November 29th, Thursday, 7:30PM

Location: Coolidge Corner Theatre
290 Harvard St. Brookline, MA (directions)
Tickets: $8 general admission

Balagan presents: Boston Premiere!
Strange Culture (2007) 52 minutes
by Lynn Hershman Leeson
Guest Speaker to be announced
FILM STARS TILDA SWINTON, PETER COYOTE, THOMAS JAY RYAN, JOSH KORNBLUTH AND STEVE KURTZ

“ 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

“Hershman Leeson is as interested in reinventing the doc form as she is in publicizing Kurtz's case…The director not only breaks the fourth wall, she reduces it to plaster dust…Hershman Leeson gets it. And so will viewers of Strange Culture. ”— Variety

“With disarming directness and intriguing indirectness, Hershman Leeson has made a document—though not quite a documentary—that speaks volumes about where free expression stands today in the U.S. in its ceaseless combat with the forces of repression.”— Hollywood Reporter

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

Following tremendous critical acclaim, Lynn Hershman Leeson 's new film Strange Culture will open in theaters nationwide this fall. The Museum of Modern Art will present a special screening on October 1 before the film opens at the Cinema Village in New York City on October 5 . Strange Culture world premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and screened at a number of prestigious festivals including Berlinale 2007, the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Human Rights Watch 2007 International Film Festival. The documentary film stars Tilda Swinton ( The Chronicles of Narnia, Broken Flowers ), Peter Coyote ( Femme Fatale ), Thomas Jay Ryan ( Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ), Josh Kornbluth ( Teknolust ) and Steve Kurtz . For a complete schedule, please see reverse.

Strange Culture is a film documenting the ongoing and precedent-setting legal battle of Steve Kurtz, an Associate Professor of Art at SUNY Buffalo and a founding member of the internationally-acclaimed art and theater group, Critical Art Ensemble.

While he was working on an exhibition for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Kurtz's wife, Hope, tragically died in her sleep of heart failure on May 11, 2004. Kurtz called 911, but when police arrived, they became suspicious of his art supplies and called the FBI. Within hours, federal agents in HAZMAT suits were sifting through his home and impounded his computers, books, cat, and even his wife's body. He was detained as a suspected “bioterrorist” and is currently part of an on-going federal trial. Kurtz and his long-time collaborator Dr. Robert Ferrell, Professor of Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, each were charged with federal mail and wire fraud, potentially carrying a sentence of 20 years.

“When I learned about this case” Hershman Leeson says, “I dropped all other projects I was working on to see how I could help. I decided to make a film about this story to bring awareness of this situation to as many people as possible. It is a story about the curtailment of freedom of expression, and this issue is a cornerstone of a free society.”

As Kurtz cannot legally talk freely about the case, Leeson enlists actors to interpret his story. Dramatic reenactments are woven together through animation, news footage, testimonials and interviews. The resulting complex documentary investigates the risk artists face when they question government policies in this post-9/11 climate.

As the case has the potential to alter first amendment rights concerning freedom of speech for artists, scientists and researchers, Kurtz's case has been extensively reported on by outlets such as The Washington Post , The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times .

In addition to its recent world premiere at Sundance, Strange Culture also premiered on Second Life, an online virtual community in which users interact via digital avatars. A special Q&A session following the film was digitally recorded and can now be viewed by all Second Life members. The screening was a first for Second Life with Wired calling it, “…an historic filmic event…”

Lynn Hershman Leeson has been cited as the “most influential woman working in new media” and is a pioneer of technical innovation. Hershman Leeson made her Sundance debut in 1997 with Conceiving Ada and was nominated for an Independent Feature Award for her work on that film. Hershman Leeson received the Sloan Award for writing and directing Teknolust (2002), which also premiered at Sundance, and is a fellow of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab.

Directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson, Strange Culture is produced by Hershman Leeson, Lise Swenson and Steven Beer. Hiro Narita is the Director of Photography and the film features an original score by The Residents.