Tuesday, July 5, 2011

"Alaska" Filmmaker to Attend July 14 Screening


San Francisco Filmmaker Joan Juster will introduce her film Alaska Far Away at the library on Thursday, July 14, at 6 p.m. The film chronicles the lives of northern Minnesotans and Wisconsinites who pioneered settlement of Alaska’s Matanuska Colony as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" economic recovery program during the Great Depression. It was also one of the largest scale socialist experiments in U.S. history. The film is narrated by television veteran Peter Coyote. Ms. Juster will also introduce a segment from her accompanying film Where the River Matanuska Flows, which shows northern Minnesota's connection with the project through recent interviews. More than 200 struggling farm families were resettled in the region, which ultimately helped fuel the expansion of Palmer, Alaska, home to Republican Sarah Palin. A question-and-answer session will follow the screening. The event is free and open to the public.

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