Director: Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler
Producer: Jesse Moss
Cast: William Kunstler, Herman Badillo, Dennis Banks, Harry Belafonte, Clyde Bellecourt, Father Daniel Berrigan, Phil Donahue
Off-Center Productions
Distributed by Arthouse Films
For more information and screening dates, see: www.disturbingtheuniverse.com
The daughters of the activist lawyer William Kunstler, Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, are the authors of this film about the career of the controversial and combative attorney the New York Times aptly dubbed “the most hated and most loved lawyer in America,” but that does not mean they are not otherwise eminently qualified to take on such a project. The sisters are the founders of Off Center Media and have produced a host of documentaries, including Tulia, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War, which took the honors for Best Documentary Short at the Woodstock Film Festival and, more to the point, was instrumental in winning exoneration for 46 wrongfully convicted people, an overwhelming proffer of proof that they are indeed their father’s daughters.
Artist Sandow Birk has taken on a mighty taskthat is sure to provoke controversy and, hopefully, some thoughtful meditation on the nature of Islam, which is not only the principal faith of the peoples with whom our country is currently embroiled in the Middle East – it is also the fastest growing religion in America. But what does American Islam in the 21st Century look like? That is the question Birk explores in a new illustrated edition of the Koran on display at the Koplin Del Rio Gallery in Culver City, September 8 through October 30. Koplin’s vision is distinctly contemporary – but linking images of modern American life with this ancient text creates intriguing and sometimes surprisingly apt associations.
There aren't many art websites that have a truly smart, sophisticated sensibility, that cover contemporary art on a world-wide scaleand manage to post updates daily. Dailyserving.com is among the best of these. If you are not already familiar with it, check it out. There are many features about California and, more specifically L.A. artists. It is a genuinely astounding resource that creates a global context for the plastic arts.
Here's how the site is described on its info page:
It’s a strange phenomenon of Los Angeles that many of its most talented artists are more well known elsewhere than in their own backyard. That’s true of musicians, too, and Tawny Ellis is a perfect example; a supremely talented vocalist and songwriter whose musical roots include Patsy Cline, The Pretenders and Neil Young (she also claims Michaelangelo, David Bowie and Ernest Hemingway, though these are less obvious) who is more well known in Arkansas and Belgium than in L.A. -- except, perhaps, among knowledgeable aficionados. She is one of those performers who you just know is going places – although in fairness, she ‘s already been a few (Arkansas and Belgium are just two) and you’ve probably her on movie and TV soundtracks. The title song of her latest album, “Evolve or Die,” is featured on the track of “Women of the West,” an upcoming feature that reunites most of the cast of the HBO series, “Deadwood.”
If you like wandering around exotic locales with Google Maps street view,you’re gonna love this site. It is a 360-degree, hi-def, panoramic view of Paris in the early evening with 49 details you can click to enlarge (in the little red squares that appear as you mouse along). Look for Sacre Coeur, the 747 in flight and the nude ascending the staircase (the building on the far left, 2nd floor from the top, 2nd window from the right . . .).
Obie-award winning Playwright Murray Mednick has never wavered from his commitment to works that push the outer edges of the sort of off-off Broadway theater that flowered in New York during the late (great) 60’s. That efflorescence was due, to a significant degree, to the now fabled Theater Genesis, where Mednick was one of the principal creative voices. As related by playwright David Crespy in “Off-Off Broadway Explosion,” “Mednick’s plays were among the most controversial seen at Genesis – to name a few, The Hunter, Willie the Germ and The Hawk – plays that that did not just mirror the time but were ‘what’s happening,’ said (Newsweek’s) Jack Kroll.” The Kroll piece characterized Theater Genesis productions as containing “a pungent aura of heavy tripping, plenty of gunfire and other shock situations.”
Mednick’s work has matured since then, of course, but it retains Genesis’ hard, bright, tightly condensed human drama -- although in vastly enlarged contexts that build on historic and cultural themes that demonstrate Mednick’s voice has kept pace with the decades (and lost none of its pungency). He is the founder and remains the guiding light of Padua Playwrights and his works continue to attract critical accolades.
The buzz from New York about the film "Tokyo!" (based on the graphic novel by Gabrielle Bell) is reaching hysterical levels – and while we are usually loath to take our cues from Right Coasters (who tend to be a bit too hipsterish on-the-nose for our more eclectic, Left Coast, sandy-toed taste), but when the word comes from an Angeleno in exile, it’s sometimes worthwhile to take notice. According to our occasional New York correspondent, "'Tokyo!' is the kind of independent, Hollywood-defying film that fans of graphic novels, disappointed by the bland, big bucks cinematic translation of Marvel comics, have longed for.”
"Tokyo!" will be screened at the Nuart on March 20th (and have a brief run following that date). Ayako Fujitani, the lead actress in Michel Gondry's segment "Interior Design" will appear for the 7:15 PM show on March 20th.
Abraham Obama, a film by Kevin Chapados, produced by Daniel Lahoda and Ron English, premiers in L.A, on Monday, May 4 as part of the L.A. United Film Festival at Los Feliz 3 Cinemas. See http://www.theunitedfest.com/losangeles/tickets.htm for more.
The Abraham/Obama poster created by New York artist Ron Englishis not quite as famous as Shepard Fairey’s iconic image,which, as Steven Colbert reports, is second only to Georgia O’Keefe’s painting of a giant vagina as a popular portrait of a presidential candidate. Nevertheless, English’s work managed to cause a well-deserved stir -- which is not surprising for an artist who was responsible for his sly take on a popular ad campaign a few years back with his billboard image of Charles Manson accompanied by the text, “Think Different.”
