[CounterCorp] TONIGHT! The 2007 Anti-Corporate Film Festival

[CounterCorp News and Events List]

Dear CounterCorp supporters,

	Well, it's finally here: The 2nd Annual CounterCorp Anti-Corporate  
Film Festival opens tonight at the Victoria Theatre on 16th Street  
with a WORLD premiere of a film about who owns and controls our  
history, culture, and imaginations.

	From there we role on with three days of films and discussions on  
everything from globalized food and office intrigue to citizen  
responses to corporate power and influence, in the form of civic  
journalism, workers’ collectives, legal jujitsu, and much, much more.

	We've divided the three days of the Festival into themes that relate  
to the films that are showing that day. Opening night is “Thoughtful  
Thursday” and includes two films about the corporate control of  
ideas. It starts at 7:00pm with the world premiere of FREEDOM OF  
EXPRESSION, an exploration of the battle currently being fought in  
the courts, the media, academia, and on the Internet between people  
and corporations for control over creativity, copyright,  
“intellectual property” and the cultural commons. The film will be  
followed by a discussion with several guests speakers.

	The opening night headliner, BEFORE THE MUSIC DIES, continues the  
theme of creativity at 9:00pm with an unsettling yet ultimately  
hopeful look at corporate control of popular music. A handful of  
companies decide what music people can hear on the radio and buy in  
stores, but independent musicians are using the Internet to reach  
more people than ever. The film features interviews/performances by  
Erykah Badu, Calexico, Elvis Costello, Branford Marsalis, Dave  
Matthews, My Morning Jacket, Bonnie Raitt, Widespread Panic, and  
others, and is narrated by award-winning actor Forrest Whittaker. The  
music alone is reason to see this film.

	The Festival resumes the follow night on "Foreign Friday", which is  
devoted to films from abroad. It starts at 7:00pm with the California  
premiere of WE FEED THE WORLD, an Austrian documentary that traces  
the flow of food and money in our the global, industrialized food  
system, depicting the scarcity and starvation amid inefficiency and  
excess using strangely beautiful yet haunting images. It's in German,  
French, and Portuguese with English subtitles, so bring your glasses.

	Instead of a post-film discussion, we're featuring our two best  
narrative (fictional) short films at 8:30pm, "A Drop of Life", a U.S.  
film about water privatization in India, and "A Little Musical Day",  
an artistic and abstract film from France about the strange culture  
of the modern office.

	 In keeping with CounterCorp's one-year tradition, this year’s  
centerpiece film at 9:00pm is also a narrative film. THE METHOD ("El  
Metodo") is from Spain and was written by the screenwriter of  
"Vanilla Sky" and "The Sea Inside". Part mystery, part suspense- 
thriller, it portrays a dog-eat-dog struggle between seven candidates  
for a senior position at a large corporation. They're assembled  
together, told that one of them is actually a mole who will choose  
the final candidate for the job, and then slowly eliminated one-by- 
one in a grueling, "Survivor"-like interview process. If you see one  
film at this year's Festival, see this one.

	The Festival concludes this year with “Solution Saturday”, featuring  
films that offer the audience a example of how people are responding  
to the corporatization of their lives by choosing other options,  
resisting and defeating corporations on their own terms. It begins at  
2:00pm with "Citizen Film," a matinee program of short documentaries  
made by ordinary folks who become reluctant activists and journalists  
when corporations threaten their health, safety, and basic way of life.

	That's followed at 4:00pm by a second program of short films  
entitled “No Boss, No Loss”, featuring documentaries on the history  
and practical aspects of workers' collectives as alternatives to the  
corporate model.

	The first feature of the day is the California premiere of  
OVERDRAWN!, which follows in the footsteps of such modern classics as  
"Supersize Me" and Michael Moore’s recent "Sicko" in the genre of  
“first-person shooter” docs, chronicling the heroic struggle of an  
ordinary man pushed to the brink by his bank's overdraft fees against  
the exploitative practices of the modern U.S. banking industry. Can  
“citizen David” ever hope to defeat Goliath, Inc? See the film and  
find out.

	The Festival concludes with the San Francisco premiere of THIS LAND  
IS YOUR LAND, a film no doubt inspired by "The Corporation" (which we  
screened at last year's Festival), but which examines the corporate  
takeover of American life from the point of view of the ordinary  
people most affected by it. The filmmakers traveled across the U.S.  
for three years interviewing historians, media pundits, award-winning  
authors, and just plain folks about the impact of corporate power on  
nearly every aspect of their daily lives. What they discovered was  
citizens engaged in small but unique, funny and inspiring acts of  
resistance.

	Most of the films are either preceded by related short films, or  
followed by Q&As with guest speakers, and often both. You can view  
trailers of the feature films and purchase tickets for all of the  
films online on the Festival page of the CounterCorp website at  
<www.countercorp.org/countercorp-festival.htm>. The Victoria Theatre  
is located at 2961 16th Street (at Mission Street, across from BART)  
in San Francisco, surrounded by great restaurants, cafes, and bars  
for your pre- and post-film pleasure.

	Thanks as always for your support -- we couldn't do any of this  
without you, and we hope to see you at the Festival some time in the  
next three days!

CounterCorp Core Corps