Pete and Toshi Get a Camera

In 1955, facing prison and banned from performing by the McCarthy witch hunt, Pete Seeger and his wife Toshi set out to make films. Eventually they decide to film their musician friends, and expand to American folk singers, the last Texas prison work crew that knew the old work songs, coal miner banjo pickers, etc.

Finally, in 1963, the McCarthy case is dropped, and Pete can again travel abroad. He and his family set out on a whirlwind 11-month tour of 28 countries around the world, recording and re-performing folk and native music while his wife filmed. This archival footage, complete with excellent audio, is coupled with modern interviews to tell the tale of their journey and the music they found and shared.

Pete and Toshi Get a Camera
2013, 88 minutes, directed by William Eigen