Independent Film Series: Calico Rebellion

Featuring a Q&A with Director/Producer Victoria Kupchinetsky and Producer Misha Gutkin

In the lush woods of the Catskill Mountains, a mythical memory lives on. Of a time when men — armed with rifles and pitchforks, disguised in eerie masks and gowns — descended from bucolic hills to stage the Anti-Rent War, or the “Second American Revolution” as they called it. That farmers’ uprising 200 years ago changed the course of American history and paved the way to the creation of Abraham Lincoln’s Republican Party. Today, although largely forgotten, the historic uprising lives on through direct descendants of those rebellious farmers, through their stories, songs, and the eerie costumes preserved since the 1840s. CALICO REBELLION is a cinematic journey into small town America, its idealism and the violence that percolates just beneath the surface. The film explores themes of land, belonging, and the historical identity of the people who continue to change the political landscape of their country.