Let the Fire Burn: FAMS Visiting Filmmakers Series JCC 3/19 at 7:30pm

Wednesday, March 19, 2014 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM EDT
Johnson Center, Cinema

In the extraordinary Let the Fire Burn, director Jason Osder has crafted that rarest of cinematic objects: a found-footage film that unfurls with the tension of a great thriller. On May 13, 1985, a longtime feud between the city of Philadelphia and controversial radical urban group MOVE came to a deadly climax. By order of local authorities, police dropped military-grade explosives onto a MOVE-occupied rowhouse. TV cameras captured the conflagration that quickly escalated -- and resulted in the tragic deaths of eleven people (including five children) and the destruction of 61 homes. It was only later discovered that authorities decided to “...let the fire burn.” Using only archival news coverage and interviews, first-time filmmaker Osder has brought to life one of the most tumultuous and largely forgotten clashes between government and citizens in modern American history.

GMU FAMS Visiting Filmmakers Series: Let the Fire Burn and Jason Osder at GMU is co-sponsored by African & African American Studies, Communication, Criminology, Law, & Society, Cultural Studies, English, Film & Video Studies, History & Art History, the Honors College, Office of Diversity, Inclusion, & Multicultural Education, University Life, and Women & Gender Studies.