Disinformation » Documentary

World Will End In Exactly One Year

Gary — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:01:42 +0000

Well … maybe. A couple of years ago I produced a documentary about the now infamous end-date of the Mayan Long Count Calendar, December 21, 2012. Today is the Winter Solstice, and exactly one year remains until the current cycle of the Long Count Calendar expires. What does that mean? We asked many experts and wannabe experts in the film and as a special Winter Solstice offer, we’re pleased to bring you the opportunity to see their answers for just $2.49 (3-Day Rental). Enjoy!

For more information on the film, the experts and the companion book by Alexandra Bruce, visit 2012SOS.com.

Your Thoughts on “Thrive”

Aaron Dames — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:04:15 +0000

THRIVE is an unconventional documentary that lifts the veil on what’s REALLY going on in our world by following the money upstream — uncovering the global consolidation of power in nearly every aspect of our lives. Weaving together breakthroughs in science, consciousness and activism, THRIVE offers real solutions, empowering us with unprecedented and bold strategies for reclaiming our lives and our future.

‘Kill The Messenger’ A Documentary About Sibel Edmonds

Camron Wiltshire — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 02:38:33 +0000

Via Just A Citizen:

In the wake of September 11, 2001, Sibel Edmonds is approached by the FBI. As an American of Iranian and Turkish origin, Edmonds’ linguistic skill-set makes her a valuable asset to the Language Services Unit, where she spends months translating high-security clearance documents. One day shortly after reporting the possible infiltration of her unit by Turkish spies to her supervisors and their supervisors, Edmonds’ world is turned upside-down.

Instead of seeing her colleague become the target of an investigation, she is interrogated, then unceremoniously fired and warned not to pursue her claims any further as she would be watched and listened to. In the years that follow, Edmonds is transformed into the country’s first public National Security whistle-blower and a prominent First Amendment advocate (the ACLU calls her the “most gagged woman in America”).

WikiSecrets: The Inside Story of Bradley Manning & The Largest Intelligence Breach in U.S. History (Video)

ralph — Mon, 30 May 2011 01:14:29 +0000

Worth watching, available now on Frontline’s website. Here’s part one of five:

Sarah Palin’s Feature Length Film To Premiere In June

Pelliciari — Wed, 25 May 2011 20:53:16 +0000

Photo: David Shankbone

When is enough enough? Real Clear Politics reports:

Shortly after Republicans swept last November to a historic victory in which Sarah Palin was credited with playing a central role, the former Alaska governor pulled aside her close aide, Rebecca Mansour, to discuss a hush-hush assignment: Reach out to conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon with a request. Ask him if he would make a series of videos extolling Palin’s governorship and laying to rest lingering questions about her controversial decision to resign from office with a year-and-a-half left in her first term. It was this abdication, Palin knew, that had made her damaged goods in the eyes of some Republicans who once were eager to get behind her potential 2012 presidential campaign.

The response was more positive than Palin could have hoped for. He’d make a feature-length movie, Bannon told Mansour, and he insisted upon taking complete control and financing it himself — to the tune of $1 million.

The fruits of that initial conversation are now complete. The result is a two-hour-long, sweeping epic, a rough cut of which Bannon screened privately for Sarah and Todd Palin last Wednesday in Arizona, where Alaska’s most famous couple has been rumored to have purchased a new home. When it premiers in Iowa next month, the film is poised to serve as a galvanizing prelude to Palin’s prospective presidential campaign — an unconventional reintroduction to the nation that she and her political team have spent months eagerly anticipating, even as Beltway Republicans have largely concluded that she won’t run.

