[IMC-bristol] Films For March?

[James Venables]

Hello Kyra,

Good. I'm now doing a mid-month supplement to BSTW News, so I'll give 
this some additional publicity in a couple of weeks. Do you know if the 
Cube approached BSTW for funds?, as I don't go to every meeting, and 
I've missed a few recently.

Hopefully they did, as a popular misconception seems to be that people 
need to ask me whether BSTW will support them, or that if people let me 
know about something I'll bring it to the BSTW meeting on their behalf, 
which I don't because it too much of a burden to be a general contact.

So, remember, if the Cube, or anyone, want support from BSTW, it's the 
BSTW meeting they need to approach, not me, as I'm just the Newsletter 
slave :o).

Best wishes,

James

In message <40214052.5000300 at compactdance.org.uk>, kyra 
<kyra at compactdance.org.uk> writes
>by happy chance, jack stevenson is coming to the cube with his hearts 
>minds body parts and more - friday 20th, sat 21st feb
>
>(in fact this was the screening that the cube were asking me to ask 
>BSTW for support for...)
>
>cheers anyway, and should be good
>
>kyrax
>
>James Venables wrote:
>
>> Hello IMCers,
>>  I was sent the message below from a Jack Stevenson from Denmark. 
>>He's  touring the UK through Feb & Mar, & looking to show some of his 
>>anti-war  films. As you're looking for stuff to show in March, this 
>>may be of  interest to you, especially the short films. (He may be 
>>around for 25th  Feb too.)
>>  Email: Jack Stevenson <pust.jack at get2net.dk>
>>  Cheers,
>>  James
>>  ***************************************
>> Subject: Denmark calling
>> To:      james at venables.plus.com
>> From:    Jack Stevenson <pust.jack at get2net.dk>
>> Date:    Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:04:14 +0100
>>   Dear James,
>>      I am an American film writer and print collector living in 
>>Denmark and from Feb. 17 to March I will be touring in the UK with a 
>>collection  of anti-war films - details in this attachment. If you are 
>>interested in arranging a show for your group, get back to me and we 
>>can discuss dates, etc.
>>      Best regards, Jack Stevenson
>>  HEARTS, MINDS & BODY PARTS:
>> THE SECRET CINEMA OF U.S. MILITARY PROPAGANDA
>> Curated and presented by Jack Stevenson, an American film historian 
>>living in Denmark
>>  The following films show how the U.S. government tried to "sell" 
>>various  policies and ideas to the American public - and to U.S. 
>>soldiers - in  time of war. Although the styles of propaganda have 
>>changed, this collection of films, from the start of (America's 
>>involvement in) WW2 through to the Vietnam War, reveal the techniques 
>>and attitudes of a country trying to understand, explain and/or vilify 
>>the enemy to the American public and in the process serve its own 
>>political ends. While some of these films have uncanny parallels to 
>>the current situation in Iraq, in a broader sense they show how the 
>>American government viewed  and dealt with foreign populations and 
>>political systems considered a  threat.
>>  Note: The show is composed of three parts which can be shown in any 
>>combination. For example, part two can be omitted to make a show 
>>consisting of parts 1 and 3 that runs 60 minutes, if this specific 
>>content and duration is preferred. Parts 1 & 2 constitute a running 
>>time  of about 85 minutes. All films are on 16mm format, optical 
>>(normal)  sound and will come carefully spliced & cleaned and ready to 
>>snap on the projector and play.  So a good working 16mm projector & 
>>screen will need  to be supplied. I can address any questions at: 
>>pust.jack @ get2net. Dk
>>    PART ONE: WW2
>>  JAPANESE RELOCATION: 1942, 10 min., Considered potential security 
>>risks  in the event that Japan should invade the Pacific coast, all 
>>American  citizens of Japanese ancestry were ordered by the Government 
>>to move to  bleak desert internment camps as far away as Idaho. 
>>Suddenly prisoners  in their own country, they (over 100,000 
>>people)lost homes and business  and lives were shattered. This film is 
