“Jean Seberg: Actress, Activist, Icon” was featured at the annual Symposium Day, held Wednesday Oct. 11. The theme this year was Transformation, and this film was selected because of Jean Seberg’s journey from small-town girl to movie star to activist.
In the Olin auditorium, students and staff had the chance to watch the film directed by Emmy-winning filmmakers and owners of Fourth Wall Films, Kelly and Tammy Rundle, along with Garry McGee.
Jean Seberg, an actress from Marshalltown, Iowa, started her career off young, landing a spot in “Saint Joan” as one of the leads at seventeen.
She went on to star in more Hollywood films, eventually traveling to Europe where she filmed several movies in France. Later on, she began her career as an activist by supporting and advocating for the Black Panther Party, a political organization that advocated for Black nationalism and against police brutality, according to the National Archives.
The actress died at age 40, and her death was labeled as suicide. However, friends and family were convinced that her death was not self-inflicted, as Seberg was on a watch list with the FBI for her activist activities.
Jane Simonsen, professor of history at Augustana, contributed to the film by being interviewed about women’s lives in the 1960s through the 1980s and said Jean Seberg was iconic, in her time and now.
“She was a conventionally attractive white woman who used her fame to support a civil rights cause because she thought it was worthy,” Simonsen said. “Really, she was persecuted for it and possibly even lost her life if she died under mysterious circumstances. There’s good evidence that she was being investigated and followed and so it took a lot of courage for her to do that. And not enough people at that time did it.”
Over time, Jean Seberg’s influence and impact became less known because Seberg stopped her career as an actress to pursue civil rights, and because her career ended early due to her death. But in this documentary, Tammy and Kelly Rundle worked to bring her tale to life.
“Jean Seberg: Actress, Activist, Icon” was no simple production. It took years of research, interviews and review to get the most accurate and true story possible.
“I think the reason that Jean appealed to us is because we focus on Midwestern topics,” Kelly Rundle said. “We look for stories that have a local or regional awareness but perhaps deserve a wider audience.”
The film’s production started not long after Gary McGee reached out to the Rundles with an interest in collaborating on a documentary he was planning about Seberg.
Overall, production for the film lasted over a decade, but the finished production features interviews with her first husband, Seberg’s family and friends, and the former Black Panther leader, Elaine Brown. All of the family and friends included in the documentary discussed their history with Seberg and the impression she left on them.
“We talked to lots of people who knew her and they said that when you spoke to her, she was listening to you. She wasn’t looking around the room for someone more interesting to talk to,” Kelly Rundle said. “She was truly interested in the person that she was talking to. She was a nice person. She was a good person. That’s what people remember.”
The film’s dedication to bringing Seberg’s life into the light has not been wasted. Many who watched the film found it impressive and inspiring.
Tenzin Choedon, First-Year, said she admired the film and Seberg’s story.
“Her story was shocking to me,” Choedon said. “She had good intentions, and yet, she was potentially killed for them.”