Throughout history, artists have faced intimidation and suppression for telling uncomfortable truths. On Monday, July 13, the next film in our Cinema Under Pressure series takes one of those moments as its subject.
Tim Robbins’ 1999 film Cradle Will Rock tells the true story of one of the most infamous acts of cultural censorship in American history: the 1937 suppression of The Cradle Will Rock, a pro-labor musical staged under the federal government’s own Works Progress Administration. Robbins frames that event within a sweeping panorama of art, money, and power in Depression-era America, where politicians, patrons, and propagandists all fought to direct artistic creativity toward their own ends.
Our special guest for this program will be none other the film’s writer and director, Tim Robbins himself. An Academy Award winner, an activist, and a founder of the Actors’ Gang, Robbins has spent his career outspoken on questions of artistic and political freedom, and has weathered public backlash for his own views. He joins us to discuss the film, the history behind it, and its enduring relevance.
