About 20 years ago, I (like millions of others) saw an extraordinary documentary called "Eyes On The Prize". Shown in multiple parts over several days, the documentary is without a doubt THE documentary chronicling the United States civil rights movement. I have long wondered what happened to film, expecting it to show up on DVD one of these days.

Sadly, that day may never happen. Much of the archival footage in the film is copyright protected which places limits on the film. No, I don’t fully understand the copyright laws either, but the bottom line is that this important film documentary may simply . . . vanish. In fact, copyright restrictions have prevented the film from being shown anywhere in the past ten years. much less being reduced to video or DVD.

I actually home-videotaped the entire documentary back in the 1980’s (it was one of the first things I ever videotaped — VCRs being the "TiVo" of the time), but God knows where that tape is now, and what condition it is in.

Anyway, copyright reform advocates hav joined forces with civil rights organizations for a little bit of civil disobedience (in the spirit of the film itself). Using 21st century technology, they are making the first part of the documentary available, and asking people to hold public screenings in contravention (perhaps) of copyright laws.

Read more about it here, and if you DO have a chance to see even the first part of this documentary in your area, don’t pass it up.