Oooh, this is exciting. One of my favorite films from Sundance 2007, Lynn Hershman-Leeson’s Strange Culture has booked a two-week engagement at the Cinema Village here in New York.
Strange Culture is an experimental documentary about Steve Kurtz, an artist with the renowned Critical Art Ensemble who was arrested on fraud charges after the FBI searched his home found biological testing materials from an art installation, which they misconstrued as weapons of mass destruction. Because Kurtz is barred from speaking on camera about the details of his case, the director hired actors, including Tilda Swinton and Thomas Dean Ryan, to star in dramatizations, which are woven with testimony from Kurtz’ friends and colleagues. It’s a fairly academic approach, but the finished film is persuasive, and as a document of what happens to art in a post-terrorism climate of paranoia, it’s surprisingly moving. Check out the trailer above, and for more info on when and where Strange Culture might be playing near you, check out the film’s website.
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