Please join The Film-Makers’ Cooperative and Canyon Cinema in support of Fall of Freedom – an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation.

This fall, our two organizations are reaching out together to the experimental film and media community to be part of a nationwide wave of creative resistance. You can participate by creating a short film of 10 seconds in length that expresses your sense of urgency at this moment. Your film will become a part of a single film that will combine all of our contributions.

This is our invitation to film and media artists and enthusiasts to take part. Collectively, we will challenge the rise of American fascism.

In 1967, a group of angry but concerned filmmakers gathered together to organize the first FOR LIFE AGAINST THE WAR. With the Vietnam War escalating wildly, an invitation was issued to artists to create works running under three minutes in protest against the accumulating carnage. The resulting 60-film compilation included works by such avant-garde luminaries as Robert Breer, Shirley Clarke, Storm De Hirsch, Ken Jacobs, Lawrence Jordan, Jonas Mekas, Stan VanDerBeek, and numerous other FMC and Canyon members.

In 2007, an invitation to protest yet another war seemed sadly urgent, inspiring the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative to ring the clarion once again. The response was overwhelming, with submissions from several generations of artists unified by a singular disgust for the war. As a collective effort, FOR LIFE AGAINST THE WAR, AGAIN brought together many active members from the Coop and Canyon.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

• Create a 10 second film as an .mp4 video file.
• Label your file: last_name_first_name.mp4
• Send your completed file to info@film-makerscoop.com either via email or using a file transfer program like Google Drive, WeTransfer, or Dropbox.
• Deadline: November 10, 2025.
• Do not include credits of any kind. All participants will be given a credit at the end of the film.

For freedom of every kind,
Canyon Cinema
The Film-Makers’ Cooperative