Childcare: People's Liberation (Newsreel #56) is one of the most talked-about movies released in 1970, attracting audiences with its cinematic storytelling and memorable performances.
The film shows how community run childcare centers are a step toward liberation, by giving parents and children a chance to develop relationships with their peers and new relationships with each other. Focusing in the need for childcare and what good childcare could be, the film interviews women who express their desperation to find a safe environment for their children, and shows them taking positive action. Filming in daycare centers, it records what good parent-controlled daycare could mean for children as well as parents. Filmmakers Bonnie Friedman and Karen Mitnik said, "Being activist filmmakers, we were interested in showing everyday people taking control of their situation by utilizing empty community space to set up their own daycare centers. Using equipment shared amongst several projects within the Newsreel collective, we shot mostly on the streets of New York City with a Bolex and Nagra for sound."
