Far Out: Life On & After the Commune

Far Out: Life On & After the Commune tells the story of two rural New England communal farms. It traces fifty years in the lives of a group of writers, activists and artists and conveys not only how these “hippies” transformed Vermont and western Massachusetts, but also how rural life and the people they met changed them. There will be a discussion and Q&A with filmmaker Charles Light; poet and commune resident, Verandah Porche; and Patty Carpenter, composer and performer of most of the original music. The film’s story begins in the summer of 1968, in the middle of a left wing faction fight, when a group of radical journalists from Liberation News Service (LNS) left New York City for the country. They founded two communes–at Packer Corners in Guilford, VT and in Montague, MA. After leaving the city and turning away from national politics, the group of mostly young city slickers became pioneers in the back-to-the-land and organic farming movement. With the help of their neighbors, they spent the first five years learning rudimentary agricultural skills as well as how to live and work with each other as a communal family. In 1973 when the local utility proposed a giant twin nuclear plant four miles from the Montague Farm, they became active opponents. In a dramatic act of civil disobedience, Sam Lovejoy, from the Montague Farm, toppled a 500-foot weather tower on the planned nuclear site. He turned himself in, and after a trial where he represented himself and drew national attention, was acquitted.PT1H25M2025-05-10Far Out: Life On & After the Commune"Far Out: Life On & After the Commune"

Showtimes

May 10, 3:00 pm