Alfred Shands Productions, Inc. All We Are Saying, 1970
Collection held by the Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Title: Alfred Shands Productions, Inc. All We Are Saying, 1970
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for this film, contact the Collections Department at gro.l1773168578aciro1773168578tsihn1773168578oslif1773168578@hcra1773168578eser1773168578.
Size of Collection: 1 16mm film and 1 MP4 (15 minutes, 32 seconds)
Location Number: Mss. C A
Finding aid created by: Hannah O’Daniel McCallon
Date finding aid created: 2/10/2026
Date finding aid last updated: 2/10/2026
Scope and Content Note
The “All We Are Saying” documentary film interprets the March Against Death, a major anti-Vietnam War protest march and demonstration that took place in Washington, D.C., on November 13-15, 1969. The digitized film includes interviews with parents of Vietnam War soldiers, footage of marchers carrying coffins and signs with the names of deceased soldiers and destroyed Vietnamese villages, and footage of Pete Seeger leading protesters in song at the interfaith Peace Service in Washington National Cathedral.
Credits as displayed in the film:
Producer and director: Rev. Al R. Shands III [Chicago Manual of Style recommends not using commas before Jr. or Sr. or I, II, III], of Alfred Shands Productions, Inc.
Camera: George Voellmer, Albert Ihde, Terry Proch, Sandra Bradley
Editor: Sandra Bradley
Sound: Curt Wittig
Produced with the cooperation of the Rev. Philip E. Wheaton, Director of Inter-American Communication and Action
Sponsors of the film:
Clergy and Laity Concerned about Viet Nam Inter-faith Committee, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, and National Association of Laymen (Catholic)
Related collections:
Shands, Rev. Alfred Rives, III, 1928-2021. Papers, 1832-2021 [Mss. A S528a]
Conditions of Access and Use
The digitized film is available to view on the Filson’s public digital projects website (https://filsonhistorical.omeka.net/items/show/8132) and YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/OeaJVlpnWg0). The digitized film can also be viewed onsite in the Filson’s library.
Biographical or Historical Note
Rev. Alfred Rives Shands, III (1928-2021), known most often as “Al,” was an Episcopal priest, film producer, author, art collector, and philanthropist who lived in Louisville, Kentucky. He was born in Washington, D.C., and lived with his parents in North Carolina and Delaware as a child. Shands received a BA in English literature from Princeton University and a master’s in divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary, where he was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1955. In 1967, Shands met and married Mary Norton Ballard in Washington, D.C. In 1969, Al started Alfred Shands Productions, Inc., a documentary production company which he operated until 1983. The Shands moved to Mary’s hometown of Louisville in 1970.
Subject Headings
For more details on how the below subjects appear in this collection, search the subject in the manuscript database at https://filsonhistorical.org/collections/manuscript-database/.
Documentary films.
Peace movements – United States.
Shands, Rev. Alfred Rives, III, 1928-2021.
Vietnam War, 1961-1975– Protest movements.