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Report from Sundance 2007 I: Strange Culture

Published on March 20, 2007

As part of our Report from Sundance Series: 2007, filmmaker, journalist and writer Harriette Yahr sat down to chat with three directors about their motivations in making documentary films and the personal journeys the stories took them on as a filmmakers.

The director of Strange Culture, Lynn Hershman Leeson, seemed an unlikely choice, given the amount of social documentary material at this years festival. Find out why Harriette chose to cover this film and why this documentary sets a precedent to upholding the first amendment in the post 9/11 US.

About 20 minutes into Strange Culture, I felt compelled to write on the film. To help, in whatever way I could, to get the word out about this "strange" and brilliant documentary. Sure there was the creative way it was put together-actors Tilda Swinton, Thomas Jay Ryan and others interpreting the lives of the subjects for practical reasons, largely because the main subject, Steve Kurtz, still on trial, can not legally talk about his case. Then there was the story itself, about Steve Kurtz, an artist and college professor caught -- in the sometimes bizarre -- reality that plagues the pathway of free expression since 9/11 -- and which, as we see in Strange Culture, has very real consequences for real people.

From the Sundance Film Festival catalogue description of Strange Culture:

"Artist and college professor Steve Kurtz was preparing for a MASS MoCA exhibition that lets audiences test whether food has been genetically modified when, days before the opening, his wife tragically died of heart failure. Distraught, Kurtz called 911, but when medics arrived, they became suspicious of his art supplies and called the FBI. Dozens of agents in haz-mat suits sifted through his home and impounded his computers, books, cat, and even his wife's body. The government held Kurtz as a suspected terrorist, and, nearly three years later, the charges have not been dropped. He still faces up to 20 years in prison.

The issues here are fundamental: freedom of speech, freedom of expression and academic freedom. The case is precedent-setting, and will help determine whether artists, intellectuals and anyone exercising their right to free speech can be criminalized merely for their ideas, in fundamental violation of the United States Constitution."
~ Shari Frilot

