Short film "Peaceful Propaganda" shows a darker side of peace activism.
September 2, 2005 (Press Release) --
On Sunday, September 4th the One Reel Film Festival at Bumbershoot will present a politically charged film called "Peaceful Propaganda" directed by A. Jonathan Benny which looks at a peace march from the admiring point-of-view of a fascist propaganda film. "I stepped outside one morning," says Benny, a Vancouver-based filmmaker "and saw hundreds of people marching past me with some holding banners equating Bush to Hitler, signs with swastikas superimposed over the state of Texas and posters calling for the protection of 'North Korea's right to Nuclear Arms'. When one of the activists asked me why I was shaking my head, I realized I needed to make this film."
Benny lugged around an old 35mm movie camera to capture images of actual peace marches that would later be turned into the black and white, mock-propaganda film, complete with a crackling, bellowing voiceover. "I wanted the film to do justice to the perversion I saw that day." The film, which will also screen in Athens at the International Panorama of Independent Filmmakers in late September shows grainy images of activists proudly holding signs which liken the burning down of the Reichstag in 1933 to the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.
"Watching the marchers and their children running around looking at the messages that were surrounding them, I felt very sad." Benny who at one time marched along with the peace movement sees the film as justified. "I'm not pro-war. I used to paint peace-signs on my face and march for hours. I won't anymore though. I won't march next to someone holding a sign equating President Bush to Hitler or an activist holding a banner promoting the idea of a communist revolution as a pathway to peace. At its core this film is a documentary that expresses my dismay at those who are willing to trivialize past horrors to further a cause."
"Peaceful Propaganda" screens at the One Reel Film Festival at Bumbershoot in Seattle at 2pm on Sunday, September 4th as part of the "War Torn" program featuring a collection of films commenting on American Foreign Policy. For more information about Bumbershoot and the One Reel Film Festival please visit www.onereel.org For more information about A. Jonathan Benny please visit www.inter-muses.com
Benny lugged around an old 35mm movie camera to capture images of actual peace marches that would later be turned into the black and white, mock-propaganda film, complete with a crackling, bellowing voiceover. "I wanted the film to do justice to the perversion I saw that day." The film, which will also screen in Athens at the International Panorama of Independent Filmmakers in late September shows grainy images of activists proudly holding signs which liken the burning down of the Reichstag in 1933 to the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.
"Watching the marchers and their children running around looking at the messages that were surrounding them, I felt very sad." Benny who at one time marched along with the peace movement sees the film as justified. "I'm not pro-war. I used to paint peace-signs on my face and march for hours. I won't anymore though. I won't march next to someone holding a sign equating President Bush to Hitler or an activist holding a banner promoting the idea of a communist revolution as a pathway to peace. At its core this film is a documentary that expresses my dismay at those who are willing to trivialize past horrors to further a cause."
"Peaceful Propaganda" screens at the One Reel Film Festival at Bumbershoot in Seattle at 2pm on Sunday, September 4th as part of the "War Torn" program featuring a collection of films commenting on American Foreign Policy. For more information about Bumbershoot and the One Reel Film Festival please visit www.onereel.org For more information about A. Jonathan Benny please visit www.inter-muses.com
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