PBS to Premiere True Story of Unsolved FBI Case '1971', 5/18

By: Apr. 20, 2015
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On March 8, 1971, a band of suburban parents, university professors, and community leaders broke into a small FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia. Calling themselves the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI, the eight activists took hundreds of secret files and shared them anonymously with select members of Congress and the news media. By doing so, they uncovered evidence of the FBI's vast and illegal regime of spying on and intimidating American citizens. Despite one of the largest investigations ever conducted, the FBI never solved the mystery of the break-in, and the identities of those responsible remained a secret -- until now. For the first time, the members of the Citizens' Commission have spoken out. 1971 is their story. Directed and produced by Johanna Hamilton, the film premieres on INDEPENDENT LENS Monday, May 18, 2015, 10:00-11:30 p.m. ET

(check local listings) on PBS.

Watch preview below:

On the night of the "Fight of the Century" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, the Citizens' Commission picked the lock on the door of the Media field office, loaded every file they could find into suitcases and walked out the front door. The heist yielded a trove of evidence proving that the FBI was deliberately working to intimidate civil rights activists and nonviolent Vietnam War protesters, among others. The most significant revelation was that of a massive illegal domestic surveillance program, overseen by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, known as COINTELPRO.

Weaving exclusive interviews with national news coverage of the burglary and dramatized scenes of the events, 1971 unfolds with the tension of a suspense thriller, with haunting echoes of today's questions of privacy in a new era of government surveillance.

Visit the 1971companion website (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/1971/), which features information about the film, including an interview with the filmmaker, preview clips and more.
About Independent Lens

INDEPENDENT LENS is an Emmy® Award-winning weekly series airing on PBS Mondaynights at 10:00 PM. The acclaimed series features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers. Presented by Independent Television Service, the series is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, with additional funding from PBS and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. For more information, visit pbs.org/independentlens. Join the conversation:facebook.com/independentlens and on Twitter @IndependentLens.

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