I Grew Up in Princeton (2013)

Nestled in picturesque central New Jersey, Princeton seems almost too good to be true. Home to one of the world's great universities, the town is, to the casual observer, a progressive community of unparalleled beauty and grace. Yet upon closer inspection, Princeton can also be seen as a town divided, racially, economically and sociologically. The most obvious - and powerful - of all is the division between the university and the town itself, and nowhere was this division more keenly felt than during the tumultuous period of the late sixties through the early seventies. I Grew Up In Princeton is a heartfelt, deeply personal look at this unique confluence of time and place. Utilizing interviews with over 60 current and former Princetonians, including: cartoonist Arnold Roth, historian Shirley Satterfield, science writer Michael Lemonick, former Institute For Defense Analysis (IDA) director Lee Neuwirth, former Superintendent of Princeton Regional Schools Phil McPherson, famed American artist Nelson Shanks, author Zachary Tumin of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and political activists James Tarlau and David Schankler, audiences are drawn into a uniquely insular environment, where growing up was "like living in a think tank", as artist Natalie Italiano so appropriately puts it. Setting their stories against a visual backdrop comprised of dramatic archival footage of the Vietnam War, anti-war demonstrations and racial riots -- as well as compelling news footage of Martin Luther King, Jr., African-American author James Baldwin, radical activists H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael, and United States president Richard M. Nixon -- award-winning filmmakers Lorenda Starfelt and Brad Mays present a sometimes funny, sometimes shattering look at one of the most convoluted periods in American history. From displacement of African American families to make room for a mini Rockefeller Center, to the death of Albert Einstein; from student "race riots" to the infamous SDS shut-down of the Institute for Defense Analysis, I Grew Up In Princeton is one of the most authentic evocations of the late sixties ever committed to film. Featuring a superb musical score by composer Jon Negus, it is a masterful and unforgettable mix of image, sound and ideas.