About Racism

"The Untold Story of Sacco and Vanzetti" (Documentary) Source: Press Release - Firstrunfeatures.com (8-20-07)

On the 80th anniversary of their execution, the new documentary SACCO AND VANZETTI brings to life the story of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists accused of a muder in 1920, and executed in Boston in 1927 after a notoriously prejudiced trial. It is the first major documentary film about this landmark story.

The ordeal of Sacco and Vanzetti came to symbolize the bigotry and intolerance directed at immigrants and dissenters in America. Millions of people in the U.S. and around the world protested on their behalf, and today, the story continues to have great resonance, as civil liberties and the rights of immigrants are again under attack.

Actors John Turturro and Tony Shalhoub read the powerful prison writings of Sacco and Vanzetti, and a chorus of passionate commentators also propel the narrative, including Howard Zinn, Arlo Guthrie, Studs Terkel, as well as several people with personal connections to the story.

The Sacco and Vanzetti story has attracted some extraordinary artists over the years, including Ben Shahn, Woody Guthrie, Dorothy Parker, Upton Sinclair, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Joan Baez, and Diego Rivera, among others. Artwork, music, poetry, and feature film clips about the case are interwoven with the narrative.

On August 21, 2007, SACCO AND VANZETTI was available on DVD.

Director Peter Miller states: “The story of Sacco and Vanzetti has urgent lessons to offer Americans today, and I have stayed up late for years and driven myself into debt in Oorder to make this film and get this story told. As in the ‘red scare’ of Sacco and Vanzetti’s time, present-day Americans have allowed fear and jingoism to erode our civil liberties, scape-goat immigrants, and compromise our judicial system.

But even without the present-day connections, the story of Sacco and Vanzetti is a subject of extraordinary drama with unforgettable characters. I believe that an understanding of the past is essential for changing society in the present, and I look forward to bringing the story of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti to audiences at a time when their message is more important than ever.”