The Yale Law School Film Society (1969-1972)
Poster from screening of Cul-de-sac (1966 film). 1969, Yale Law School Film Society.
A Yale Daily News article from April 13, 1965 announces "Law School Cinema Society Founded; Large Audiences Greet First Films." That year, a group of 6 law students founded the Yale Law School Film Society, drawing hundreds of students on Monday nights to their first two film screenings of The War of the Worlds and The Big Sleep, and to weekly shows thereafter. Between 1969-1972, the Film Society began a series of film workshops that would bring in prominent and provocative filmmakers and directors, inviting discourse around “filmmaking as an instrument for social change.”
The Yale Law School Film Society Collection includes recordings, posters, and photographs from these events, donated by former Film Society members Allen Bentley ’70 and Robert Bookman ‘72. The audio recordings have been fully digitized, with additions forthcoming as they are added to the collection. Audio streaming and transcripts are available online through the Yale Law Library AV Collection in Aviary.