The Farm on Film

Joe Nolan — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 04:33:46 +0000

My neighbors in Tennessee live on the longest-surviving hippie commune in the United States. Here’s ABC’s take on the place in 2012:

If you thought communes had gone the way of the tie dye shirt, think again.

New, non-hippy ones are springing up. The oldest, The Farm—still hippyish and still going strong–is the subject of a new documentary soon to be released.

Filmmaker-sisters Nadine and Rena Mundo were born on The Farm in the 1970s, back when it was on its way to becoming the biggest and arguably the most progressive commune in America. Located in mid-Tennessee, it had, at its peak in the early ’80s, Rena tells ABC News, 1,500 members and attracted such celebrity visitors as Walter Cronkite and Phil Donahue.

The Mundo sisters’ documentary, “American Commune,” scheduled to debut this spring at film festivals, “is the story of this utopian experiment,” says Rena. “It’s also the story of what it was like to be raised that way.” Growing up they knew nothing of perfume, meat, TV, or American pop culture.

I haven’t seen the Mundo’s documentary, but this doc captures the place back in 1973, giving a glimpse of the strong roots that have helped this long-standing community to continue with their vision even as their peers have fallen away. Be sure to turn on the captions as the narration here is in Swedish.

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The Farm on Film