Fri 5/1 @ 7PM
Documentary filmmaker Daniel Miller was a student at Kent State University from 1968 to 1970, a period of ferment and change as the civil rights and anti-war movements became more aggressive and uncompromising. And within an 11-day period in the spring of 1970, things came to a head as student protestors were killed on two campuses: Jackson State University in Mississippi — and Kent State.
It isn’t surprising then that Miller felt compelled to make the film Fire in the Heartland: Kent State, May 4th and Student Protest in America. May 4th was the date four students were killed by the National Guard at KSU, and every year, the city and the university remember. This year’s commemoration will include a screening of Miller’s film, taking place at the Kent Stage.
“This student protest in America did not arise from nowhere,” says Miller, explaining the background of his film. “It represented an active voice of protest against the terrible and continuing violence against African Americans and the perpetration of one of the most corrupt, violent and terrible wars in U.S. history against the Vietnamese people.”
Fire in the Heartland goes beyond the usual depiction of white, middle-class, mostly male students protesting the Vietnam War to delve into how civil rights activists in Kent had been changing policies of segregation in that city for the prior decade and how that found confluence with the anti-war movement.
“I hope this film tells a story that enlightens people just a little bit about the days of the ’60s that are hidden or not well known, that were real and not perfect, but that in the end, were celebratory and risky and maybe even, a little bit righteous in doing so,” says Miller.
The screening is coupled with a performance by Half Cleveland, a band that features two legendary members of the Akron music scene Harvey Gold and Chris Butler of Tin Huey. Butler was also a student at Kent State at the time of the May 4 shootings. His album Easy Life, released last year, reflects on his time there. There’s a musical connection in Miller’s film too. One of the people featured is Devo’s Gerald Casale, who reveals how the events surrounding May 4 influenced the formation and music of Devo.
Admission is $10; students with I.D. are $5.
For information on other events remembering the Kent State shootings, go to the May 4 Visitors Center page at the KSU website.
thekentstage.com/fire-in-heartland-film-half-cleveland/
Kent, OH 44240
One Response to “Kent State May 4 Commemorated @KentStage With Film and Band”
CHRIS BUTLER
Anastasia!! thanks for this. i hope my Cleveland pals come on down. best/Chris Butler