A beautiful piece of work…wonderful!
–Chris Roth, Editor, Communities magazine
A magnificent film!
–Robert Gerst, Professor of Liberal Arts, Massachusetts College of Art & Design
A moving, luminous film. Everyone should see it!
–Virginia Scharff, Distinguished Professor of History and Director, Center for the Southwest, University of New Mexico
An intimate and moving examination of an almost mythical life. Leaves the viewer hopeful for the future of human relationships and with renewed faith in the seductive lure of following one’s dreams.
–Ellen Hansen, Professor of Geography and Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies, Emporia State University
An immense contribution to communal studies and to public understanding of hippie culture, which bears vital lessons for society at large.
–Don Pitzer, founder, Communal Studies Association and Director Emeritus, SIU Center for Communal Studies
A moving exploration of life at a 40 year old communal ranch in New Mexico, as the founders grapple with changes that come with growing older — illness, disability, the death of parents, and their own mortality.
–Deborah Altus, Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America
Hippie Family Values is a beautifully filmed and thoughtfully crafted story. But it is so much more than a good story: it’s a commentary on our times and our obsession with stuff and success. It’s an examination of human relationships and the impact of stepping outside the mainstream of culture. It’s a look at what roots in a particular piece of land, a place, can mean. And perhaps best of all, this story of people with different aims and backgrounds coming together to internally create community, not always successfully, is an antidote to the bitter divisiveness that shapes our country today.
–Susan J. Tweit, author of Walking Nature Home: A Life’s Journey
An intimate and moving journey…a timely contribution to the renewed interest in the back-to-the-land movement among the millennials and a must see for all baby boomers.
–Helis Sikk, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, DePauw University
In the 1960s era thousands of young counterculturists streamed out of cities and settled on the land, seeking to lead simple lives in the company of other like-minded souls. Hippie Family Values captures the spirit of that time beautifully…One of the few excellent documentaries of a genuine hippie commune.”
–Timothy Miller, author of The Hippies and American Values and The 60s Communes, and Professor of Religious Studies, Kansas University
A beautiful film, told with such sensitivity, integrity, and respect.
–Sonali Gulati, Virginia Commonwealth University
Beverly Seckinger’s curious and empathetic camera brings you close to a group who have made a communal life together for forty years – not without heartache and heartbreak, but beyond the isolation of nuclear families and privatized child-rearing.
–Christina Crosby, Professor of English and Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Wesleyan University
A seamless, lyrical, poignant piece of work.
–Chris Wilson, J. B. Jackson Chair of Cultural Landscape Studies, University of New Mexico
I loved teaching Hippie Family Values in my big gen ed class. Students were riveted by the idea of a utopian politics, of building a community to prefigure the world as you want it, because so many of them feel hopeless about creating inclusive communities that reflect their values in these times. The film moved my students, encouraged them, gave them hope, and provoked a thoughtful and critical discussion in my course. I will use it again.
–Laura Briggs, Professor and Chair of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies, University of Massachusetts-Amherst