[Continues at Real Clear Politics]

Why Don’t More People Care About Criminal Activity in Our Recent ‘Financial Crisis’? (Video)

ralph — Tue, 24 May 2011 18:47:04 +0000

If I had to pick one issue that I think many more people should really, really be curious about, I’d say the backstory behind so-called recent “financial crisis”, (which has been documented in such films as Inside Job, Capitalism: A Love Story and Plunder: The Crime of Our Time to name a few), is at the top of my list. Therefore, I was surprised when I saw at the end of the Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg comedy, The Other Guys, to find this “message” embedded in a mainstream entertainment film. As Gary Susman wrote on Moviefone’s Blog:

The movie may be a silly farce about New York cops who stumble upon a Bernie Madoff-like Ponzi scheme that threatens to defraud billions from city workers. But buried in the comedy is a serious point about what really constitutes grand theft these days, a point illustrated over the closing credits by a PowerPoint-like presentation full of jazzy infographics and serious statistics outlining just how much Wall Street and corporate leaders have enriched themselves at the expense of American workers and taxpayers…

It’s a fascinating sequence, both from a design perspective and from the unlikely prospect of seeing a major corporation (in this case, Sony) release a mass-entertainment movie that also wants to educate moviegoers about the legalized wealth-grab that’s benefiting major corporations…

The figures cited in the sequence, for example, note the following:

that the TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) bailout cost every person in America enough to take a trip around the world

that after the bailout, some $1.2 billion in taxpayer money went to pay the bonuses of just 73 AIG execs, while Goldman Sachs got a huge tax break that saw its tax rate drop from 34 percent to 1 percent

that the average CEO earned about eight times the salary of his average employee a century ago, but earns more than 300 times his average employee’s wages now

that the typical American 401(k) retirement account has lost nearly half its value over the last five years

that New York cops may earn a maximum pension of about $48,000, while the average retiring CEO reaps benefits of about $83.6 million.

Living Inside The Westboro Baptist Church

JacobSloan — Thu, 05 May 2011 15:04:04 +0000

Wondering what it would be like to live in a cult? British documentarian Louis Theroux spent several days in the Kansas homes of members of the Westboro Baptist Church and filmed the experience for the BBC — basically opening a giant can of crazy.

Crop Circles In New York City

majestic — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 00:56:48 +0000

The best crop circle documentary yet, Suzanne Taylor’s What On Earth? has landed in New York with special screenings all week at Manhattan’s Quad Cinema (Wednesday April 27th’s evening screening features Suzanne, Alex and Allyson Grey and Daniel Pinchbeck, moderated by disinformation’s Gary Baddeley).

The New York Times just reviewed the film, calling it:

A cheery, chummy documentary about the pastoral patterns inaccurately described as crop circles…

… Merging homey interviews with photographs and film of the hundreds of varieties of patterns (which pop up mysteriously overnight and are found all over the world), the film makes no pretense of objectivity or analysis. Everyone on screen — most sporting little blue flowers in their lapels, like a club insignia — is convinced of an intelligence behind the designs.

The film’s main attractions, though, are the patterns themselves: fantastically precise whorls and curlicues, radiolaria and mandalas that drift across the screen like the endlessly reforming crystals in a kaleidoscope. Whether designed by nature or by little green men, they make you want to believe.

Morgan Spurlock’s Fully-Financed Via Product Placement Film: ‘The Greatest Movie Ever Sold’ (Video)

bluemana — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 05:02:33 +0000

‘First Orbit’ Celebrates Today’s 50th Anniversary Of Man In Space

majestic — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:10:33 +0000

Move over PBS: YouTube/Google funded this very cool and very free movie about the beginning of spaceflight, with today being exactly 50 years since Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space.

You can download the movie or watch it on YouTube.

From the official First Orbit site:

April 12th 1961 – Yuri Gagarin is about to see what no other person has seen in the history of
humanity – the Earth from space. In the next 108 minutes he’ll see more than most people do in a lifetime. What sights awaited the first cosmonaut silently gliding over the world below? What was it like to view the oceans and continents sailing by from such a height?

In a unique collaboration with the European Space Agency, and the Expedition 26/27 crew of the International Space Station, we have created a new film of what Gagarin first witnessed fifty years ago.

By matching the orbital path of the Space Station, as closely as possible, to that of Gagarin’s Vostok 1 spaceship and filming the same vistas of the Earth through the new giant cupola window, astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and documentary film maker Christopher Riley, have captured a new digital high definition view of the Earth below, half a century after Gagarin first witnessed it.

