, Sam Lovejoy, from the Montague Farm, toppled a 500-foot weather tower on the planned nuclear site.
He turned himself in, and after a trial where he represented himself and drew national attention, was acquitted. Subsequently, the group became leaders in the burgeoning anti-nuclear movement, from the battles over the Seabrook nuclear plant to Diablo Canyon in California. In 1979, they teamed up with Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash and other committed rock stars to produce five nights of sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden and a 250,000-person rally in New York City.
The Packer Corners farm also returned to politics, aiding in the anti-nuclear fight, but also by engaging with the local community through producing outdoor plays such as "A Midsummer Night’s Dream," "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Tempest." Blending contemporary interviews and a remarkable trove of original archival footage, "Far Out" is lively, humorous, inspiring and irreverent. The point of view is honest rather than nostalgic.
The film is vital, telling the history but hewing to the universal themes of how we grapple, over a lifetime, with politics, relationships, morality, spirituality, civic engagement and finding our home. The film traces 50 years in the lives of this group of New England writers, activists and artists. It conveys not only how these “hippies” transformed Vermont and western Massachusetts, but also how rural life and the people they met changed them.
The art exhibit will feature work by Stacy Morse, Harry Saxman, Mark Fenwick, Peter Gould, Sheila Adams, Evelyn McLean, Susan Mareneck, David Yaghjian, Tom Hoffman, Susan Bonthron, Kim Murton, Joan Peters, Ruby Rice, Nina Keller and others and will remain open until the end of September. The Sept. 6 Gallery opening will also feature some music and poetry by Patty Carpenter and Verandah Porche.
To buy tickets or more information, go to latchis.com/event/far-out-life-on-after-the-commune-sept-6-12 ..
