"The River" and "The City" Virtual Film Screenings

National Archives Museum
Online

In partnership with the 2022 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (celebrating its 30th year), we will screen two classic documentaries from the motion picture holdings of the National Archives.

The River (1937; 32 minutes) is Pare Lorentz’s monumental documentary about the exploitation and misuse of one of our greatest natural resources—the Mississippi River.

Directed and written by Pare Lorentz. Music: Virgil Thomson. Narrator: Thomas Chalmers. Producer: Farm Security Administration

The City (1939, 33 minutes)

Produced for the 1939 New York World’s Fair, The City is a call to rebuild America’s cities in the form of planned communities.

Directed by Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke. Producer: American Institute of Planners. Music: Aaron Copland.