American Masters
Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore
Marlee Matlin, the first Deaf actor to win an Academy Award, looks back on her remarkable life, career, and the complexities of being the “first.”
1971
A group of ordinary citizens broke into a small FBI office in Pennsylvania in 1971 and shared with the world their findings on COINTELPRO, the FBI’s illegal surveillance program. Now, they tell their story publicly for the first time
- Series
- Independent Lens
- Premiere Date
- May 18, 2015
- Length
- 90 minutes
- Funding Initiative
- Open Call
Producer/Director
Johanna Hamilton
Johanna Hamilton co-produced Pray the Devil Back to Hell, a feature-length documentary about the women’s peace movement in Liberia. It won the 2008 Tribeca Best Documentary Film Award, and was short-listed for a 2009 Academy Award. She has produced long-form programs for PBS, A&E, MSNBC, History Channel, and Discovery Times Channel. She began her… Show more
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The Film
The FBI was unaccountable and untouchable until 1971, when a group of citizens uncovered its illegal domestic spying programs. On March 8, 1971, The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI, as they called themselves, broke into a small FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, took every file, and shared them with the American public.
These actions exposed COINTELPRO, the FBI's illegal surveillance program that involved the intimidation of law-abiding Americans and helped lead to the country's first Congressional investigation of U.S. intelligence agencies.
Never caught, 43 years later, these previously anonymous Americans – parents, teachers and citizens – publicly reveal themselves for the first time and share their story in the documentary 1971.