E Pluribus Venom: The Art of Shepard Fairey
By Shepard Fairey, Sarah Jaye Williams
and Jonathan LeVine
Gingko Press in association with
Obey Giant
145 pp., $35.00
In June of 2007 Shepard Fairey mounted a show at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York City. It was Fairey’s first solo show in New York in seven years and was also the largest and most ambitious of his 19-year career, featuring more than 130 pieces, including five 11’ by 16’ mixed media installations.
“Bathroom Graffiti” by Mark Ferem
Mark Batty Publisher, NY
By Jonathan Jerald
Robert Frost was probably not thinking of the interior surfaces of a toilet stall when he composed the lines, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” But as Pink Floyd reminds us, all walls are inherently annoying. As far back as the archaeological record reaches, walls have been defaced by graffiti (“Fortunatus made it with Anthusam,” found on a wall buried in the ruins of Pompeii and dating back to AD 79, expresses a common theme). Maybe it’s because walls represent the most basic form of human control and incite in us a rebellious reflex.
In “The Neo-Sacred Revival,” three one-act plays by Padua Playwrights' Sharon Yablon, Guy Zimmerman and Heidi Darchuk (now playing downtown in the Arts District’s ArtShare theater space), characters wander from the hard-edged realism of an awkward cocktail party in Venice through a surreal encounter between Quannah Parker and a struggling screenwriter to the afterlife bardo where a young woman comes to terms with her own death. This is the well-staked terrain of Padua, described by Steven Leigh Morris as “a place where Jack Kerouac meets Samuel Beckett.” Strong performances from a talented cast and humorous and elegant musical interludes that succeed in unifying the evening produce a remarkable and remarkably intelligent theater experience.
My attention span is shot. Yet I like to watch long, slow (or I as like to call them “deliberately paced”) movies. When one is battling a hectic world and a virulent media aiming to steal your attention for a few seconds or minutes or even hours everywhere you turn, a bit of escape is of paramount importance. This may take many forms. For me, a good, deliberately paced movie is therapy -- like yoga or gardening or meditation – it’s my nearest faraway place. Slow, languidly–paced films help focus the brain on just one thing for an extended time and engage the mind in interesting ways. Sure, a popcorn movie can serve as a good form of mindless escapism (and I watch a lot of ‘em), but with action points every 10 minutes and/or formulaic and manipulative plot lines, they generally don’t work as the meditative respite I crave. It’s not always easy though -- nurturing an atrophied attention span back to health takes some effort. It’s like working out at the gym; one has to start off slow and keep going -- even if you don’t want to, but knowing you’ll feel better having done it. Your attention span is a muscle – you have to exercise it or it will shrivel up and watch “Robot Chicken” (Season 3 just released) ad infinitum.
Obie-award winning Playwright Murray Mednick has never wavered from his commitment to works that push the outer edges of the sort of off-off Broadway theater that flowered in New York during the late (great) 60’s. That efflorescence was due, to a significant degree, to the now fabled Theater Genesis, where Mednick was one of the principal creative voices. As related by playwright David Crespy in “Off-Off Broadway Explosion,” “Mednick’s plays were among the most controversial seen at Genesis – to name a few, The Hunter, Willie the Germ and The Hawk – plays that that did not just mirror the time but were ‘what’s happening,’ said (Newsweek’s) Jack Kroll.” The Kroll piece characterized Theater Genesis productions as containing “a pungent aura of heavy tripping, plenty of gunfire and other shock situations.” 
The buzz from New York about the film "Tokyo!" (based on the graphic novel by Gabrielle Bell) is reaching hysterical levels – and while we are usually loath to take our cues from Right Coasters (who tend to be a bit too hipsterish on-the-nose for our more eclectic, Left Coast, sandy-toed taste), but when the word comes from an Angeleno in exile, it’s sometimes worthwhile to take notice. According to our occasional New York correspondent, "'Tokyo!' is the kind of independent, Hollywood-defying film that fans of graphic novels, disappointed by the bland, big bucks cinematic translation of Marvel comics, have longed for.” 
Robert Frost was probably not thinking of the interior surfaces of a toilet stall when he composed the lines, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” But as Pink Floyd reminds us, all walls are inherently annoying. As far back as the archaeological record reaches, walls have been defaced by graffiti (“Fortunatus made it with Anthusam,” found on a wall buried in the ruins of Pompeii and dating back to AD 79, expresses a common theme). Maybe it’s because walls represent the most basic form of human control and incite in us a rebellious reflex.
My attention span is shot. Yet I like to watch long, slow (or I as like to call them “deliberately paced”) movies. When one is battling a hectic world and a virulent media aiming to steal your attention for a few seconds or minutes or even hours everywhere you turn, a bit of escape is of paramount importance. This may take many forms. For me, a good, deliberately paced movie is therapy -- like yoga or gardening or meditation – it’s my nearest faraway place. Slow, languidly–paced films help focus the brain on just one thing for an extended time and engage the mind in interesting ways. Sure, a popcorn movie can serve as a good form of mindless escapism (and I watch a lot of ‘em), but with action points every 10 minutes and/or formulaic and manipulative plot lines, they generally don’t work as the meditative respite I crave. It’s not always easy though -- nurturing an atrophied attention span back to health takes some effort. It’s like working out at the gym; one has to start off slow and keep going -- even if you don’t want to, but knowing you’ll feel better having done it. Your attention span is a muscle – you have to exercise it or it will shrivel up and watch 