>>a chilling attempt by the  government to put positive spin on what 
>>would remain one of the darkest  episodes of America's wartime past. 
>>Can the internment of American  citizens of a specific race, for the 
>>greater good of "national  security," ever happen again?
>>  YOUR JOB IN GERMANY: 1945, 15 min., Produced by Frank Capra and 
>>co-written by Theodore Geisel (better known as "Dr. Seuss"), this 
>>hard-hitting piece of hate propaganda was shown to American soldiers 
>>occupying a just-defeated Germany and constitutes one of the most 
>>angry  and bitter films of the war. Capra condemns the German people 
>>as a  whole, not just the Nazi leadership, and acidly warns that "The 
>>German  lust for conquest is not dead - it's just gone 
>>underground…trust none of  them! … someday the Germans might be 
>>cured of their disease - the 'super  race disease' - but until that 
>>day, we stand guard!" A masterpiece of  emotional manipulation.
>>  OUR JOB IN JAPAN: 1946, 18 min., Also produced by the Capra film 
>>unit,  this was a companion piece to YOUR JOB IN GERMANY and aimed to 
>>educated  U.S. occupying forces about the true nature of their 
>>just-defeated  Japanese enemy. Describes the Japanese as unwitting 
>>dupes manipulated by  the power-mad warlord class who used the Shinto 
>>religion to "stir up  ancient nightmares, ancient hatred … and up 
>>from Japan's murky past,  bring back the mumbo-jumbo." The Japanese, 
>>instructs the film, must be  made to understand the morally superior 
>>ways of American culture. (Note:  In that Bush constantly refers to 
>>the occupations of Germany and Japan  as successful models for the 
>>occupation of Iraq, these last two films  are of special relevance. 
>>One wonders what a "Your Job in Iraq" will  look like.)
>> ____________________________________________________________
>>   PART TWO: THE COLD WAR
>>  SURVIVAL UNDER ATOMIC ATTACK, 1951, 10 min. This American Civil 
>>Defense  film demonstrates how easy it really is to survive an atomic 
>>attack  (turn off stove, close curtains and hide in the basement) and 
>>states -  against the backdrop of a massive nuclear explosion - that 
>>if the  Japanese had known what we know now, thousands of lives would 
>>have been  saved. A disturbing artifact of the times, absurd and campy 
>>but  ominous. An attempt to convince the American populace that 
>>nuclear wars  were "survivable".
>>  SHELTER ON A QUIET STREET, 1962, 10 min. Produced by the Dept. Of 
>>Defense. Ten years later people were still preparing to survive a 
>>nuclear war, but now you were encouraged to build your own bomb 
>>shelter  instead of squatting under the tool table in the basement. 
>>Bomb shelters  are here promoted as a "family values" thing as 
>>paranoia ruled and the  communist menace grew.
>>  RED NIGHTMARE: 1962, 25 min., This legendary anti-Communist 
>>melodrama -  co-produced for TV by Warners Brothers Studio and the 
>>Department of  Defense - presents the story of "typical American" 
>>Jerry Donavon who  goes to sleep and awakens the next morning to find 
>>his small town has  become Communist overnight: his wife is frigid, 
>>his kids threaten to  report him to the authorities and the church as 
>>been turned into a  museum of Soviet scientific inventions. Jerry is 
>>thrown in prison, given  a mock trial and sentenced to be shot! Jack 
>>Webb, star of DRAGNET,  provides bizarre on-screen narration in what 
>>would have doubled  perfectly as an anti-Communist episode of THE 
>>TWILIGHT ZONE. An amazing  artifact of anti-Communist paranoia and a 
>>certified cult film favorite  today.
>>   PART THREE: VIETNAM
>>  KNOW YOUR ENEMY: THE VIETCONG, 1968, 18 min. A U.S. Army troop 
>>training  film uses much captured Viet Cong footage to try and give 
>>soldiers an  introduction to the thinking and tactics of their enemy 
>>in the field, a  resourceful, determined and committed foe who refuses 
>>to fight the kind  of war we wanted to fight, combatants who "melted 
>>back into the  populace" (More echoes from Iraq).
>>   END
>
>
>
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-- 
James Venables