Weaving these new views together with historic, recordings of Gagarin from the time, (subtitled in Englsih) and an original score by composer Philip Sheppard, we have created a spellbinding film to share with people around the world on this historic anniversary…

2 To 3 Minutes In Hell: Cleaning Chernobyl

JacobSloan — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:48:41 +0000

A gripping, short documentary video of the horrifying challenge confronting the Soviet Union’s “biorobots” — soldiers, scientists, and civilians who were tasked with the emergency cleanup following the explosions at Chernobyl. Radio-controlled robotic machines were used at first, but their circuitry quickly broke down from the radiation, leaving humans with shovels as the only option.

American: The Bill Hicks Story (Video)

Aaron Dames — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 07:14:27 +0000

The trailer for American: The Bill Hicks Story:

The Hidden Reality Of Japanese Nuclear Plant Workers

Good German — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 02:14:05 +0000

The 1995 investigative documentary Nuclear Ginza exposes radiation poisoning among workers inside Japan’s nuclear power industry:

How To Start Your Own Religion

majestic — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:15:13 +0000

One of the best films I saw at South By Southwest (SXSW) this year was Vikram Gandhi’s documentary Kumaré, in which New Jersey-born and raised Gandhi decides to pass himself off as an Indian guru (he is of Indian descent) to see if people will buy into his fake persona as a spiritually enlightened teacher. He succeeds all too well and faces a dilemma when it’s time to reveal the fraud.

Essentially Gandhi’s point is that spiritual gurus are frauds and anyone can be a guru if he can (so long as they are prepared to dress up, grow long beards, make up strange chants, etc.). With that in mind, I found a course on how to start your own religion, offered by 3rd Ward. I’m not sure if I’ll take it yet, but they do say the fastest way to make a million dollars is to become a millionaire. (If Kumaré succeeds at the box office, maybe it will be proof of that too). Here’s the class description for anyone interested:

While some perceive it as a pathetically static monoculture of oppression, religion in its most exciting form is actually an environment—a happening—of ever-evolving ideas, practices, and visual and sensual pleasures. Spiritual paths based on everything from chaos to love, to dada, to eroticism, and to eco-radicalism have found their way into the hearts and minds of seekers the world over. By looking at examples of some of these traditions, and by using them as a springboard for developing our own religions, students will come away with a better appreciation for what it means to “be religious,” and maybe even have a radical mystical epiphany or two.

In this class students will each write, design and craft a new spiritual path (as far out or traditional as desired), to be summed up and presented at the end of the course through presentations, handouts and booklets. Over the four weeks students will create hymns that can be used to exalt their beatitudes, define the tenets of their path so others will know what it’s all about, produce propaganda in order to call the willing to the Light, as well as explore the role of (read: draw/mold/create) deities in their new spiritual path. Using published examples from occult as well as mainstream traditions, we will look for inspiration from a variety of unusual sources. Students will be expected to play with what it means to even “be religious,” and should be prepared and willing to engage in a variety of mediums, including text, song and iconography. Some experience with making ‘zines or other DIY publications a plus, but not required.

Please come to this class willing to crack open all you believe a religion should be.

Is Competitive Laughter Becoming A New Craze?

Albert Nerenberg — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:27:45 +0000

The documentary Laughology is helping set off a new fad with the discovery that competitive laughter can be entertaining.

The film makes the case that laughter itself is the primary motivator of laughter, so jokes aren’t necessary for people to have a good time. After a laughing contest in Montreal where the audience was in stitches, a competition made headlines in Tokyo. This Saturday a laughter contest hits America in the form of the California Ultimate Laughing Championship. Linda Massarella reports for the Toronto Sun:

So there was this American state called California with one of the highest unemployment rates on the continent and citizens fretting about losing their homes to foreclosure … when in walks this Canadian guy.

Yes, it’s Toronto documentary filmmaker Albert Nerenberg to the rescue of the depressed and anxious around here [San Luis Obispo, CA] next Saturday when he brings his movie, Laughology, to a film festival just north of L.A.

Before and after the showing of his documentary, Nerenberg will host a laughing contest and a so-called “Laughter Yoga” class.

It’s the first time Laughology, released about a year ago, has been invited to screen in California and Nerenberg said he’ll do his best to lighten the mood.

