Timely Films for the New Semester

Theaters of War

If you’ve seen Top Gun or Transformers, you may have wondered: Does all of that military machinery on screen come with strings attached? Does the military actually get a crack at the script? Theaters of War digs deep into a vast trove of recently released government documents to bring the answers to these questions into sharp focus, revealing how Hollywood has been partnering with the Pentagon and disseminating war propaganda for decades. A riveting and eye-opening look at the far reaches of American militarism and the deadly serious impact of “escapist” Hollywood entertainment. – COMING SOON –

Through the Prism of an Intellectual Life 

As the world continues to confront the rise of nativism, nationalism, and right-wing extremism, the voice of the late cultural theorist Stuart Hall, a founding figure of cultural studies and one of the great anti-authoritarian political intellectuals of recent history, is more necessary than ever. In this recently discovered, newly restored video of one of Hall’s most famous lectures, based on one of his most influential essays, Hall speaks with dazzling precision about the responsibilities of intellectuals and educators in the face of undemocratic structures of power, injustice, racism, and inequality.

The Man Card

For years, right-wing politicians and pundits have criticized the left for playing “the race card” and “the woman card.” The Man Card turns the tables by zeroing in on the right’s own longstanding – but rarely discussed – deployment of white-male identity politics in American presidential elections. Focusing on radical shifts in white male voting patterns since the 1960s, the film offers a stunning look at how right-wing operatives have framed Democrats as soft, Republicans as the party of “real men,” and conservatives as defenders of white male authority in the face of demographic change and struggles for equality.

Gun Show

Richard Chisolm’s Gun Show centers on artist David Hess, a sculptor who assembles mock assault rifles out of found objects, turns them into a traveling public art installation, and wends his way through urban centers and rural towns to get people thinking and talking about America’s deep-seated obsession with guns. The film, like the artist it profiles, derives much of its power from its openness to critical reflection and dialogue, its refusal to advocate a pre-determined ideological position, and its commitment to bridging cultural differences.