Historical Documentary Uncovered

"Chicano Moratorium: A Question of Freedom" documentary filmed by Tom Myrdahl of The Association

In 1970, The Association’s Director of Photography, Tom Myrdahl, was a graduate film student at Loyola-Marymount, where he became involved in the “Chicano Movement” and began custom video production in documenting their demonstrations. On August 29th, 1970, Tom and his associate Nick Sherbin stood their ground while filming the LA County Sheriff’s police action against the demonstrators attending the “Chicano Moratorium,” a protest against the Vietnam War held at Laguna Park in East L.A.

This documentary, “Chicano Moratorium: A Question of Freedom” was seen by many audiences in Los Angeles in the latter part of 1970, but the film has not been distributed or viewed since then for over 40 years, until now.

Now, in an effort to share his work with the public, Tom is releasing the production for general viewing.  What better place than The Internet?  Tom also recently presented a copy of this work to Professor Mario Garcia, head of the Chicano Studies program at UC Santa Barbara. Dr. Garcia was elated to have this short and accurate depiction of the tragic events of the Aug. 29th police riot. Bert Corona did the original “voice over” for Tom’s documentary and Dr. Garcia recently published his biography of Bert Corona, LA’s legendary Chicano leader.

 Tom also gave a copy of the documentary to Rosalio Munoz, who was one of the original organizers and speakers at the historic Moratorium Event. Rosalio was also pleased to have a copy of Tom’s film. You can also view the film below:

Leave a Reply