Bonnie Friedman

Operation Sussex

A documentary about the infiltration by parachute drop of Free French by the OSS on the eve of D-Day.

The Last to Know

Via New Day Films: "Nearly one half of the estimated ten million alcoholics in the country are women, yet their special problems are totally ignored. Concealed by families, protected by friends and physicians, these women are kept invisible. They themselves are often The Last to Know. This extraordinary film speaks directly to these women by sensitively focusing on four intimate stories and shows how the medical community, the media and the values of society at large actually perpetuate alcoholism and prescription drug abuse in women."

The Flashettes

When a man returns home to Bedford-Stuyvescent, NYC, he finds the young girls there dealing with growing problems of alcoholism, drug use, and teenage pregnancy. He decides to counteract the negative forces operating in the girls' lives by starting a track team for them which provides valuable discipline, gives them pride and confidence, and becomes a second family for many. The film follows the team through a city-wide competition held on Randall's island.

Chris and Bernie

The story of two young single mothers who join forces to make a new kind of family unit for themselves and their children.

Chris and Bernie

The story of two young single mothers who join forces to make a new kind of family unit for themselves and their children.

Chris and Bernie

The story of two young single mothers who join forces to make a new kind of family unit for themselves and their children.

Childcare: People's Liberation (Newsreel #56)

The film shows how community run childcare centers are a step toward liberation, by giving parents and children a chance to develop relationships with their peers and new relationships with each other. Focusing in the need for childcare and what good childcare could be, the film interviews women who express their desperation to find a safe environment for their children, and shows them taking positive action. Filming in daycare centers, it records what good parent-controlled daycare could mean for children as well as parents. Filmmakers Bonnie Friedman and Karen Mitnik said, "Being activist filmmakers, we were interested in showing everyday people taking control of their situation by utilizing empty community space to set up their own daycare centers. Using equipment shared amongst several projects within the Newsreel collective, we shot mostly on the streets of New York City with a Bolex and Nagra for sound."