Waiting for Beckett

This documentary examines childbirth practices in the United States through four couples experiencing pregnancy and delivery. Each case presents a different approach to birth, ranging from high-technology hospital procedures to alternative methods such as Leboyer and midwife-assisted childbirth.

A documentary made at the set up of a theater production, of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot", directed by Jan Jönson, played by prisoners, at San Quentin State Prison in California.The play is about two men who meet on a lonely country road, waiting for someone called Godot to confirm their lives and make life easier for them to live. Towards the end Godot announces that he will not come tonight, but maybe tomorrow. Producer and director John Reilly and a crew spent four weeks at the maximum-security facility; rehearsal and performance sequences are inter-cut with footage of daily prison life and discussions with the principal characters.

Raw footage from a variety of sources. Originally shown as a multi channel video performance switched live and screened on a bank of TV monitors. Includes footage from Woodstock performances, interviews with activists Abbie Hoffman and and Jerry Rubin, musical performances taped off of television, and naked festival-goers.

The Irish Tapes is the first major documentary shot on portable 1/2 inch videotape. Directors Irish-Americans John Reilly and Stefan Moore filmed over a three-year period in the early 1970s with the support of the National Association for Irish Freedom, a US group associated with the Official IRA. Originally shown as a three-channel, twelve-monitor video installation, it was later edited for broadcast on television in the US in 1975.