In 1969 filmmaker brothers Albert and David Maysles set out to shoot a series of concerts by The Rolling Stones that culminated in their capturing one of the era’s most defining and consequential moments- the killing of a young Black man named Meredith Hunter by a Hells Angel during a free show at the Altamont Speedway in Tracy, California. GIMME SHELTER, the resulting film co-directed with Charlotte Zwerin, was released on December 6, 1970, and has since become a seminal cultural artifact in its own right. Epitomizing both the time period and the controversial immediacy of “direct cinema”- an observational style of filmmaking pioneered by the Maysles and Zwerin along with Robert Drew, D.A. Pennebaker and Frederick Wiseman- it is arguably the most celebrated concert documentary in cinematic history.
On the fiftieth anniversary of the release of GIMME SHELTER, Maysles Documentary Center presents a series of films from the late 60's and early 70's that underscore the political, social, and cultural currents of the music and events depicted in the film. While popular culture has enshrined the Altamont incident as the end of a halcyon decade of love, Gimme 50 challenges this assertion by highlighting the context out of which this violence arose with a selection of contemporaneous works that emphasize and expand upon the Maysles’ indelible achievement.
Half a century later and side by side, these films trace the fissures of Altamont to a vast and decade-defining web of subcultural gatherings- of revelers, rioters, demonstrators, and artists- many of which converged at this final concert of the Stones' 1969 US Tour. Together, they posit the Altamont murder not as an end to 60s culture, and not as an isolated incident of violence against Black people, but as a constant, inevitable, and systematic outcome of a decade marked by targeted political repression at home and war abroad.
Featuring a Pan-African dispatch by the legendary William Greaves, a spotlight on the blues music that fed The Stones' sound (BLACK ROOTS), the interplay between the Civil Rights Movement (INTEGRATION REPORT 1, THE MARCH) and the Black Power movement’s militant response to its failures (PUPPET SHOW, MAYDAY), alongside other treasures of the era, this time capsule of alleged innocence and righteous indignation illuminates the racial violence depicted in GIMME SHELTER as a predictable marker of the period, very much in line with ours.
Curated by Inney Prakash
In lieu of our annual Gala and Albie Awards, Gimme 50 is presented as a fundraiser for Maysles Documentary Center to support our continued operations as a not-for-profit space for documentary exhibition and education in Harlem.
Stream each film individually for a minimum of $5 or purchase a pass for $50 and gain access to all the films, along with a year-long Maysles Documentary Center membership. Membership offers discounted tickets, special MDC branded merchandise, prints and posters from the Maysles Films archives, members-only events (over Zoom and eventually in person), private screenings at our cinema, and more.
From Saturday, December 19 at 1PM EDT, a Gimme 50 panel discussion with Racquel Gates, Sasha Frere-jones and Yasmina Price.
Gimme Shelter
Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, 1970, 91 min.
Fifty years after its initial release, GIMME SHELTER remains one of the most telling portraits of its time- a memoir of the music, and the violent conditions it mirrored.
Three by Madeline Anderson
Integration Report 1 (1960, 20 min.)
A Tribute to Malcolm X (1967, 15 min.)
I Am Somebody (1970, 30 min.)
This recently restored trifecta by pioneering filmmaker Madeline Anderson- the first Black woman credited with directing a feature documentary- charts three crucial moments in the struggle for equality, stretching from the beginnings of the civil rights movement through the assasination of Malcolm X, to a forceful portrait of organized labor. Taken together the films testify to a decade of righteous tumult. INTEGRATION REPORT 1 also includes footage shot by Albert Maysles.
The March
James Blue, 1964, 33 min.
Perhaps no gathering of the sixties represented as much of a logistical success as the March on Washington. This documentary captures the ecstatic volunteer labor in preparing for it and the hopeful fervor of the day itself.
The First World Festival of Negro Arts
William Greaves, 1966, 40 min.
The legendary William Greaves captured an ecstatic convergence of the African Diaspora with this document of the titular festival held in Dakar, Senegal in 1966. The film features Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Alvin Ailey, Aimé Césaire, Leopold Senghor and other artists, performers and dignitaries from thirty countries.
Two by Edward Owens
Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts (1966, 9m)
Remembrance a Portrait of Study (1967, 6m)
Maysles first presented the films of wunderkind Edward Owens at our physical space in March. Recently rediscovered and returned to The Film-maker’s Cooperative thanks in part to the work of film curator and educator Ed Halter, they represent the rare and prodigious presence of a queer Black teenager from Chicago on the sixties New York experimental film scene, and remain singularly moving for their delicate poetic brilliance.
Portrait of Jason
Shirley Clarke, 1967, 105 min.
Shirley Clarke’s immortal portrait of hustler Jason Holliday reveals the experiences of a charismatic Black man surviving in a white counterculture.
Puppet Show and Mayday
Josh Morton, May 1st Media
These recently restored newsreels by Yale student film collective May 1st Media provide a portrait of New Haven’s support for the revolutionary Black Panther Party, whose passing mention in GIMME SHELTER hints at the struggle being ignored by white concertgoers.
Courtesy of the Yale Film Study Center and Josh Morton.
Black Roots
Lionel Rogosin, 1970, 62 min.
This strikingly intimate work of verite by Lionel Rogosin (On the Bowery, Come Back Africa) captures the raw spirit and history of the blues, a sound that the Stones and other white rock bands copied but too easily cleaved from its foundations in the Black experience.
The Sixth Side of the Pentagon
Chris Marker, 1967, 26 min.
Chris Marker’s embedded missive from an anti-war protest at the Pentagon captures the state’s readiness for violence and the eagerness of neo-nazis to assist.
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