Let the Fire Burn

Using only archival news coverage and interviews, filmmaker Jason Osder has brought to life one of the most tumultuous clashes between government and citizens in modern American history in Let the Fire Burn. On May 13, 1985, a feud between the city of Philadelphia and radical urban group MOVE came to a deadly climax. By order of local authorities, police dropped military-grade explosives onto a MOVE-occupied rowhouse. TV cameras captured the conflagration, which quickly escalated—resulting in the tragic deaths of eleven people (including five children). It was later discovered that authorities decided to ". . . let the fire burn."

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Contact Diane Fujino, CBSR director