“I’m not sure I can cheer them up too much, but I can make them laugh,” he said of the screening-and-chuckling events to be showcased at the San Luis Obispo Film Festival March 12.

“It’s clear that with practice, people get better and better at laughing, even if they’re miserable SOBs.”

It was Nerenberg who came up with the idea of hosting a laugh contest to coincide with screenings of his film. The contest is organized as if it’s a wrestling contest such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship, although Nerenberg says he’s a “laugher not a fighter.”

In essence, he who laughs the hardest during the competition wins. Of course, the championship is meant to be ironic because, after all, everyone who laughs wins…

[continues in the Toronto Sun]

Also check out this TV news report on the first laughter championship in Montreal:

Bigfoot Sues State

majestic — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:46:43 +0000

From the “You can’t make this stuff up” department, via AP/Seacoastonline:

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — First there was a Bigfoot sighting. Now, there’s a Bigfoot suing.

A performance artist and amateur filmmaker who dressed as the mythical beast says New Hampshire park rangers didn’t have the right to kick him off a mountain where he had been scaring, or at least amusing, hikers while friends videotaped his antics.

Backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Jonathan Doyle is suing the state, arguing that the requirement to pay $100 for a special use permit 30 days in advance and get a $2 million insurance bond violates his free speech rights.

“The underlying activities are humorous, but the principle’s important,” said Jon Meyer, a lawyer representing Doyle. “We’re talking about a very small-scale activity in a very large place. We don’t believe there’s any legitimate government role in regulation.”

Doyle’s attorneys say no one complained to the state park service after Doyle first dressed as Bigfoot, ran around the rocky top of Mount Monadnock, returned to human form and interviewed bystanders about what they saw Sept. 6, 2009.

“People loved it. It was socially engaging,” Doyle, 30, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “When I showed up at the top of the mountain dressed as Bigfoot and beating my chest, everyone just laughed and hoorayed.”

Hikers describing their encounters in a video Doyle posted on YouTube seemed happy to get in on the fun and inflate the legend.

“At first I thought it was just a man in a suit making some sort of documentary, but then I saw it devour this man’s friend and a small child,” one man said at the top of the popular hiking spot as others behind him relaxed, admired the view and drank water. “I still see blood on the rocks.”…

[continues at AP/Seacoastonline. Doyle's Bigoot page is on Facebook]

Clark: A Gonzomentary

James Curcio — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:50:19 +0000

In the spirit of mockumentaries like Spinal Tap, Hunter S Thompson’s Gonzo style, and the art world in general, Clark is an indie web series that has been ravaging the minds of viewers for months now. To make things more confusing, the actors are going on camera presenting their method as heavily based on occultism and gnosticism. It’s not clear where the line between fiction and reality is, but it seems a fun ride for the hale at heart.

“…What’s interesting is that when you play a character like JC, (or Clark for that matter), some people might be afraid about letting “in” that kind of persona. After all, any persona that you wear winds up taking on a life of its own. The more you feed it, the more it comes alive. This is where a little background in ritual magick may actually come in handy — it is maybe one of the only places it is “handy” for anything other than alienating you from your peers — you can readily draw a circle around the elements of yourself that you intend to maintain intact, for later. You could approach the process of invoking a persona as a concurrent banishment of those elements, at the completion of the movie, play, or whatever it is that you’re doing. Or you could, as I said, instead look at it as the opportunity for a meal. Bring those parts out into the light, own them through acting them, and take charge of them. Consume them. When we begin the season, I’m a soft spoken but clearly enabling “art manager.” By the end, I’m a monster…” (Article)

Watch the season one episodes here. Occult Sentinel recently did a podcast interview here.

Interview with Brett Smith, Creator of 9/11 Movie ‘Hypothesis’

Abby Martin — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 23:00:59 +0000

Brett Smith. Photo: Brett Smith

This is an exclusive Media Roots Radio interview with Utah based documentarian Brett Smith, conducted by Abby and Robbie Martin on February 23, 2011. In 2006, Brett’s love of films drew him into taking a film class where he was required to make a 15 minute short. That 15 minute short later turned into 40 minute documentary called Hypothesis.

