November 7, 2013 / Modified nov 22, 2013 1:23 p.m.

Doc Explores '60s Activism Through Family Experience

"It's a film about the tragedy of idealism," says director of Tatanka, one of the films featured at the Loft Film Festival.

A new film provides insight into the idealism of the peace and civil rights of the 1960s, through the transformation of the Reagan years into the present. The film screens at The Loft film festival this weekend and next we hear from the filmmaker about the personal connections of this story.

"Tatanka" is a new feature documentary screening this weekend as part of the Loft Film Fest.

The film tells the story of noted '60s social activist Kit Bricca.

Listen:

"It’s sort of a story about a '60s dreamer...who’s living in 2013 as if the '60s never ended...and he happens to be my father," said Jacob Bricca, the film's director and producer, and also assistant professor in the UA's School of Theater, Film and Television.

Bricca said the film is a personal documentary, and it tells the story of an activist whose extraordinary life journey defines the promise and the peril of unmitigated idealism.

"It’s a film, kind of about the tragedy of idealism, the difficulties of idealism," he said. "My father was someone who really believed in the causes he worked for and with...Amnesty International, United Farmworkers Union, the anti war movement. It’s sort of a film about one of the foot soldiers in those battles who was a very gifted organizer."

As a personal film, "Tatanka" presents specific challenges to Bricca as a filmmaker. He said these challenges are about finding the right tone and voice within the film.

"And as the author of it, it was very difficult to separate myself enough from the material to know the difference between what was interesting and important to me, and what the audience would even care about," he said. "At a certain point, a lot of things came out because I simply wasn’t as interesting a character as my dad was."

"Tatanka" will screen on Sunday, Nov. 10 at The Loft Cinema.

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