“Medium Cool encapsulates the divisive issues of race and poverty that remain as urgent today as they did in 1968. It also makes us think about the way the media shape our lives and are used to deflect public attention from sustained political action.”
Screened in tribute to Robert Forster (1941 - 2019)
Robert Forster stars as John Cassellis: a hardened TV news cameraman who tries to maintain a professional detachment when he covers the social unrest in Chicago surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention. But, when he discovers that the TV network has been quietly cooperating with the FBI, the enraged Cassellis realizes that he too must join the fight against the establishment. Notable for Wexler's use of cinéma vérité-style documentary filmmaking techniques, as well as for combining fictional and non-fictional content, Medium Cool was met with widespread critical acclaim upon its release and is now considered one of the most influential movies in the New Hollywood movement, with Robert Forster receiving universal acclaim for his performance.
