PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY: New screenings of Strange Culture - doc about artist accused of

(PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY)

Don't miss these upcoming screenings of Lynn Hershman Leeson's critically-acclaimed Strange Culture (http://strangeculture.net), which chronicles the ongoing story of artist Steven Kurtz and scientist Robert Ferrell, accused by the US government in 2004 of "bioterrorism" and now awaiting trial:

Aug 17-23
Buenos Aires
2nd Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

August 21-23
Albuquerque NM
The Guild Cinema

Aug 24-30
Chicago IL
Facets Cinema

Aug 29-30
Northampton MA
Maine Street Media Festival

Sept 8
St. Louis MI
Global Fusion Conference
Q&A with Lucia Sommer

Sept 8
Buffalo NY
Hallwalls & Market Arcade Benefit Screening
Market Arcade Film & Arts Center
www.hallwalls.org/special/special.html
Discussion with Steve Kurtz

Sept 7-13
Buffalo NY
Market Arcade

Sept 16-20
Pittsburgh PA
Regent Square Cinema

Sept 14-19
Seattle WA
NW Film Forum

Sept 21-27
San Raphael CA
California Film Institute

Sept 21-27
San Francisco CA
The Roxie Theatre

Sept - TBA
Waterville ME
Railroad Square Cinema

Sept / Oct - TBA
Oklahoma City
Museum of Art

Oct 1
New York NY
MoMA
Q&A with Lynn Hershman Leeson & Steve Kurtz

Oct 5-18
New York NY
Cinema Village
Q&A with Lynn Hershman Leeson & Steve Kurtz

Oct 10-14
Woodstock NY
Woodstock Film Festival

Nov 8
Philadelphia PA
First Person Arts
Q&A with Lucia Sommer

Nov 8
Location TBA
First Person Festival of Memoir & Documentary Art

Nov 22
Toronto
A Space Gallery
Reception with Steve Kurtz

TBA
Los Angeles CA
Laemmle Theatres

THE CASE
Strange Culture (2007, 75min) chronicles the surreal nightmare of Steven Kurtz, an art professor at SUNY Buffalo and a founding member, with his late wife, Hope, of the internationally exhibited art and theater collective Critical Art Ensemble (CAE). In May 2004 the Kurtzes were preparing to present Free Range Grain, a project examining GM agriculture, at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), when Hope Kurtz died of heart failure. Police who responded to Steve Kurtz’s 911 call deemed the couple’s art suspicious, and called the FBI. Within hours the artist was illegally detained as a suspected "bioterrorist" as dozens of federal agents in Hazmat suits sifted through his work and impounded his computers, manuscripts, books, his cat, and even his wife’s body. Today Kurtz and long-time collaborator Dr. Robert Ferrell, Professor of Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, face trumped-up charges of “mail fraud” and “wire fraud,” punishable, thanks to the PATRIOT Act, by up to 20 years in prison. For more information about the case please visit: http://caedefensefund.org

THE FILM
Since the ongoing nature of the case prevents Kurtz from discussing its details, Hershman Leeson has enlisted actors to dramatize parts of the story, skillfully interweaving dialogue with news footage, animation, interviews, testimonials, and footage of Kurtz himself. Tilda Swinton (Chronicles of Narnia, Broken Flowers) and Thomas Jay Ryan (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) play Hope and Steve Kurtz, and Peter Coyote (E.T., Erin Brockovich) plays Dr. Robert Ferrell.

“Strange Culture is an important heads-up to what is going on in our country right now in the name of national security, and a brilliant statement on artistic freedom and the dangers it faces. This film should be seen, should be discussed and is an important document on our times.” —Film Threat

“Strange Culture is a veteran artist’s thoughtful, indignant response to Patriot Act America.” —indieWIRE

“You don’t have to be paranoid for Strange Culture to scare the hell out of you.” —Reuters

For more information:
http://strangeculture.net
http://caedefensefund.org
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