UMass Amherst Libraries Sponsor Screening and Discussion of “Far Out: Life On & After the Commune”

The UMass Amherst Libraries and the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center (SCUA) are sponsoring a film screening and discussion of “Far Out: Life On & After the Commune” on May 8, 7 p.m., at Amherst Cinema. The post-film discussion will include director Charles Light and commune members Sam Lovejoy and Verandah Porche. Tickets are available online on the Amherst Cinema website.

The film traces fifty years in the lives of a group of New England writers, activists, and artists. In 1968, in the middle of a left-wing faction fight, a group of radical journalists left New York City for the country where they became pioneers in the back-to-the-land and organic farming movement.

In 1973, when a giant nuclear power plant was planned nearby, they became active opponents. In a dramatic act of civil disobedience, Sam Lovejoy, a commune member, toppled a 500-foot weather tower on the site. He turned himself in and after a trial that drew national attention was acquitted.

The group became leaders in the burgeoning anti-nuclear movement. The film tracks the dramatic battles over atomic power in Seabrook, NH and elsewhere. In 1979, they teamed up with Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash, and other committed rock stars to produce five nights of sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden and a massive rally.

Blending contemporary interviews and a remarkable trove of original archival footage, “Far Out” is lively, humorous, inspiring, and irreverent. The film is vital, telling the history but hewing to the universal themes of how we grapple—over a lifetime—with politics, relationships, morality, spirituality, civic engagement and finding our home.

Several archival collections related to commune members are held at SCUA as part of the Famous Long Ago Collection, including Green Mountain Post Films Collection, Sam Lovejoy Papers, Liberation News Service Records, Peter Simon Collection, Raymond Mungo Papers, and many more.