After Dark

Moving between moments of historically remarkable upheaval into the anxieties that pervade a tight-knit Appalachian community, the voices in these films—made predominantly in the late 1960s through early 1970s—are as relevant today as ever.

Featuring

Videotape Study #3 (Nam June Paik and Jud Yalkut, 1967–1969, 4 min.)
Celebrated media artist Nam June Paik and under-celebrated filmmaker Jud Yalkut directly manipulate and intervene with news footage of then-President Lyndon B. Johnson and then–New York City Mayor John Lindsay to create a work of subtle protest. Preserved by Anthology Film Archives.

Urban Crisis and the New Militants: Law and Order vs. Dissent (The Film Group, 1968, 11 min.)
One of a seven part series of short films that aimed to raise questions about social justice issues in Chicago, Law and Order vs. Dissent intercuts documentation of police responses to demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic Convention with a press conference from then–Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and a police spokesperson who are defending the police actions. The film was made by The Film Group, which previously made only commercials and industrial films, but upon witnessing the social unrest at the Convention were driven to make this effective and thoughtful film series. Preserved by Chicago Film Archives.

Whitesburg Epic (Appalachian Film Workshop, 1971, 8 min.)
Through man-on-the-street style reporting, this work investigates the ways the issues of the day affect a rural community. Intermixed with residents’ comments on the Vietnam War, Kent State, unemployment, and the nature of small town living are beautiful glimpses into Whitesburg’s inhabitants, paired with music from the community. Appalshop is a media producer that is an integral part of the community it documents. This film was made by the people of the community, resulting in a deep, personal, and moving portrait of Whitesburg that maintains a universal quality. Preserved by Appalshop.

Learn the novel and nefarious uses of phosphorus, one of the essential elements required for life, and find out how meteorite bombardments plunged necessary phosphorus compounds to Earth over 3.5 billion years ago—compounds that were recently observed around Comet 67P /Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Phosphorus
Phosphorus was first beheld in 1669 by Hennig Brand, a German alchemist in search of gold. Through a laborious secret process, Brand isolated the white, waxy solid from urine, naming it “cold fire” for its captivating glow. Spontaneously flammable in air, white phosphorus was later used to make matches; the toxic element gave match workers a disfiguring disease known as “phossy jaw” before being replaced with safer red phosphorus after 1906. White phosphorus is still used to make incendiary weapons.

Arriving on primordial Earth via meteorite, phosphorus may have ignited chemical precursors to life. Its compounds govern energy transfer between cells, regulate genes, form cell walls, and comprise the bulk of bones and teeth. Phosphorus minerals are mined for fertilizers, absorbed by plants, and cycled to and from oceans. Once novel, phosphorus is now seen as essential.