Riotsville, USA

Riotsville is an absolute gift of a story to a canny documentary maker like Pettengill.

...is a definitely worth your time and attention.

...an invigorating indictment of these constructed falsehoods – their fears, their riotsvilles, their scapegoats and their reasons for destruction.

As if in a seance or hypnotic trance, Sierra Pettengill conjures the ambient voices of the riot-torn United States in the 1960s, traumatised by the uproar in Watts, Chicago, Newark and Detroit.

This unique framework succeeds in turning history on its head, forcing us to question how these violent tactics from the past have led to the increasingly armed present we’re witnessing today.

...certainly not an objective documentary. It’s angry and it dares the viewer to argue back.