Museum schedules film showing
Posted on Wednesday, October 1, 2008
At 2 p.m. Oct. 5, the Rogers Historical Museum will host a showing of the award-winning documentary film "The Atomic Cafe. "Composed of clips from Civil Defense films, newsreels, television news footage and advertisements, the documentary was produced in 1982 by Jayne Loader and Kevin and Pierce Rafferty.
The film found popularity at a time when nuclear disarmament was a topic of great interest around the world. An illustrated book based on the film was published by Ballentine Books shortly after the film's release. Atomic-themed music of the 1950 s and 1960 s underscores the film's themes and a soundtrack album was issued by Rounder Records.
"The Atomic Cafe"became something of a cult classic, and it certainly influenced documentary filmmaking. In fact, one of the producers, Kevin Rafferty, was later befriended by a young filmmaker seeking advice. That filmmaker was Michael Moore, and Rafferty became a mentor to Moore and the cinematographer for Moore's first documentary," Roger and Me."
Following the screening of "The Atomic Cafe," Greg Kiser of the history faculty at Northwest Arkansas Community College will offer commentary and lead a discussion. The screening will be held at the Museum's Education Annex, 120 W. Poplar St., Rogers. Admission will be free.
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