Directed by Nyack resident Greg Mitchell and narrated by Rosanne Cash
June 15, 8:00 p.m., Nyack Center
On Monday, June 15, Rivertown Film will present the first preview anywhere of excerpts from the new film “Woody Guthrie and the Ghost of Tom Joad Today,” which focuses on songwriter, singer, activist, and folk music icon Woody Guthrie, who wrote “This Land Is Your Land,” among other great American songs.
“The film is all about what’s going on currently with immigration and migration with direct references to today,” Director Greg Mitchell notes. Guthrie’s songs, including “Deportee,” “All You Fascists,” and “This Land Is Your Land,” have been adopted at No Kings rallies and other current political protests nationwide. There are also surprises, such as the venom aimed at John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath” when it was first released, and the amazing full story of how Guthrie came to write “This Land Is Your Land” (hint: not the original title). It closes with words and images that reveal echoes of 1930s conflicts in debates surrounding immigration, ICE raids, and authoritarian impulses today.
A world premiere of a very short film, “Woody and Me,” will be screened, too. It features tributes to Guthrie from Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Mavis Staples, Bruce Springsteen, and many others. And there will be musical guests, including Tom Chapin, The Chapin Sisters, and the All Together Now Chorus, plus a community sing out of “This Land Is Your Land,” which some consider our real national anthem.
After the film, Mitchell will take part in a discussion with Woody’s granddaughter, Anna Canoni, president of Woody Guthrie Publications, and Daniel Wolf, author of “Grown-Up Anger: The Connected Mysteries of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and the Calumet Massacre of 1913.”
California Connections
While there have been several Woody Guthrie documentaries, this one focuses on Guthrie’s four years in California before moving to New York, and on his connection to author John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath.”
In California, Guthrie met actor, activist, and musician Will Geer, who starred as Grandpa Walton on the ’70s television series “The Waltons,” among other roles. Geer was involved with labor organizing and the Communist movement in California. He introduced Guthrie to John Steinbeck. Guthrie would go on to record “Tom Joad Part 1” and “Tom Joad Part 2,” a ballad about the main character in Steinbeck’s book. Later, Bruce Springsteen, who provides a key song for the film, would record a 1995 album called “The Ghost of Tom Joad.” Eventually, Guthrie and Geer moved to New York and remained close friends.
Rockland Ties
There are several local connections, too. The film’s director, Greg Mitchell, has lived in Nyack since 1990. This is his fifth film for PBS since 2022. His wife, Barbara Bedway, is a producer of the film. And activist/musician Pete Seeger, a close friend and sometimes musical partner of Guthrie’s, lived in Beacon. Also, in 1948, Guthrie performed at Shanks Village in Orangeburg, the low-income, post-war housing development that grew out of Camp Shanks, at a rally promoting presidential candidate Henry Wallace. The Rockland County Legion Committee protested, calling the event “Communist propaganda via music.”
The full version of “Woody Guthrie and the Ghost of Tom Joad Today” will premiere on June 25 at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and simultaneously on PBS in L.A. It will stream on PBS stations beginning July 1.
Buy tickets (advance: $15; day of show: $20)
Every dollar earned tonight will go toward the newly established Rivertown Film Cash Reserve Fund, and all of it will be matched by a generous gift from former board members Barrie Peterson and Bea Conner-Peterson.