Resources

Resources: Online video

This is a listing of video and film footage on Jonestown which is available online. Due to the sometimes ephemeral nature of YouTube – the location of many of these videos – the managers of this website ask that you contact us if you discover a video that has been removed or has problems not already mentioned.

News coverage

An hour-long compilation of NBC footage – primarily scenes from Jonestown that NBC cameraman Bob Brown filmed, but also including some early scenes from the military’s walk-through of Jonestown afterwards – appears here. There is a great deal of material not previously released, almost all of it of the living people of Jonestown. There are also some omissions, such as most of the footage from the airstrip (including the few seconds from the shootings themselves), plus the entirety of the interview between Don Harris and Jim Jones, as well as the film from Congressman Leo Ryan’s first few days in Georgetown. But the clarity of the film and the vibrancy of the colors puts a human dimension on the tragedy which is unique and irreplaceable.

A link to the NBC segment of newsreel footage of the shootings at the Port Kaituma airstrip is here.

A seven-minute special report from ABC Television dated November 19, 1978 (but more likely from November 20 or 21), appears here. This shows some of the earliest pictures of the mass deaths emerging from Jonestown.

A half-hour special program on the Guyana tragedy that aired on San Francisco public television station KQED on November 20, 1978 – two days after the tragedy – appears here. Among those interviewed are Carlrton Goodlett, George Moscone, Phil Tracy and Al Mills.

A seven-minute news special from KGO-TV in San Francisco – likely from November 21 or 22 – appears here. This shows some of the earliest pictures of the mass deaths emerging from Jonestown.

A radio documentary by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – first aired a week following the tragedy and repeated in 2009 – appears here (beginning about 2:00 minutes in).

Movies and documentaries

People’s Temple 1972 documentary by David Gottlieb and James Ruxin

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

The People of People’s Temple 1979 documentary by David Gottlieb and James Ruxin

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Jonestown: Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006), directed by Stanley Nelson, was produced for the American Experience series on PBS. Its website appears here. The site includes numerous articles and information on purchase of the film.

The documentary appears in its entirety here.

It also appears in segments on youtube:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 (reports problems with synched sound)

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6 (There is no audio, but screen pops up link to sound)

Part 7

Part 8 (reports problems with synched sound)

Part 9

The coverage of the film, including reviews, from the 2006 edition of the jonestown report appears here.

Jonestown: Paradise Lost is a docudrama that made its world premiere on Canadian television before being shown on The History Channel.

The coverage of the film from the 2006 edition of the jonestown report appears here.

Jonestown: The Final Report (2006), The National Geographic Channel

An article by producer H.D. Motyl from the 2006 edition of the jonestown report appears here.

Return to Jonestown

Witness to Jonestown (2008), directed by Stephen Stept, was produced for MSNBC to mark the 30th anniversary of the deaths in Jonestown. Its website appears here. The site includes: NBC coverage of the tragedy from 1978, the stories of survivors 30 years later, and an essay by Stephen Stept on the challenges of capturing the event’s complexities in a 90-minute film. The historical footage includes:

• a news conference with Stephan Jones;

• an interview in Georgetown of Tim Carter, Mike Prokes and Michael Carter;

• an interview with Jonestown survivor Stanley Clayton;

• an interview with Claire Janaro, who had arrived in Georgetown from the US that day;

• a retrospective on the life of Leo Ryan;

• profiles of the NBC newsmen killed in Guyana;

• an early report on the suspected shooters at the Port Kaituma airstrip;

• an interview with NBC producer Bob Flick on November 19

• Lou Gurvich’s trip to Guyana in late 1978 to learn the fate of his daughter, Jann.

Also:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27204734#27204734

and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27204690#27204690

Interviews with Temple survivor Teri Buford

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27204722#27204722

Interview with Temple survivor Hue Fortson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fq6LsixEPw&feature=related

Interview with Temple survivor Stephan Jones

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27204658#27204658

Interview with Temple survivor Eugene Smith

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27188149#27188149

Interview with Washington Port reporter Charles Krause

An article by Stephen Stept for the 2008 edition of the jonestown report appears here.

Escape from Jonestown was produced by Jim Polk as part of CNN’s documentary series, CNN Presents to mark the 30th anniversary of the deaths in Jonestown. Its website appears here (find Escape from Jonestown).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze8hcbGXXkU

CNN Interview with Tracy Parks

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7ei1q_bks-1113-2-soledad-obrien_news

CNN Interview with Tracy Parks, including "CNN Back Story," with account of Parks' trip to Guyana to participate in documentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQwQEmMJ3y4&feature=PlayList&p=5326983F4AC4CA44&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=3

CNN Interview with Tim Carter

An article by Executive Producer Jim Polk for the 2008 edition of the jonestown report appears here. A 2009 article by Producer David Mathews for the 2009 edition appears here.

The Jonestown Massacre was produced by BBC Four as part of its documentary series, American Dream: One Nation Under God in December 2010. The 7:52 minute segment appears both here and here.

Interviews

http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/557203.html

Interview with Temple survivor Vernon Gosney, January 15, 2012 (print only, with photos)

http://www.cbc.ca/books/2011/12/teri-buford-oshea-on-surviving-the-jonestown-massacre.html

http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/weekly/2011/12/15/featured-audio-jonestown-survivor/

Interview with Temple survivor Teri Buford O'Shea following publication of her book Jonestown Lullaby, 12/15/2011 (audio only)
A print interview with Teri Buford O'Shea on Jonestown Lullaby, published eight days earlier in The Republican, appears here (and reprinted in The Guyana Press here). Reflections of Fred Contrada, the reporter who interviewed her, appear here.

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/father-evil-10378867

Interview with Temple survivor Stephan Jones, 4/15/2010 (4:30 in)

Jonestown Massacre (The Hour)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJURAVi6wpA&feature=related and http://basketball.fitness4wellness.net/2011/01/10/watch-jonestown-massacre-stephan-jones/

Interview with Temple survivor Stephan Jones

AOL: Black Voices http://us.video.aol.com/player/launcher?ar=us_en_video_748x541_full&mode=2&pmmsid=1645952

An interview with Temple survivor Jim Jones Jr. and documentarian Stanley Nelson

Most Evil – Jonestown Follower

http://investigation.discovery.com/tv-shows/most-evil/videos/most-evil-jonestown-follower.htm

Also available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLWOhNvDmMI&feature=fvw

Interview with Temple survivor Tim Carter, 2008

http://current.com/news-and-politics/89539256_jonestown-cult-survivor.htm