Videofreex
Videofreex, one of the first video collectives, was founded in 1969 by David Cort, Mary Curtis Ratcliff and Parry Teasdale, after David and Parry met each other, video cameras in hand, at the Woodstock Music Festival. Working out of a loft in lower Manhattan, the group's first major project was producing a live and tape TV presentation for the CBS network, The Now Show, for which they traveled the country, interviewing countercultural figures such as Abbie Hoffman and Black Panther leader Fred Hampton.
The group soon grew to ten full-time members--including Chuck Kennedy, Nancy Cain, Skip Blumberg, Davidson Gigliotti, Carol Vontobel, Bart Friedman and Ann Woodward--and produced tapes, installations and multimedia events. The Videofreex trained hundreds of makers in this brand new medium though the group's Media Bus project.
In 1971 the Freex moved to a 27-room, former boarding house called Maple Tree Farm in Lanesville, NY, operating one of the earliest media centers. Their innovative programming ranged from artists' tapes and performances to behind-the-scenes coverage of national politics and alternate culture. They also covered their Catskill Mountain hamlet, and in early 1972 they launched the first pirate TV station, Lanesville TV. An exuberant experiment with two-way, interactive broadcasting, it used live phone-ins and stretched cameras to the highway, transmitting whatever the active minds of the Freex coupled with their early video gear could share with their rural viewers.
During the decade that the Freex were together, this pioneer video group amassed an archive of 1,500+ raw tapes and edits.
In 2001, the Video Data Bank began assembling this unique archive of original 1/2-inch open-reel videos, collecting them from basements and attics where the tapes were stored. A restoration plan was hammered out in 2007 and a distribution contract was signed between VDB and the newly formalized Videofreex Partnership (administered by Skip Blumberg).
The Videofreex Archive, now housed at VDB, chronicles the countercultural movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The titles listed here are the first wave of an ongoing project to preserve and digitize important examples of this early video.
More About the Videofreex Archive Preservation
Also see:
Available Titles by
Title |
Year![]() |
Collection | Action |
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Fred Hampton: Black Panthers in Chicago | 1969 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Chicago Travelogue: Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and the Yippies | 1969 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Chicago Travelogue: The Weathermen | 1969 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Incredible String Band | 1969 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Circo dell'Arte (Circus Arts) | 1969 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Woodstock Festival 1969: First Aid | 1969 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Dr. Hip Pocrates | 1969 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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The Whitelake Woodstock Aquarian Exposition | 1969 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Jesse Ritter Lecture | 1969 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Lucy Montgomery | 1969 | New Releases, Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Artie Seale (Mrs. Bobby Seale) | 1969 | New Releases, Videofreex Archive |
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Fred Hampton: Chant and Demonstration | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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New Haven: Abbie Hoffman and the National Guard | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Hells Angels' Run | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Women's Lib Demonstration NYC | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Women's Lib Rally | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Women's Lib Discussion: Burning Theatre and Alternate U | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Franklin Commune, Vermont, August 1970 | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Money | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Sybil | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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New Haven Panther: Message to Goddard Alternative Media Conference | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Construction Workers' Rally | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Rose Art Museum: Vision & Television | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Aldo Tambellini: Vision & Television | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Tosun Bayrak's Love America or Live | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Curtis's Abortion | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Hells Angels with Sandy Alexander | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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What's That For? | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Nancy's Party | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Buzzy Linhart | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Ann's Bread | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Knitting and Feedback | 1970 | New Releases, Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Electric Yogurt | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Hells Angels Party | 1970 | Videofreex Archive |
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Musica Electronica Viva at Baggie's | 1970 | On Art and Artists, Single Titles |
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St. Marks: New Years Eve | 1970 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Davidson's Jail Tape | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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After the Bar with Tony and Michael | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Building Dome in Riverbi Earth People's Park | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Ricky's Magic | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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CBS--Lily and Cleaver Tapes | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Jerusalem Tapes: Israeli Black Panther on the Street | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Jerusalem Tapes: Second Brain, Arab Feedback | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Process Video Revolution | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Chicken Dinner | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Laughing Song and Crying Song | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Me's and Youse | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Rome N.Y. | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Shirley Clarke and the Camera | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Yoko Ono Show at The Everson Museum | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Laser Games with Shirley Clarke | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Tosun's Dinner and Wake | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Nancy's Drug Problem | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Late Night Kitchen Discussion | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Last Party at West End Avenue before Leaving for the Country | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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First Snow, Thanksgiving 1971 | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Freex German TV | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Lanesville TV Overview II | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Lanesville TV Overview III | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Christmas Carols in the Shower | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Miami Drive, Draft Counsel, Superman in the Grove | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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David Peel, Columbia and Wall Street | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Women’s Conference, Rochester | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Me's and Youse Variant | 1971 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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The Jerusalem Tapes | 1971 | Videofreex Archive |
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Snow (I Wish There Was Cars) | 1971 | New Releases, Single Titles |
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Trashing and Gassing in Miami: The 1972 Republican Convention | 1972 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Lanesville TV Overview I | 1972 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Lanesville TV: Catskill Game Farm Horse Show | 1972 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Soup in Cup | 1972 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Aunt Betty's Birthday Party | 1972 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Lanesville TV News Buggy | 1972 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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The Swing | 1972 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Video Games | 1973 | Videofreex Archive |
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Harriet | 1973 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Portapak Conversation | 1973 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Lanesville TV: January 26th, 1973 | 1973 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Everson Museum: Video and the Museum Conference | 1974 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Lanesville TV: April 6th, 1974 | 1974 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Lanesville TV: May 18th 1974 | 1974 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Lanesville TV: Frank “the Fist” Farkle vs. Rocky Van Fight | 1974 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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The Sheik Who Shook Lanesville | 1975 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Greetings from Lanesville | 1976 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Selections from the Five Day Bicycle Race (Image Union) | 1976 | Videofreex Archive, Single Titles |
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Tuned In, Turned On! Videofreex Tape the World | 2011 | Single Artist Compilations, Videofreex Archive |
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