Freewater Productions Films, 1967-2003 and undated

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Summary

Creator:
Freewater Productions
Abstract:
Freewater Films is a student-run programming committee within the Duke University Union (DUU) responsible for both screening and producing films. Film exhibitions have included weekly and summer series, as well as special event screenings featuring particular directors, actors, or genres. As a film production resource, Freewater has provided grants of film stock, equipment, processing, lab work, and technical instruction to members of the Duke community. The collection includes paper records and various film and tape elements produced by Duke students in the making of their original films. Formats include 35mm film, 16mm film, 8mm film, Betacam SP cassettes, audio cassettes, VHS cassettes, DAT tapes, as well as DVDs. The collection also includes some paper documentation associated with particular films, as well as publicity materials and subject files. Film topics include North Carolina environmental issues, poverty in Durham, political rallies, faculty interviews, campus construction, and student performances. Also included are fictional films on psychological, philosophical, or romantic themes, which feature familiar campus locations such as Perkins Library, the Duke Gardens, the Chapel, or the Duke Hospital. The collection also includes compilation tapes of entries from the annual Hal Kammerer Film Competition, as well as film experiments undertaken during Freewater film workshops. The collection is organized chronologically, then alphabetically by film title. In cases where the creators had grouped multiple reels of a particular film into a small box or a can, these groupings were denoted as reel 1-3 of 3, etc. Where available, synposes written on film cans were summarized and included in this finding aid. The majority of these synposes were written by Freewater Productions participant Benjamin Epps.
Extent:
55 Linear Feet
Language:
Material in English
Collection ID:
UA.09.13.0005
University Archives Record Group:
09 -- Student Affairs
09 -- Student Affairs > 13 -- Student Union

Background

Biographical / historical:

Freewater Films is a student-run programming committee within the Duke University Union (DUU) responsible for screening and producing films. It is overseen by the DUU Programming Council.

The committee's origins can be traced to 1969, when the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation gave funds for students from the Duke University Union Visual Arts Committee to make a 16mm film. In November 1970, several students produced an original film entitled "Dying", using a 16mm Bolex camera borrowed from the DUU. The following year, "Dying" went on to win first prize at the Association of College Unions' 1971 International Film Festival.

Freewater soon established its mission in two categories: film exhibition and film production. By Spring of 1972, the film exhibition program was comprised of two weekly film series. One of these took place on Thursday evenings, and featured independent, educational, or niche films. The other series took place on Friday evenings, and featured more recent and popular films. The Friday series provided much of the revenue needed for both the Thursday series, and the film production activities of Freewater members. In addition to these two series, Freewater also sponsored a ten-week summer film series as well as several film festivals devoted to particular genres, actors, or directors. Additionally, it arranged visits by film directors and actors on campus, as well as community outreach initiatives, such as a children's film series, and discounted tickets for underprivileged youth.

As a film production resource, Freewater provided grants of film stock, equipment, processing, lab work, and technical instruction to members of the Duke community. It also funded several independent studies and one Duke course on filmmaking. During the 1970s-1990s, Freewater's Production Coordinator organized a weekly film workshop geared toward beginning and intermediate filmmakers at Duke, focusing on techniques such as animation and graphics. Initially, the organization only had the equipment to produce and process 16mm black and white film, and did most of the processing tasks in-house, in the basement of the Old Chemistry Building on Duke's West Campus. Prints of student-made films were often shown during film series held at Duke and at national screenings; additionally, monitors in the Flowers Lounge often showed some of the films.

Freewater also provided use of their equipment for projects by the Duke Hospital (for producing a commercial) and the Anthropology Department (for producing a documentary on primate research). In some Duke courses, students were allowed to produce films for academic credit; for example the 1982 course "Politics and the Media" allowed students to incorporate original film-making projects. Other Freewater projects included documentaries on Duke professors, North Carolina environmental issues, and political rallies in Washington, D.C. Many of the films present fictional narratives featuring scenes from Duke campus, including Perkins Library, the Duke Gardens, the Chapel, and the Duke Hospital.

In the Spring of 1974, Freewater absorbed the videotape committee of the Union to coordinate expertise between tape and film experts; they continued to champion experiments with videotape as a new medium. Currently, it is divided into two separate committees: Freewater Productions and Freewater Presentations.

Acquisition information:
The Freewater Productions Films were received by the University Archives as a transfer in Office of Student Activities and Facilities in June 2007.
Processing information:

Processed by Jessica Wood, March 2012; Updated by Matthew Schaefer, September 2013

Encoded by Jessica Wood, April 2012; Updated by Matthew Schaefer, September 2013

Accession 2007-0028 is described in this finding aid.

Accession UA2014-0038 added by Tracy M. Jackson, September 2016.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

All or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. There may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the University Archives to use this collection.

Collection is open for research. However, original audiovisual materials are closed to patron use. Use copies are available in the collection.

Terms of access:

Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Freewater Productions Films, Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1px2j