
3.2“The Obscenity Trial That Started a Revolution. The Poem That Rocked a Generation.”/ August 26, 2010
It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist, society's reaction (the obscenity trial), and mind-expanding animation that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself. All three coalesce in a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment-the birth of a counterculture.
“The Obscenity Trial That Started a Revolution. The Poem That Rocked a Generation.”

Allen Ginsberg
Jack Kerouac

Neal Cassady

Peter Orlovsky
Curated based on cinematic style, tone, and audience acclaim

Ralph McIntosh

Jake Ehrlich

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Judge Clayton Horn

Gail Potter

Mark Schorer

Professor David Kirk

Luther Nichols