MAYDAY

22m 22s  |  1970   | 

Producer  Director : May First Media

In the midst of the Vietnam War, the trial of Black Panther Party member Bobby Seale brings thousands of demonstrators to New Haven, Connecticut, and Yale braces for violence.

This raw and energetic 1970 film documents a weekend of protest against the Vietnam War and the trial of political activist Bobby Seale, a founder of the Black Panther Party, who was accused of murdering police informant Alex Rackley. Using hand-held cameras and letting the event itself tell the story, the documentary captures the tension at Yale and the personalities it attracted, including Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, and French writer Jean Genet.

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Made by Yale students Nick Doob, Alberto Lau, Josh Morton, Andy  Ptaszynski and others, the documentary was first shown on WBGH-Boston, and subsequently at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum, and many PBS stations across the country.