The FBI was unaccountable and untouchable until 1971, when a group of ordinary citizens uncovered its illegal domestic spying programs. On March 8, 1971, The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI, as they called themselves, broke into a small FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, took every file, and shared them with the American public. Never caught, forty-three years later, these everyday Americans – parents, teachers and citizens – publicly reveal themselves for the first time.
This film was awarded IDA's ABCNews VideoSource Award for best archival footage, won Cinema Eye's Spotlight Award, and broadcast on PBS's Independent Lens in May 2015.
Director: Johanna Hamilton
Producer: Marilyn Ness