About the Movie
When Melvin and Jean McNair hijacked a plane from Detroit to Algeria in 1972 to join Eldridge Cleaver and the Black Panthers, they called it an act of political resistance to racism and the War in Vietnam. The hijacking was also an act of desperation committed by two people in their early twenties who saw no other way to escape what they felt was the constant state of racial oppression in America.

Forty years after the hijacking, Melvin and Jean are model citizens in France. If they return to the U.S., they could spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Forty years after the hijacking, Melvin and Jean are still coming to terms with their crime and its lifelong consequences.


For all educational and institutional sales:
https://www.academicvideostore.com/video/melvin-jean-american-story

For more information: info@melvinandjean.com

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Credits

Written and directed by
Maia Wechsler

Produced by
Maia Wechsler
Matthieu Belghiti

Editor
Sophie Brunet

Additional Editing
Adam Zucker
Vincent Trisolini
Anne Checler
Andrew Lee

Camera
Claudia Raschke-Robinson
Jean-Yves Cauchard
Scott St. John
Eric Turpin
Ludovic Plourde
Simon Ross
Scott Anger

Sound
Jim Anderson
Eric Chevry
Jim Goodwin
Glen Kantziper
Brooks Lester



Original Music by
Brandon Ross

Music Supervisor
Wax Poetics

Title Design and Graphics
Kyledidthis
Kyle Goen

Motion Graphics
Jeffrey Sterrenberg

Sound Mix
Quentin Chiappetta at mediaNoise
Brooklyn, NY

Online & Mastering USA
DCTV

Colorist
Paul Wattebled (France)
John Custodio (USA)

Post Production Supervision (U.S.)
Chris Arnold

Post-Production Assistance (U.S.)
Alexander Points-Zollo

Post Production (France)
DC Audiovisuel, Tigre, Sylicone XV
For France Télévisions
Patrick Salvi
Philippe Geyer
Juliette Gault
Philippe Grosjean
Daniel Baer
Thierry Compain
Philippe Bruneau
Barbara Bellivier

Publicity
Meryl Weinsaft Cooper
Allen/Cooper Enterprises

Research
Nolwenn Guellec
Emmanuelle Lanfray

Special Thanks
Edward Hernstadt
William L. Hernstadt
Fredrica Wechsler
Ellen and Scott Osman
Clement Dang
Virginia Field
Catherine Scheinman
Susan Tipograph
Charles Hobson
Michelle Materre
Jude Ray
Melissa Hacker
Brian Breger
Heather Ann Thompson
Samir Meghelli

And the following donors:
Diane Abeloff & Sandy Nager
Cathy and Gideon Asher
Dawn and David Atlas
Alfred and Steven Blumrosen
Debbie Bondulic and Carol Ferrer
Charles Lazerwitz Charitable Trust
Richard Chesnoff
Carlton Cleveland
Carrie Cohen & Rick Lipsey
Stuart Coleman
Ruth and George Diones
Rene and Analisa Echevarria
Mitchell Feinberg
Barbara Feldman
Joan and Bob Fields
Deborah Fleeger
Michael Frankfurt
Betsy and Dennis Gaylin
Mady Gilson and Tony Thompson
Holly Gewandter & Nancy Heller
Goldman, Sachs, and Co. Matching Gift
Ellen Gould and Daniel Ray
Sondra Graff
Sonya Heller and Thierry Noyelle
Sharon Hernstadt
Stephanie Hernstadt
William L. Hernstadt
Yona Jiminez
Thomas Leeser
Pam Levine and Marty Umans
Annie Luce and Jonathan Auerbach
Elizabeth Marks
Catherine Montifiore
John Mosler
Harley and Steve Osman
Donna Roggenthien
Catherine Scheinman
Shelly and Andrew Schoenfeld
Al Sutton
Melanie Sylvan
Suzanne Tick
Elisa Trolin and Guy Owen
Mac True
Rebecca Van de Sande
Fredrica Wechsler

A Co-Production
Red Triangle Productions (USA)
Maia Wechsler

What’s Up Films (France)
Matthieu Belghiti

Production Director
Pierre Carrique

Assistant Production Director
Maya Lussier-Seguin

Interns
Elodie Willoquet
Loïc Lasne

This is a sponsored project of
Women Make Movies

© All rights reserved 2012
Red Triangle Productions/What’s Up Films

For BDW and FWW