I’m still trying to figure out what Queens of the Stone Age have to do with Slow Food and why they were on Anthony Bourdain‘s No Reservations tonight… but I am much more excited about Tuesday night’s debut on the Sundance Channel of the film Strange Culture. I’ve been following the strange and tragic case of Steve Kurtz pretty much since day one and have tried to be an outspoken supporter of his case in my limited ability. If you get the channel, I urge you to tune in tomorrow night at 9:30pm. Here’s the description from the Sundance site:
What does it take to fall under suspicion as a terrorist in contemporary America? Experimental filmmaker and artist Lynn Hershman Leeson (CONCEIVING ADA) tells the disturbing Kafkaesque story of Steve Kurtz, a conceptual artist/college professor who was suspected of bioterrorism after FBI agents found harmless microbes in his house. Breaking from documentary convention, Hershman Leeson uses comic strips and actors (Tilda Swinton, Thomas Jay Ryan and Peter Coyote) to tell the tale. “A scary testament to the power of fear” — Seattle Times.
The details are a bit more bizarre and disturbing. Read the background at the Critical Art Ensemble Defense Fund site. The American public is only just starting to wake up to the abuses perpetrated since 9/11. The recent revelation of the destruction of torture videotape documentation by the C.I.A. (New York Times story – registration required) and the condemnation of this by Senator Edward Kennedy has set this issue in fresh relief, but the case of Professor Kurtz… so much closer to home… should have the resonance many people need to start giving a shit about the abuses being perpetrated on U.S. citizens in the name of our security.
