Preserving Film at the Woody Guthrie Center

Join Archivist Stephanie Stewart as she details the preservation process of a 1974 film shot by Phil Ochs. In this clip, Ochs interviews Harald Edelstam, the Swedish Ambassador to Chile (1972-1973), discussing the socio-political impact of foreign funding of the Chilean Junta.
In 1970, despite U.S. efforts under the Nixon administration to interfere in the Chilean presidential election, Salvador Allende, a self-proclaimed Marxist from Chile's Socialist Party, became the country's 28th president. Inspired by these events, Phil Ochs traveled to Chile in 1971, meeting influential figures, including singer-songwriter, political activist and soon-to-be friend Victor Jara.
2023 marks 50 years since the Chilean coup d'état, which brought the overthrow of the Chilean government, the death of President Allende, the torture and assassination of Victor Jara and many others. According to the 2004 National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture Report, during the rule of the Government Junta of Chile led by Augusto Pinochet, which took power following the coup, approximately 32,000 people were tortured, and 1,312 officially exiled. Among the cases of torture were approximately 3,400 cases of sexual abuse of women.
Ochs' documentation of conversations with Edelstam sheds light on the foreign influence in Chile's political landscape. Preserving these recordings at the Woody Guthrie Center ensures future generations can access and learn from this pivotal period, where music, activism and politics intertwined.

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Wonderful!