The Washington Post reports that Eyes on the Prize, the award-winning documentary on the Civil Rights Movement may not be available for viewing by later generations, because of copyright issues with the footage used.
…a new generation of people who know little or nothing about what it took for black people to get this far in this country…may not be able to see the film.
…The film is hampered by the same problem many documentary filmmakers are encountering as they wrestle with buying and renewing licenses to use copyrighted archival footage, photos and music. Independent filmmakers must pay for each piece of copyrighted material, and those costs have escalated in the past 10 years.
…” ‘Eyes on the Prize’ is one of the most effective documentaries ever put together that dealt with civic engagement,” says civil rights leader Lawrence Guyot, who led the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and today is a program manager for the D.C. Department of Human Services. “This is analogous to stopping the circulation of all the books about Martin Luther King, stopping the circulation of all the books about Malcolm X, stopping the circulation of books about the founding of America.
“I would call upon everyone who has access to ‘Eyes on the Prize’ to openly violate any and all laws regarding its showing.” [ed. note: bolding added for emphasis]
Another story
The Globe and Mail covered this too.
Related to documentaries, Michael More said, for F 9/11, that he wouldn’t mind if people downloaded the film online.