In this series of shorts, at times, satirical and playful, filmmakers ruminate about the current state of humankind in the post- September 11th world - wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, almost weekly terror acts in different parts of the planet, Department of Homeland Security, Patriot Act... Filmmakers inluded are: Paul Chan, Mike Nourse, Robert Arnold, and The Video Activist Network

RE:The_Operation video, 27 min, 2002
Now Let Us Praise American Leftists video, 3 min, 2000
Director: Paul Chan

Based on a set of drawings that depict George W. Bush's administration as wounded soldiers in the war against terrorism, RE:THE_OPERATION explores the sexual and philosophical dynamics of war through the lives of the members as they physically engage each other and the "enemy". Letters, notes, and digital snapshots "produced" by the members on their tour of duty become the basis of video portraits that articulate the neuroses and obsessions compelling them toward an infinite war. Part M*A*S*H*, part Three's Company, part philosophical meditation, with a dash of character assassination thrown in, RE:THE_OPERATION exists as a single channel video and a set of desktop replacement icons for MAC and PC. The icons can be downloaded at: http://www.nationalphilistine.com/operation/

"The public to which Mr. Chan’s video speaks is mostly anti-war, although whatever your views on the conflict, you cannot help laughing at what appears to be the voice of Colin Powell reading from the writings of Michel Foucault on the inevitability of history, or Condoleeza Rice at the front line dictating a letter to her family back home. My favorite is a voice sample of Donald Rumsfeld saying, "We must learn to live with low-density hope.""
--Benjamin Genocchio, The New York Times, 3/30/03

Now Let Us Praise American Leftists is an experimental video animation that seeks to eulogize and ridicule the American leftist movement of the past century. Foregrounding the exclusionary nature of American leftist politics, and its persistent refusal to allow more diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation to enter into the larger political daialogue, the video presents representations of American leftists as they are: men with mustaches. Over sixty leftist groups in the history of American leftist politics are represented with different types of mustaches, created using FACES™—a computer application used by North American law enforcement agencies to create composite pictures of criminals and suspects for wanted posters.

Paul Chan is an artist based in New York City.

Terror / Iraq/ Weapons 3min, video, 2003 (Chicago, IL)
Director: Mike Nourse

This is not a re-mix. This is a summary. No words have been repeated, and all instances appear in chronological order, taken from a 30 minute speech given by President George W. Bush. Scary isn't it?

Mike Nourse earned a B.A. in Communication from DePaul University in 1999, and an M.F.A. in Visual Communication from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2002, where he received a Graduate Fellowship Award. Originally from Montreal, Mike heads up Zero One Projects, a digital production company serving non-profit organizations. Specializing in video and design work, some of Zero One's clients include The National Jazz Museum, Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Conjugate Projekt, Community Architexts, World Seido Karate Organization, and SEIU Local 1. Mike is an adjunct factulty member of the Communication department at Depaul, where he teaches Media Arts Design, Video Production, and Digital Video Editing in DePaul's new Digital Media Center. Mike also teaches graduate projects for SAIC's Visual Communication department. His work has been screened in festivals around North America and Europe, and was recently featured on two DVDs (Select Media Festival and The Lost Film Festival).

We Interrupt This Empire... video, 52min, 2003
Director: The Video Activist Network

What happens when a trigger-happy cowboy with a pocket full of loot aims his guns on an oil-rich, people-poor nation? The San Francisco Bay Area Video Activist Network presents the story you won't see on Fox News: an eye-popping, jaw-dropping look at the Bay Area's radical resistance to an illegal war.

We Interrupt This Empire... is a collaborative work by many of the Bay Area's independent video activists which documents the direct actions that shut down the financial district of San Francisco in the weeks following the United States' invasion of Iraq. With the audio backdrop including the live broadcasts of SF Indymedia's Enemy Combatant Radio and the SFPD's tactical communications that were picked up by police scanners, the documentary takes a look at the diverse show of resistance from the streets of San Francisco as well as providing a critique of the coporate media coverage of the war and exploring such issues as the Military Industrial Complex, attacks on civil liberties, and the United States' current imperialist drive.

The Video Activist Network is an informal association of activists and politically conscious artists using video to support social, economic and environmental justice campaigns.

Echolalia Video, 3 min, 2003
Director: Robert Arnold Artist In Person

Echolalia is the endless repetition of words or phrases without understanding their meaning, associated with forms of dementia and aphasia. It also describes the process whereby the continuous repetition of a word or phrase can result in a loss of meaning (also known as semantic satiation). In the ongoing war against terrorism and the pending war against Iraq (at the time), certain phrases are being endlessly repeated, even by members of the opposition, to the point where these phrases are treated as concrete facts without reference to their meaning or any thoughtful analysis. I tried to record as many instances of people repeating the phrase “weapons of mass destruction” as I could stand and re-present these statements in a way that draws attention to the deadening effect of their repetition, however emphatically they are expressed.

Robert Arnold studied sculpture before starting to make films in 1980. Earned Ph.D. in Film Theory , University of Iowa, 1994, and has published several articles in academic film journals. Teaching film and video since 1985. Currently Associate Professor of Film Production at Boston University and recently Visiting Professor of video and installation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan', Poland. Recipient of 2001 South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual and Media Artists. Resides in Jamaica Plain, MA, with spouse Katie Travis and dogs, Mr. Dog and Stinky.

Bushwhacked2 Video, 3 min, 2003
Director: Warped Productions

A scary remix of George W Bush's State of the Union Address.