Report from Millbrook Jonas Mekas, 1966

Jonas Mekas elegant report on a Poughkeepsie police department s raid of Timothy Leary s baseofoperations amply demonstrates the political potential of his diary filmmaking. The film s protest is lodged in the disjunction between sound and image, with Mekas intimate, idyllic footage of the Millbrook property undercutting audio of the sheriff s fearmongering rationales. The interview was itself an act of subterfuge as East Village Other writer Bob Simmons posed as a buttonedup reporter from the solidly mainstream Look to get his exclusive. As Simmons simply gives the sheriff enough rope to hang himself, Mekas montage leaves the outrage to the audience.