Calico Rebellion

2025 · 70 min

Documentary

not streaming

Two hundred years ago immigrant farmers in the Catskills, fed up with oppression and exploitation by absentee landlords, staged a rebellion known as the Anti-Rent War. The uprising changed the course of history, paving the way to land rights across America and to the formation of a new political group—Abraham Lincoln’s Republican Party. Today, although largely forgotten, the historic uprising lives on through direct descendants of those rebellious farmers. Calico Rebellion explores a pivotal moment in American history, and a community’s unique and enduring connection to the past through the songs, stories, and costumes preserved from the 1840s. Part historical “true crime” story and part meditation on land and belonging in America, Calico Rebellion is a deep dive into small town America, its identity, idealism and the violence that percolates beneath the surface.

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