Strange Culture
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Strange Culture
| image = Poster of the movie Strange Culture.jpg
| caption = Film poster
| starring = Tilda Swinton
Thomas Jay Ryan
Peter Coyote
Josh Kornbluth
| director = Lynn Hershman Leeson
| producer = Lynn Hershman Leeson
Steven Beer
Lise Swenson
| runtime = 75 minutes
| released = {{Film date|2007|01|22|Sundance}}
| country = United States
| language = English
| music = The Residents
| budget =
}}
Strange Culture is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson and starring Tilda Swinton and Thomas Jay Ryan.
It premiered on January 22 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.{{cite web|url=https://mshanks.com/2007/01/17/hershman-strange-culture-sundance/|title=Hershman – Strange Culture – Sundance|date=17 January 2007|publisher=|accessdate=6 June 2020}}
An excerpt appeared in the fourth issue of Wholphin.
Synopsis
The film examines the case of artist and professor Steve Kurtz, a member of the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE). The work of Kurtz and other CAE members dealt with genetically modified food and other issues of science and public policy. After his wife, Hope, died of heart failure, paramedics arrived and became suspicious when they noticed petri dishes and other scientific equipment related to Kurtz's art in his home. They summoned the FBI, who detained Kurtz within hours on suspicion of bioterrorism.{{cite web |title=Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) DEFENSE FUND -- FAQ |url=http://www.caedefensefund.org/faq.html |access-date=14 September 2023 |date=7 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907143524/http://www.caedefensefund.org/faq.html |archive-date=2015-09-07 }}
As Kurtz could not legally talk about the case, the film uses actors to interpret the story, as well as interviews with Kurtz and other figures involved in the case. Through a combination of dramatic reenactment, news footage, animation, and testimonials, the film scrutinizes post-9/11 paranoia and suggests that Kurtz was targeted because his work questions government policies. At the film's close, Kurtz and his long-time collaborator Dr. Robert Ferrell, former chair of the genetics department at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, await a trial date.
{{As of|2008|5|alt=As of late May 2008}}, the Buffalo Prosecutor has declined to reopen the case within the 30-day window in which he was allowed to do so. So, Steve Kurtz is free.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.strangeculture.net/ Official website]
- {{IMDb title|id=0924151|title=Strange Culture}}
Category:American independent films
Category:American docudrama films
Category:2000s English-language films
{{2000s-US-film-stub}}