Strange Culture

Import event into your personal calendar

Date:

Friday, September 21, 2007

Time:

7:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Event Type:

Screening

Organizer/Author:

Smith Rafael Film Center

Phone:

415-454-1222

Address:

1118 Fourth St, San Rafael, CA 94901

Location Details:

Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael, CA 94901

Strange Culture Opens Friday 9/21 Lynn Hershman Leeson’s strikingly unconventional documentary concerns the ongoing legal case of Steve Kurtz, an artist, activist and art professor who was arrested as a bioterrorist. In 2004 Kurtz was preparing an art exhibition on the hot-button topic of genetically modified food, when his wife Hope died suddenly of heart failure. Paramedics called in the FBI when they saw Petri dishes containing bacteria Kurtz had ordered over the Internet. With a federal case in progress, and Kurtz himself unable to discuss certain topics, the film employs actors- Thomas Jay Ryan as Steve and Tilda Swinton as Hope- to explore the issues, both as their characters and as themselves.

This experimental approach, which also casts Peter Coyote and Josh Kornbluth in roles, is dynamic and effective in illuminating the vital issues. Strange Culture makes a persuasive case that the charges against Kurtz are motivated by two agendas: the powerful food industry’s investment in GMF, and the Justice Department’s expansion of power over free expression. At the film’s Sundance premiere this year, Variety wrote: “Younger filmmakers should be looking to Hershman Leeson for lessons on how to reinvent old forms while at the same time telling an urgently topical story.” Music: The Residents. Camera: Hiro Narita. Editor/Writer/Director: Lynn Hershman Leeson. (US 2007) 75 min. Call theater at 415-454-1222 for show times.

For more information: http://www.cafilm.org

Added to the calendar on Fri, Sep 7, 2007 12:09PM

Add Your Comments

Support Independent Media

We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!