Film Categories: Politics + Policy

  • Business as Usual

    Vision. Leadership. Expertise. Monster. Who the hell is running things anyway? Is he man or beast, machine or god? Toronto, New York, London, Tokyo – “BUSINESS AS USUAL” invites you along for a psychotic ride through the financial power capitals of the world. Witness the omnipresent executive citizen as he (it) imitates you with his bizarre rituals of behavioral dysfunction. Description – “BUSINESS AS USUAL” If a Corporation were to be embodied in a human being, how would it act? What would it do? What would it look like? Described as an art-film version of ‘The Corporation’, “BUSINESS AS USUAL”…

  • Tuesday Be My Friend

    Sweet SHIUAN, a non-Muslim Malaysian, secretly loves her tudungs (Muslim headscarves), but none of her friends and family know. She is looking for friends who understand and on this particular Tuesday, she finds them. ‘TUESDAY BE MY FRIEND’ tells the story of one Malaysian girl that decides to take her fate into her own hands just so she can be happy. Mandarin with English subtitles. “TUESDAY BE MY FRIEND” is set in modern-day Malaysia, a country with Islam as its official religion, and Bahasa Melayu (Malay language) as its national language. The tudung (hijab) is a Muslim headscarf normally worn…

  • Robota

    “Robota” is a stop-motion animated film done entirely in Lego. Set in a decayed urban core, a panhandling robot, Robota, makes enough money to place a bet at the robot-cockfighting arena. At the arena, Robota witnesses the carnage of robots created specifically for tearing one another apart for others’ amusement. Luckily, Robota wins enough money to continue on her journey. She navigates through deserted city streets, across highways of ferocious traffic and even takes the subway to get to her destination. Finally, Robota makes it to the Robot Repair Clinic (though a rather cut-rate one) and it is here that…

  • Devil Lives in Hollywood, The

    As the narrator sings of her confusion and disillusionment about the way the world is run, iconic images are presented and dismembered for both comic and unsettling effect. Conveyor-belt happy hamburgers cause heads to explode into love, flying deer are used for target practice and superman eats ice cream in his wheelchair. I’d like to share share, pretend I care but there’s no superheroes and I just don’t give a I wanna be a super model, a super model model, super model

  • Cracker Barrel My Ass

    One mistificata version, but divertentissima – and one scratching taken in turn – of the history (true) of one chain American of restaurants that has decided to fire all the dependent gay or such suspiciones.

  • we two boys together clinging

    “we two boys together clinging” juxtaposes Elsie Wayne’s tirade in Parliament against gay marriage, with her repetitious, assumptive use of “we,” to Walt Whitman’s poem in which the personal is the political: “no law less than ourselves owning”, to question the interface of the law, personal freedom and moral judgement.

  • traveling thru with eyes closed tight (map #2 – january 03 thru january 06)

    a yellow field meets clear blue skies. a mist of water over bright green grass. a well worn sidewalk in grey and white. a lone black crow on a sandy beach. a lowering sun fades into the sea. Made with the support of LIFT & the New Directions in Cinema Series, 2006.

  • hysteria

    An unstable community leads to accusations and panic. Re-considering the Salem witch trials of 1692. Then doesn’t always seem so far off from now. “In ‘hysteria’, Christina Battle refers obliquely to the contemporary political climate using schoolbook illustrations of the Salem witch trials. She works the surface of the film in distinctive ways, lifting the emulsion to add new wrinkles to the image one frame at a time.” – Chris Gehman & Andréa Picard, Toronto International Film Festival Made with the support of LIFT & the New Directions in Cinema Series, 2006. Selected screenings: Toronto International Film Festival, 2006

  • three hours, fifteen minutes before the hurricane struck

    Inspired by the diorama-like boxes of Joseph Cornell, and with text taken from victims of hurricane Katrina, “three hours, fifteen minutes before the hurricane struck” imagines moments just before a violent weather storm. “three hours, fifteen minutes before the hurricane struck” is part of a larger project titled “weather series one (hurricanes)”, a mixed-media installation with works on paper, film, video and small objects. Made with the support of LIFT & the New Directions in Cinema Series, 2006.

  • Attack of the Bride Monster

    A “Bride Monster” is loose in the gay community; can Betty and Stella’s 25-year relationship survive? When Betty falls under the Bride Monster ‘s bedazzling spell, Stella watches in horror as her long-time companion is transformed into the kind of woman that only Rock Hudson (or Godzilla) could love. Attack of the Bride Monster blends live-action and animation in a highly stylized homage to the romantic comedies and monster movies of the 1950s. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of the rise and fall of same sex marriage, Attack of the Bride Monster challenges all lovers to pop this question: “Just…