Strange Culture premiered in the Frontier Section of this year's Sundance Film Festival.

~~~

Harriette Yahr: I must have been living in a bubble of sorts. I hadn't even heard about Steve's plight. And then when I found out, I was shocked. Do you find that often, and are you shocked at all, that there are people in the dark about Steve's case?

Lynn Hershman Leeson: Yes, that's why I made the film.

Steve Kurtz: Lucky for me that Lynn made this film because unless a person is in the art world, or a news junkie this case is easy to miss. The coverage, while I can't complain, has been sporadic. And given that our judicial system is in absolute ruins due to the Bush administration's shredding of the Constitution, too many massive miscarriages of justice (Guantanamo for example) overshadow smaller cases like mine. Lynn's film will undoubtedly help to get a little bigger piece of the spotlight for my case.

Harriette Yahr: Lynn, what were your goals in making Strange Culture?

Lynn Hershman Leeson: To let people know about this situation, and hence the situation we are all in.

Harriette Yahr: And Steve, did you have any set goals when you decided to participate, and did those goals change during the shooting, or since?

Steve Kurtz: At the time, I was just doing anything that could call attention to the case or raise money to pay my lawyers. There wasn't much strategizing involved. I was just getting by, but I knew Lynn's work and knew it certainly couldn't hurt to have her use her talents to spread the word.

Harriette Yahr: Strange Culture focuses on the crossroads of art and politics, and art and social awareness. What's your take on film's potential to impact social awareness?

Lynn Hershman Leeson: I think it can make a difference politically, at least I hope so.

Steve Kurtz: I can't say how much it will impact the political landscape - that is something we usually decide in hindsight. I certainly hope for it, and believe it possible. What I can say is that it makes a difference for me on a personal level as my case proceeds.

Harriette Yahr: What's the most crucial thing you've learned about the changing world here in the US post 9-11 with respect to artistic expression?

Lynn Hershman Leeson: That you can have a voice through independent means.

Steve Kurtz: That the mechanisms of expression management have intensified during the current neoconservative regime, thus upgrading the risk involved in engaging in the struggle to maintain a degree of expressive autonomy for the purpose cultural or political contestation of the status quo.

Harriette Yahr: When I saw the film, then met Steve in person, I thought, how outrageous that this man could ever be suspected of bio-terrorism.

Lynn Hershman Leeson: Exactly.

Steve Kurtz: Outrage has become a part of everyday life, but when will it become so unbearable that the majority of people will put themselves on the line to stop it? The fact that the Bush administration continues to get away with near daily illegal activities is what shocks me most.

Harriette Yahr: Lynn, to get around the legal restrictions on Steve's speaking about his case, you employed real-life actors to interpret his story. Can you say a few things about your process as a filmmaker, specific to the exposition?

Lynn Hershman Leeson: We figured it out as we went along, and kept open to the interpretation and the intelligence of great actors. I knew I had to tell the story, and didn't think I could use Steve. First I wrote a script, had the actor meet Steve. Later, I was able to interview Steve and had to bridge the reason for not using him in all the scenes. The actors were so intelligent and passionate when they spoke about the case, I felt using them - and what would normally be outtakes -to tell the story behind the scenes was vital.

Harriette Yahr: Steve, what was that process like for you, seeing your life played out by others?

Steve Kurtz: I am somewhat used to it at this point. I have so many hyperreal personas that have emerged out of this situation or that have been imposed upon me because of it. I have been represented as everything from a terrorist to a martyr. To see all these representations that are supposed to depict me was strange and a little disconcerting at first, but now I see them as just another inescapable component of the conflicted process I am in. It's amazing what you can learn to live with.

Harriette Yahr: Lynn, did you know Steve before you made this film?

Lynn Hershman Leeson: No, I knew of him and his work but I had never met him.

Harriette Yahr: What are your thoughts on whether a documentary filmmaker needs to be objective? Or, does objectivity really exist anyway?

Lynn Hershman Leeson: I do not think objectivity exist. Much of the footage was sent to me, I used what was available, often other people made preliminary decisions.

Steve Kurtz: Objectivity may exist, but not in film. This is why I was happy to see Lynn did the dramatic portions explicitly as interpretations. The documentary filmmaker has a point to make, and an affect to construct. The story is a vehicle for these objectives, and not to carve a slice out of the material world for neutral consideration.

Harriette Yahr: Steve, what are the charges against you now? Now that the bioterrorism charges have been dropped.

Steve Kurtz: I have been charged with two counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud. This is the most broadly written statute in US law, and has been traditionally used against political prisoners (as well as those who actually commit fraud). The Justice Department is acting on this in spite of there being no complaint from those who were supposedly defrauded, and that such action is completely outside of its guidelines for prosecution. I am the first person ever to be indicted for fraud for allegedly breaking a material transfer agreement. My lawyers have contested my indictment and asked for the case to be dismissed. We are going through this process now, and it takes a long time. Since I elected not go to trial on the prosecutor's terms, I lost my right to a speedy trial. After two and half years no trial date has been set.

Harriette Yahr: Where can people learn more about your case and how they can help?

Steve Kurtz: Go to www.caedefense.org There is more information on this site than anyone could ever want. If anyone has a question it will be answered there.

Harriette Yahr: Lynn, what are your outreach plans for Strange Culture, to get the word out?

Lynn Hershman Leeson: We hope to get it out every way possible, fests, hopefully theatrical and television and DVDs, virally, any way we can.

For information about Steve Kurtz' artwork with the Critical Art Ensemble, check out critical-art.net or check it out on wikipedia.org

Find out more about Steve Kurtz' case and learn how to take action in defending freedom of expression from the defense fund site set up for Steve.

Leeson’s artwork can be found in the Museum of Modern Art as well as other numerous collections. Steve Kurtz e-mailed back and forth about Strange Culture for two weeks and this is the culmination.

Previous Leeson's films that have screened at Sundance include,Teknolust and Conceiving Ada, with the latter going on to earn an Independent Spirit Award nomination.