Hypothesis is a documentary that follows physics professor Steven E. Jones during a pivotal time in his life. In 2005, Jones went public with a theory about 9/11 that was so controversial, it resulted in everything from hate mail, threats, and even bribery to try to end his research. Despite the outside pressures, Jones vowed to never give up on his pursuit of the truth.

Interview with Filmmaker Brett Smith, Creator of Hypothesis by Media Roots

The above timeline is interactive. Scroll through it to find out more about the show’s music and to resources mentioned during the broadcast. To see a larger version of the timeline with clickable resources go to the soundcloud link below the player.If you would like to directly download the podcast click the down arrow icon on the right of the soundcloud display. To hide the comments to enable easier rewind and fast forward, click on the icon on the very bottom right.

To learn more about Brett’s movie Hypothesis, go to the Internet Movie Database.

For more information go to http://www.MediaRoots.org.

Listen to a recent Interview with Cindy Sheehan, an episode about Egypt’s Revolution: Puppet Dictators, US Response & Coverage, or another Breaking Apart the Official 9/11 Coincidence Theory.

‘The Cove’ Sent To Every Household In Japanese Fishing Village

BananaFamine — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:41:23 +0000

MNN reports:

This time last year, producers of the “The Cove” were riding high after winning Best Documentary at the 2010 Academy Awards.

Directed by Louie Psihoyos and produced by Fisher Stevens and Paula DuPre Pesmen, the film shed dramatic light on the thousands of dolphins slaughtered each year in the Japanese fishing town of Taiji. “It has the breathless pace of a Bourne movie, but none of the comfort of fiction. This is documentary filmmaking at its most exciting and purposeful,” wrote Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers in a review.

This past weekend, residents of Taiji were able to give their own verdicts after a local activist group, called People Concerned for the Ocean, delivered a Japanese-dubbed copy of the film to each home. In partnership, the producers of “The Cove” also made a similar version available as a free stream on the official website.

Louie Psihoyos, Director of The Cove and founder of the non-profit Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) said, “The people in Taiji deserve to know what millions of others around the world have learned about their town by seeing “The Cove”. Not only are the killings cruel, but the threat of dolphin meat poisoned with mercury is significant. We at OPS hope that when Japanese people watch this film in the safety of their own homes, they may see that a few fishermen’s profits have endangered their children’s health.”…

For more information, see original article.

Oscar Winner Slams Wall Street In Acceptance Speech (Video)

majestic — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 19:37:01 +0000

Respect for Inside Job director Charles Ferguson for delaying the usual thanks to everyone he knows to say this:

“Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by financial fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that’s wrong.”

A Quick Journey Through 1970s Apocalypticism

JacobSloan — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 20:17:56 +0000

Paleofuture Blog, which look at predictions and visions of the future as previous generations imagined it, has a video feature examining the colorful weirdness of apocalyptic doom-and-gloom in the 1970s. In that decade, frightening documentaries such as Future Shock and The Late Great Planet Earth caught the zeitgeist by foretelling the fast-approaching destruction of humanity at the hands of overpopulation, dehumanizing technology, Communism, ancient prophecies, and natural devastation. Viewing these works today, they are a reminder that the world probably isn’t going to end, and we’ll make it through to tomorrow.

Major Energy Interests Linked To Attacks On ‘Gasland’ Film

BananaFamine — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 03:46:12 +0000

I had a chance to attend a screening of Gasland last year. It is an eye-opening film which exposes the severe dangers fracking presents to the environment and the public. Naturally, any controversial documentary is bound to make a few enemies. MNN reports:

Josh Fox, the director of the Academy Award nominated documentary Gasland isn’t surprised at the recent reports that oil and natural gas front groups are behind campaigns aimed at discrediting him and his film.

On Thursday, Brendan DeMelle reported on Desmogblog.com and the Huffington Post that a memo had surfaced linking the group Energy in Depth with oil and natural gas interests. In recent months Energy in Depth has been at the center of criticism aimed at not only Gasland, but also reporters at ProPublica and the Associated Press following stories that reflected negatively on the hydraulic fracturing industry. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it has become known, is a process where chemicals are injected deep into the ground at a high pressure to get to natural gas reserves.

