Preserving Guerrilla Television: Steve Seid and Michael Shamberg in Conversation

Retired BAMPFA film curator Steve Seid interviews TVTV member Michael Shamberg.

August 18, 2020

TOP VALUE TELEVISION (TVTV) began in 1972 when a group of mediamakers, artists, and activists used brand-new portable videotape equipment to document the '72 Democratic and Republican presidential conventions. At a time when TV news reporters were weighed down by enormous packs of expensive equipment and gear, this band of "braless, blue-jeaned video freaks," as "Newsweek" called them, set out to revolutionize not only how to capture the news, but how to reframe the daily news cycle. With the sensibilities of the underground and cutting-edge consumer video tech, TVTV and a loose global network of video guerrillas spearheaded community-based news, citizen journalism, and democratized media that continue to gain relevance in the run-up to the 2020 presidential conventions.

After TVTV dissolved in 1977, Michael Shamberg remained a film producer in Hollywood with successful films ranging from Pulp Fiction (1994), to Erin Brockovich (2000), to Django Unchained (2012).

https://guerrillatv.bampfa.berkeley.edu/