ST. JOHNSBURY – Catamount Arts will host weekend screenings of an independent film about the development of two communal farms in rural 1970s New England. “Far Out: Life On & After the Commune” will screen Saturday, June 28, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 29, at 3 p.m.
“Far Out” traces 50 years in the lives of a group of writers, activists, and artists who moved from New York City, in 1968, to create communal farms in Vermont and Massachusetts. Upon leaving the city and turning away from national politics, they spent the early years learning rudimentary agricultural skills as well as how to live and work together as a communal family. With help from their neighbors, the young city folk became pioneers in the back-to-the-land organic farming movement.
In 1973, when the local utility proposed a giant twin nuclear plant four miles from the Massachusetts commune, the new farmers, drawn back into politics, became active opponents. Resident Sam Lovejoy turned himself in to police after toppling a 500-foot weather tower in a dramatic act of civil disobedience. His trial, where he represented himself, drew national attention. Lovejoy was acquitted.
Subsequently, the group became leaders in the burgeoning No Nukes movement, from the battles over Seabrook to California’s Diablo Canyon and scores of reactor sites in between. In 1979, they teamed up with musicians including Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, John Hall, and Graham Nash to help produce five nights of sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden, not to mention a 250,000-person rally in New York City.
Blending contemporary interviews and a trove of original archival footage, “Far Out” tells a history, exploring how individuals and communities grapple for entire lifetimes with the complexities of politics, relationships, morality, spirituality, civic engagement, and finding a place to call home.
The Catamount Arts screenings will include a discussion and Q&A with filmmaker Charles Light, poet and commune resident Verandah Porch, and the film score’s composer and musician Patty Carpenter.
For tickets to screenings at Catamount Arts, visit catamountarts.org.
