Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
Encyclopedia
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, is a 2006 documentary film
made by Firelight Media
. The documentary reveals new footage of the incidents surrounding the Peoples Temple
and its leader Jim Jones
who led over 900 members of his Cult
to a settlement in Guyana
called Jonestown
, where he orchestrated a mass suicide
with poisoned Flavor Aid
, in 1978. The film premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival
where it received the Outstanding Achievement in Documentary award
, and was broadcast nationally on Monday, April 9, 2007, on PBS
's documentary program "American Experience
". It is in the form of a narrative with interviews with former Temple members, Jonestown survivors, and persons who knew Jones at various stages. The DVD release contains a number of scenes and interviews not in the on-air program.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
made by Firelight Media
Firelight Media
Firelight Media is a non-profit filmmaking company founded by filmmaker Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith, located in New York City. Firelight Media began in 1998 as an independent non-profit documentary production company that produced stories on topics that are typically underrepresented in the...
. The documentary reveals new footage of the incidents surrounding the Peoples Temple
Peoples Temple
Peoples Temple was a religious organization founded in 1955 by Jim Jones that, by the mid-1970s, included over a dozen locations in California including its headquarters in San Francisco...
and its leader Jim Jones
Jim Jones
James Warren "Jim" Jones was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the killings of five other people at a nearby airstrip.Jones was born in Indiana and started the Temple in...
who led over 900 members of his Cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
to a settlement in Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
called Jonestown
Jonestown
Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby...
, where he orchestrated a mass suicide
Mass suicide
- Examples :Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious or cultic settings. Defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Suicide pacts are a form of mass suicide unconnected to cults or war that are sometimes planned or carried out by small groups of frustrated people...
with poisoned Flavor Aid
Flavor Aid
Flavor Aid is a non-carbonated soft drink beverage made by Jel Sert in West Chicago, Illinois, introduced in 1929. It is sold throughout the United States as an unsweetened powdered concentrate drink mix, similar to Kool-Aid drink mix.-Flavors:...
, in 1978. The film premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
where it received the Outstanding Achievement in Documentary award
Award
An award is something given to a person or a group of people to recognize excellence in a certain field; a certificate of excellence. Awards are often signifiedby trophies, titles, certificates, commemorative plaques, medals, badges, pins, or ribbons...
, and was broadcast nationally on Monday, April 9, 2007, on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
's documentary program "American Experience
American Experience
American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service Public television stations in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American history...
". It is in the form of a narrative with interviews with former Temple members, Jonestown survivors, and persons who knew Jones at various stages. The DVD release contains a number of scenes and interviews not in the on-air program.
Awards
- Golden GateGolden GateThe Golden Gate is the North American strait connecting San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Since 1937 it has been spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge...
Award for Best Bay Area Feature Documentary, San Francisco International Film FestivalSan Francisco International Film FestivalSan Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries... - Outstanding Achievement in Documentary, 2006 Tribeca Film Festival
- Nominee, 2006 International Documentary AssociationInternational Documentary AssociationInternational Documentary Association , founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media, to support the efforts of documentary filmmaking and video production makers around the world and to increase public appreciation and demand for the art of the...
Awards
External links
- Official Trailer on Apple.com/Trailers with HighDefinition version
- Firelight Media
- Official Trailer, uploaded to YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
Film festivals
- Film Festival, Tribeca Film FestivalTribeca Film FestivalThe Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
, 2006 - Film Festival, San Francisco Film Festival, 2006
- Film Festival, Seattle International Film FestivalSeattle International Film FestivalThe Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
, June 2006 - Silver Docs Film Festival, American Film InstituteAmerican Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
, Discovery ChannelDiscovery ChannelDiscovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
Documentary Film Festival, 2006 - Melbourne Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia, 2006
- BFI 50th Film Festival, British Film InstituteBritish Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
, London Film FestivalLondon Film FestivalThe BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
, 2006 - LA Film Festival, Los Angeles Film FestivalLos Angeles Film FestivalThe Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times is an event held annually in June in downtown Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Film Festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995. The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single...
, 2006 - Martha's Vineyard, International Film Festival, Martha's VineyardMartha's VineyardMartha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....
, September 2006 - Milwaukee International Film Festival, October 2006
- Independent Film Festival of Boston, October 2006
Reviews
- Doomsday dream believer, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Cheryl Eddy, 2006
- Compilation of Reviews, Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, 2006 - Review, New York Times, Stephen Holden, 2006
- Documentary on Tragic Cult Deserves Huge Following, New York PostNew York PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, Kyle SmithKyle SmithKyle Smith is an American critic, novelist and essayist. He is a staff film critic for the New York Post. His film reviewing style has been called "an exercise in hilarious hostility" by Entertainment Weekly....
, October 20, 2006 - Documentary offers rare film of Jim Jones, San Francisco Chronicle, G. Allen Johnson, November 3, 2006
- Another look at Jonestown, The Washington Post, June 2006
- Portrait of infamous cult's rise and fall, Star Ledger, New Jersey, October 21, 2006, Stephen Whitty