UC alum’s rock 'n' roll film comes to campus
'Free to Rock' will play at the TUC Cinema on Nov. 30
By: Brittany Fletcher
Much has been written about the Cold War, but the story of how rock 'n' roll helped bring down the Iron Curtain — and hasten the demise of the former Soviet Union — is a tale less often told.
“Free to Rock,” produced in part by University of Cincinnati alumnus Douglas Yeager, documents how the power of music inspired social upheaval that altered the course of history.
Narrated by Kiefer Sutherland, “Free to Rock” is directed by four-time Emmy winner Jim Brown and features interviews with former President Jimmy Carter and former Communist Party leader Mikhail Gorbachev discussing the role of rock in ending the Cold War.
The film also features interviews and performances by rock icons, including the Beach Boys, Billy Joel, the Beatles and Metallica, and prominent Iron Curtain rock pioneers including Stas Namin, Andrey Makarevich, Boris Grebenshikov and more.
“Free to Rock” will play in the Tangeman University Center Cinema at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30. The documentary is 60 minutes and will be followed by a Q&A session with members of the film’s production team including Yeager.
Related Stories
UC professor leads film students to the future
April 6, 2026
As a kid, at the age of 10, Marty Schiff’s dad gave him a Kodak Brownie movie camera, and that led to a lifetime of creating stories on film. He spent his summers with that camera, making eight-millimeter movies, with a camera that taught him how to thread a projector, change the film in a closet, and tell stories with the medium he loved. “I always wanted to go to Hollywood,” Schiff says. So later he did, with $200 in his pocket, and began a career that has spanned acting, directing, producing—pretty much everything with the exception of costumes (“I’m not really good with a sewing machine,” he says).
Scientists discover how snakes stand upright without limbs
April 3, 2026
Smithsonian magazine highlights a study co-authored by UC Professor Bruce Jayne, an expert in snake locomotion, about how snakes stand upright without arms or legs.
On track: Hoffman Honors Scholar studies public transit
April 2, 2026
Public transit is where Zane Sawyer’s lifelong passion for travel meets his commitment to making an impact. The University of Cincinnati first-year geography major in the College of Arts & Sciences and member of the second cohort of Hoffman Honors Scholars (HHS) has hit the ground running, designing a research project intended to capture both how public transit works and how its users perceive it.