Video games have permeated so deep into mainstream culture that they are now places of social activism and protest. Phone Story, a game designed by the Molleindustria collective in Italy, does just this. It turns the fancy screen and sleek design of a smart phone into the engineered system of slavery, inhumanity, and oppression that produced it. And it does it so well, that within hours of its release last Fall, iTunes had banned it from its catalogue. Click to continue »
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Mobile app shows dirty side of making cellphones
Phone Story by Molleindustria banned by iTunes
Ghosts with Shit Jobs
Is this $4,000 “lo-fi sci-fi” the future of Canadian Filmmaking?
It is the year 2040. China is the world’s dominant economic power, while North America’s decline has forced most of its citizens into degrading and menial jobs. In Toronto, two “silk-gatherers” collect and sell “spiz,” the remnants of secretions from giant arachnoids. Other jobs of the future include “digital janitor,” “baby-maker” and “human spam.” Such is the premise of a new Canadian film, Ghosts With Shit Jobs, premiered this week in London, England, and produced for only $4,000.
Is this “lo-fi sci-fi” the future of Canadian filmmaking? If the Harper government gets its way, corporate entertainment or art-on-a-shoestring budget are likely to be the only options left to Canadians. The 2012 federal budget delivered biting cuts to agencies that have supported Canadian film. The CBC, the National Film Board (NFB) and Telefilm Canada will each shed 10% from their funding with a loss of 650 jobs at CBC, 73 at the NFB and 16 at Telefilm.
More houses, less prisons
A review of the compelling documentary Herman's House
It’s hard to make a house without materials, and even harder if you are in solitary confinement in a US prison and have been there for forty years. What is required in that situation is imagination and perseverance, mixed with a healthy dose of love and anger — all of which the wonderful new documentary Herman’s House deliver.
Directed by Angad Singh Bhalla and produced by the keepin-it-real folks at Storyline, Herman’s House was deservedly very well-received at Hot Docs this year. The film follows New York artist Jackie Sumell who forges a relationship with former Black Panther Herman Wallace, who is locked up at Louisiana’s Angola prison since accused and convicted (with little evidence) of killing a security guard in 1972. Sumell becomes close with Wallace and provoked by her passion for social justice and art, eventually asks and Wallace what kind of house he would live in, setting on a journey to implement his dreams.
A doc that makes you want to occupy
We Are Wisconsin at Hot Docs 2012
Yesterday we caught three political docs at Hot Docs, and before I race off to The Law In These Parts, here is the first of more micro-reviews.
We Are Wisconsin, directed by Aimee Williams, is the first film I’ve seen at the festival that champions activism and calls on the audience to join in the fight, while offering a jumping-in point that so few other docs this year have been able to provide. The doc follows the Madison, Wisconsin uprising against Scott Walker and the legislature, after pro-labour and social-political activists learn of a bill that would eliminate collective bargaining powers and cut union pensions in the state. A trickle of peaceful student protestors at the Capitol soon turns into a tidal wave of popular support as all factions (even some Republican supporters!) of society turn up to have their voices heard.
Hot Docs 2012 Midpoint Roundup
A guide to the political stuff at Toronto's fest
Today is day five of Hot Docs 2012 and unlike last year, a lethal combination of meetings, movies and meanderings have kept me from a daily tally here at Art Threat. No mind, I intend to make up for it in the remaining five days of the fest, beginning with this round-up post. At some point I will also publish my suggestions for an improved festival – improvements that would contribute to a better more fulfilled experience for the documentary genre and community, and are very easy to implement. For now, the goods on the films I’ve seen so far.
Just do it (direct action)!
Activist documentary made free for May Day
From our activist and filmmaker friends in the UK:
Constellation and Occupy.com present A FREE 24-hour ONLINE SCREENING of Just Do It – a tale of modern-day outlaws, in celebration of May Day and in honour of the direct action being taken by thousands of people. The film will be offered online for free streaming from 5:30pm EST Monday 30th April to 5:30pm EST Tuesday 1st May. Plus a live Q&A with director Emily James at 7pm EST, directly after the first showing. More details after the jump.
Hot Docs 2012 preview
The good, the bad, the incomprehensible
The 19th edition of North America’s largest documentary showcase and one of the world’s largest film festivals begins this week, running from April 26 to May 6 in Toronto. With Charlotte Cook replacing Sean Farnel as head programmer, new directions (fewer films, more focus is the official line), new initiatives (Hot Docs’s very own Kickstarter, Doc Ignite), new sponsors (Nescafé, Dundee Wealth and Sun Life Financial, to name a few of the more spurious corporate inductees) and a gorgeously renovated, and reinvigorated, venue (The Bloor / Hot Docs Cinema), Canada’s non-fiction champ continues their tradition of perennial renewal, improvement and growth.
It’s all very promising and exciting and I’m sure this year will signal another hit in the festival’s two decade history. So to get things warmed up, I thought I’d take a look at the programming, which promises a mixed bag of goodies, baddies and proverbial head-scratchers.
That’s a wrap?
Killing Saskatchewan's film tax credit is economic nonsense
The cast from InSecurity. The TV show will no longer be produced in Saskatchewan.
With the announcement of the axing of the Saskatchewan Film Employment Tax Credit, we are effectively telling the rest of the film-producing world that Saskatchewan is closed for business. It’s a commonly known fact that film productions will not so much as consider a location that doesn’t have a tax credit program in place. In fact, even the ubiquitous Hollywood movie The Hunger Games, which made $155 million in its opening weekend, utilized a tax credit from North Carolina.
Being a movie lover, and writer / broadcaster in the province who is often identified with film, this makes me want to vomit with rage. I’d probably be working at 7-11 if not for the Saskatchewan film industry, which gave me my start and taught me how both the art and the business of how films work. This, in turn, helped my writing appear in places like The National Post.
Killed by Canada’s Oil & Gas companies?
Doc subject & eco-activist Wiebo Ludwig succumbs to cancer
Wiebo Ludwig, Canada’s controversial anti-oil patch activist died of esophageal cancer yesterday, leaving behind a legacy of resistance against this country’s dirtiest industry and greediest corporations. The Albertan had his share of scuffles with the law (and a shamefully demonizing mainstream media), and was accused (and charged once) of eco-terrosim in several pipeline and oil/gas site bombings. At stake for Ludwig and his prodigious Christian clan was, and still is, their way of life, their community, their health and the surrounding environment around their now toxic land.
The incredibly sensitive and thoughtful documentary, Wiebo’s War, about him and his family’s struggle can be downloaded here.Ludwig’s last interview can be found here at Canada’s grassroots newspaper, the Dominion. Read an Art Threat article about the film here.
Canada has lost a tenacious crusader against the seemingly unstoppable polluting and profiting forces of Big Oil and Gas, but many continue to fight. RIP Weibo Ludwig, December 19, 1941 – April 9, 2012.
