New Film “Making the Impossible Possible” Available from Third World Newsreel for Screenings
Third World Newsreel is pleased to announce the release of the new documentary film MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE: THE STORY OF PUERTO RICAN STUDIES IN BROOKLYN COLLEGE. Directed by filmmakers Tami Gold and Pam Sporn, this short documentary features veteran activists who were part of the national movement to change higher education and create Ethnic Studies departments in the late 1960s.
Upcoming virtual screenings and talks with the filmmakers include:
New York Women in Film and Television Virtual Screening
Film: Thursday, January 14, 3 PM - Tuesday, January 19, 5 PM
Talk: Tuesday, January 19, 2021, 5 PM EST
RSVP: www.nywift.org/events/#event=51bdf3e91bb0e66f89cfca08a3650706
Radiating Black~Puerto Rican~Feminist Studies from the City University of New York to the Americas and the Caribbean
Film and Talk: January 20, 2021, 6 PM EST
RSVP:
www.eventbrite.com/e/radiating-cuny-blackpuerto-ricanfeminist-studies-to-americas-caribbean-tickets-127609159431
Educational institutions, independent theaters, and community organizations may book virtual screenings by contacting twn@tw.org.
About the Film
This is the story of the student-led struggle to win Puerto Rican Studies at Brooklyn College, CUNY, in the late 1960s. A mosaic of voices, film footage, and photographs taken by student activists, this important intergenerational story highlights how students and faculty seized the moment to build upon an alliance of Puerto Rican, African American, and other progressive students forged in their communities. Together they changed the face of higher education, transforming the curriculum and expanding who gets educated. The film shows the history of the struggle that started with the founding of one of the first Puerto Rican Studies departments, and documents the continued movement to maintain their gains.
Making the Impossible Possible, a production of the Alliance for Puerto Rican Education and Empowerment (APREE), was produced by Gisely Colón López, Tami Gold and Pam Sporn, edited by Sonia Gonzalez-Martinez and Pam Sporn and featuring music by Arturo O’Farrill, Oscar Hernández and BombaYo.
Reviews
“This film illustrates how Brooklyn College students built unity and connected to the Puerto Rican community. This film hit at the heart of why we need ethnic studies and they — these young PR pioneers — were at the helm in the 1960’s. Palante!”— Blanca Vazquez, Hunter College Adjunct Professor, PSC CUNY Executive BD
“What a fabulous film! I was blown away, uplifted, taken back to the amazing spirit of those times and encouraged by how learning about it can fire up the young movements of today.”— Rosalind P. Petchesky, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Hunter College
“Fantastic film! An essential documentary revealing a rarely examined set of events in New York City’s history that has needed to be told for decades. The story of the formation of the Puerto Rican Studies Department at Brooklyn College became the model for similar critical curricula adopted by many Universities and Colleges around the U.S., some of which remain in place today because of the activists and scholars captured in this film.”— Michelle Materre, Founder and Director, Creatively Speaking
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Third World Newsreel is a non-profit progressive media center that nurtures and facilitates media by and about people of color and social justice issues through distribution, production, exhibition and training. Visit twn.org
The Mission of the Alliance for Puerto Rican Education and Empowerment (APREE) is to advocate for social transformation through programs focused on education and the advancement of the Puerto Rican community. Visit apree.org
