In 2009, the first Media Burn video blog showcased The West Bank: Whose Promised Land?, a thirty minute documentary from 1983 by Israeli-born New York videomaker Esti Galili Marpet. With the frightening daily escalation of conflict in that region, we wanted to look again at ordinary Israelis and Palestinians who each claim ancestral ownership of the West Bank. In a way, our blog has become an archive of its own, no less poignant five years later. WEST BANK: WHOSE […]
Today, tens of thousands of Americans filled up places like Soldier Field in Chicago to watch the USA team in a World Cup Soccer game (futbol match). It wasn’t always like that. Until the 1980s, soccer was on the way back burner and FOOTBALL was king. The US has played in the World Cup continuously only since 1990. Some resent its growth. This week, controversial conservative columnist Ann Coulter called soccer “foreign…like the metric system…and it’s not catching on,” basing […]
Construction season is upon us again, and the Kennedy Expressway is about to get hit with some serious lane closures over the next few weekends, with the first round starting this evening. It’s part of the project to replace Ontario Street Bridge, and it’s expected to cause major traffic disruptions. The frustration of road construction is nothing new to Chicagoans, but we often don’t spend much time thinking about the people on the other side of the orange cones. That’s […]
25 years ago today, the protests in Tiananmen Square turned into a massacre as China’s own military turned against the protesting citizens, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths. The struggle for democracy was summarily crushed, and in the months and years that followed, the Chinese government further strengthened its position and tightened restrictions in the country. In memory of that grave day, we present the tape “Beijing Journal,” which was recorded over the course of a few months in the […]
A day in the life of Newsday‘s Mike Waldman On assignment for THE 90’s, Washington correspondent Eddie Becker spent a day with Myron “Mike” Waldman, correspondent for Newsday‘s Washington Bureau, as he went about his job. Waldman’s assignment that day was a story about a bill for the extension of unemployment benefits, and while it may not be the most sensational topic, it provides a unique look into the day-to-day life of a journalist at the time, even when it’s […]
One of our most powerful and popular videos is this interview by Eddie Becker with his daughter, Erika Becker, recorded in 1989 when Erika was 11. She talks openly about living with cerebral palsy, including what it does, how it makes her feel, and how other people treat her because of her disability. Twenty-five years later, Erika is now a mother and fashion designer. Today, we’d like to share with you the original video and this followup video from 2012 […]
“Let’s Get Working: Chicago Celebrates Studs Terkel” at U of C Tom Weinberg founder, Media Burn Archive independent producer Studs Terkel at Lawry’s Tavern, 1991 photo by Matthew Gilson One Sunday afternoon in 1975, a group of about eight young video experimenters finished editing a version of the first “It’s a Living” documentary, based on Studs Terkel’s best-selling book, “Working.” Studs came over to Videopolis on Clark Street (now the Metro), the space we had been working in, to see […]
We’re moving to a new level–the sunny 4th floor at Chestnut Lofts in River West–on May 14 Our phone number will remain the same. We hope you’ll visit our fantastic new space! FITV / Media Burn Archive 935 W. Chestnut Suite 405 Chicago IL 60642 (773) 794-0058