Suffering through the late night throes of programming for Cinema Politica I stumbled upon what seemed to be a promising documentary called Greenlit, a film about sustainability and the film industry, made by LA insiders. It had a light-hearted start that seemed to me conspicuously set up to suck in
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Art Threat: Not a cool time to be Canadian – Friday Film Pick: Everything’s Cool
On Monday the Canadian government officially announced the very unpopular decision to withdraw from Kyoto, furthering Canada’s status as eco-pariah on the international stage while reinforcing the massive chasm that exists between Canada’s citizens and its Conservative government. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives won a majority in last year’s election despite the
Continue readingArt Threat: Help fund new doc about a rebel poet – Friday Film Pick: Alice Walker – Beauty in Truth
This week’s Friday Film Pick kicks off a new initiative at Art Threat where we will select at least one IndieGoGo project per month to highlight important fundraising efforts. IndieGoGo is an independent fundraising platform for all kinds of projects, including political films and political art initiatives. Since political art
Continue readingArt Threat: Help fund Project Homophobia film – Friday Film Pick: The Boy Next Door
Gregor Schmidinger’s 2008 short film The Boy Next Door has received its share of positive attention, and to date, has had over 52,000 viewings on Vimeo. The film, while mildly suffering a few stilted moments between adult and child actors, is a well-executed narrative fragment about a male prostitute, his
Continue readingArt Threat: Propaganda and consumption – Friday Film Pick: Outfoxed & Wal-Town
Best Buy shoppers camp out before Black Friday, proving that certain kinds of occupations are indeed acceptable. This week’s Friday Film Pick is a double bill, commemorating two important moments. Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism is a pick that commemorates the recent poll published by Fairleigh Dickinson University showing
Continue readingArt Threat: Oscar short list for best doc comes up short – List of fifteen films is missing some solid contenders
The 2012 Academy short lists were announced recently and the list for Best Documentary—a collection of apolitical, liberal, biographical, historical and some punchy fare—is missing its usual heavy lifters and heavy hitters. Once again the prolific Werner Herzog has been shunned by the Academy despite winning awards and accolades for
Continue readingArt Threat: Controversial adverts orally arouse – Kissing pope and cigarette fellatio among ads causing a stir
Two new ad campaigns launched in Europe have some knickers twisted at the site of political and religious leaders making out and at the reference to oral sex to warn of the dangers of smoking. On the commercial front, Benetton has continued its Unhate advertising campaign with photoshopped images of
Continue readingArt Threat: We must remember war in order to stop it – Friday Film Pick: Come and See
For Remembrance Day watch Klimov’s classic anti-war film COME AND SEE.
Continue readingArt Threat: New Nordic Documentary Cinema – Identity and belonging made visible
To describe the topic of Nordic documentary cinema as unexplored would be an understatement.
Continue readingArt Threat: Lesbian art attack – The picks from Autostraddle’s NSFW Lesbosexy Sunday
The amazing crew at Autostraddle have compiled a slew of Lesbo art for all to peruse and politic upon, including a full-on gallery, list of installations, documentaries and more. There’s really no need to say more, you can go to our favourite feminist lesbian site if you feel inclined (or reclined). Happy lesbosexy Sunday. Image: […]
Continue readingArt Threat: Remember Burma? – Friday Film Pick: Happy World
A short while back, Bryan Farrell, who also writes for WagingNonviolence, told Slate readers about a short web doc called “Happy World.” A peak inside the bizarre dictatorship currently gripping Burma, the doc blends satire and observation to reveal the absurdity of the ongoing regime. The film lacks real analysis, but is a solid compendium […]
Continue readingArt Threat: Let’s not make money – Friday Film Pick: 10 docs on capitalism & economics
Ten great docs that bring context to the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Continue readingArt Threat: Put the Pocahontas back in the closet – Ethnic Halloween costumes challenged by Ohio student group
Racist Halloween costumes aren’t all the rage this year, thankfully.
Continue readingArt Threat: Occupy Wall Street on Vimeo – A selection of some recent videos of the NYC manifestation
Three beautifully shot Occupy Wall Street videos.
Continue readingArt Threat: Haunted animals – New doc project explores animal suffering
Liz Marshall, the director of Water on the Table, is working with photographer Jo-Anne McArthur on a new cross-platform documentary about the price animals pay as subjugated, commodified and oppressed beings in the human-controlled global industrial capitalist system. The blurb: THE GHOSTS IN OUR MACHINE is a cinematic point-of-view documentary and an immersive educational online […]
Continue readingArt Threat: Stealing to save the world – Kenk is a fascinating graphic novel about Toronto’s notorious bike thief
The vilified bike thief Kenk gets a complex treatment in this intriguing graphic novel.
Continue readingArt Threat: Yoko Ono puts bed-in doc on Youtube – Last day to watch "Bed Peace"
Yoko Ono has put a 70 minute documentary about Ono and Lennon’s “bed-in” for peace in Montreal online for one weekend. Today is the last day to watch the doc – at midnight it will be taken down. From Ono: Dear Friends, In 1969, John and I were so naïve to think that doing the […]
Continue readingArt Threat: King and Queen of the Road – Friday Film Pick: You Never Bike Alone
Get naked. And bike on the road where the cars dare to roll.
Continue readingArt Threat: Blue Gaza – Friday Film Pick: Gaza Strip
An award-winning 2002 documentary on Gaza from filmmaker James Longley is now available on line.
Continue readingArt Threat: One play at a time – Teesri Duniya Theatre challenges the status quo
A fierce non-profit theatre takes provokes through the political and the personal.
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