MIAMI, Oct. 31, 2019 – The acclaimed Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives at Miami Dade College (MDC) will look back on a dangerous, violent era of Miami history – the drug war of the 1980s, during the screening of REWIND: So Miami! The Drug War, Nov. 5-28, Tuesdays and Thursdays, at noon. The event is free and open to the public.
“The drug war of the 1980s shaped Miami and shaped the world’s perception of Miami. We’re still living with its implications,” said Archives Director, René Ramos. “The news stories that we’re screening are a small but compelling sampling of the drug war coverage that shaped opinions of the South Florida metropolis at the time.”
Clips featured in So Miami! The Drug War include coverage of a deadly shootout at Dadeland Mall on July 11, 1979, an event generally recognized as the beginning of the Drug War; the spectacular seizure of a drug lab on Miami Beach, followed by the fiery ignition of drug processing chemicals on the beach; gritty 1986 coverage of a crack house raid reported by Katie Couric, not yet a host of The Today Show; and a review of the now-iconic film Scarface by reporter Michael Putney (he didn’t like it).
Events at the Wolfson Archives are presented with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.
For more information, please contact the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives at 305-237-7731 or info@wolfsonarchive.org.
About The Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives at MDC
The Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives is an official moving image repository and archives of the State of Florida and is one of the largest institutions of its kind in the United States. Lynn Wolfson helped found the Moving Image Archives in 1984, along with Ralph Renick and historian Arva Moore Parks. Named in honor of Lynn and the late Louis Wolfson II, a Florida legislator and leader in the state’s communications industry, the Archives is solely operated by Miami Dade College, and is housed in a 9,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility on MDC’s Wolfson Campus. The Archives’ collections include 35,000 hours of videotape and 23 million feet of film. A local television news collection dates to the late 1940s, with footage from landmark television station WTVJ (first in Florida, 18th in the nation) as well as WPLG, WCKT, WCIX, and WINK. The capstone of activities at the Archives is a long-term digitization project funded generously by an additional gift from Lynn Wolfson.
WHAT: REWIND: So Miami! The Drug War
WHEN: Tuesdays and Thursdays, Nov. 5- 28, noon- 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: MDC’s Wolfson Campus, Room 8401, 300 NE Second Ave.
Archives Media-only contacts: René Ramos, 305-237-7731, rramos@mdc.edu; Lou Kramer, 305-327-7731, lkramer1@mdc.edu; or Kevin Wynn, 305-327-7732, kwynn@mdc.edu