For more information, see original article.

Detroit Globalized

judy_hollister — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 19:10:37 +0000

Being from the Lansing and Detroit, Michigan area, it’s so heartbreaking visiting my former home state now. The state feels empty; the GM Oldsmobile factories that I drove past all the time have been flattened. Sad.

Detroit Globalized is a documentary explaining the effects that globalization has had on Detroit, MI.

Cyberpunk on the Small Screen (Video)

joenolan — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 18:02:53 +0000

Good day, Cybernauts. We’ve been enjoying this endearing flick for some time, but are just now getting around to posting about it.

Cyberpunk is a 60-minute documentary from 1990 that serves as a charming bookend to the William Gibson documentary No Maps for These Territories. While Gibson is featured prominently in this doc, it also expands out to illuminate an entire slice of the late ’80s/early ’90s culture that used to be featured in the late, great Mondo 2000 magazine.

Cyberpunk Review offers these insights:

Cyberpunk is a documentary that looks back at the 80s cyberpunk movement, and more specifically, how this has led to a trend in the “real” world where people were starting to refer to themselves as “cyberpunk.” The documentary sees “cyberpunks” as being synonymous with hackers. A number of writers, artists, musicians and scientists are interviewed to provide context to this movement. The guiding meme, as told by Gibson, is that information “wants” to be free. 60s counter-culture drug philosopher, Timothy Leary, provides a prediction that cyberpunks will “decentralize knowledge,” which will serve to remove power from those “in power” and bring it back to the masses. Many different potential technologies are discussed, including “smart drugs,” sentient machines, advanced prosthetics — all of which serve to give context to the idea of post-humanity and its imminent arrival on the world stage.

As an added bonus, visit the Insomnia page for a contemporary interview with Mr. Gibson in which he discusses the current state of Cyberspace!

WikiRebels: The WikiLeaks Documentary (Video)

majestic — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:56:24 +0000

Could Swedish public service TV network SVT’s new documentary film about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have been released at a more timely moment? It’s bang up to date and for anyone intrigued by Assange and co., essential viewing. Thanks to tipster Ken V, who correctly describes the film as “thorough and very informative.”

Who’s Afraid Of ‘Gasland’?

majestic — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:16:24 +0000

Who could possibly want to squelch the anti-fracking movie Gasland? Hmmm, let me think …. while considering this story from SFGate (submitted by ‘Rainer’ – thanks!):

Actor Mark Ruffalo has been placed on a terror advisory list by U.S. officials after organizing screenings for a new documentary about natural gas drilling.

The “Zodiac” actor arranged showings for “GasLand” earlier this year and voiced his concerns about the practice in relation to the national water supplies.

But his efforts to raise awareness and demand a stop to natural gas drilling reportedly attracted the attention of officials from Pennsylvania’s Office of Homeland Security – and he recently discovered it had landed him on a terror alert watchlist…

[continues at SFGate]

The Rent Is Too Damn High – The Movie

majestic — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:48:27 +0000

The filmmakers of Damn!, the Jimmy McMillan movie, stopped by the disinformation offices this week to screen some of their footage. We’re believers, and so is Movieline:

Remember Jimmy McMillan? Of course you do! The New York state gubernatorial candidate from “The Rent is Too Damn High” party was all the rage back in late October, when his crazy debate antics led to viral videos, Saturday Night Live impersonations and the other accouterments that come with 15 minutes of fame. Like a documentary.

That’s right: McMillan and his aggressive facial hair are probably coming to a content delivery system near you. Thanks to 91 intrepid investors, filmmakers Aaron Fisher-Cohen and Kristian Almgren received just enough funding over Thanksgiving to finish editing their McMillan-centric documentary, DAMN! “It’s always amazing when a group of people both strangers, family and friends can get together and make something happen,” Cohen wrote to Movieline in an e-mail. “We’re fired up!”…

[continues at Movieline]

So You Think You Can Laugh? ‘Laughology’ Inspires First-Ever Laughter Championship

Albert Nerenberg — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:45:44 +0000

Contestants and their fans will converge in Montreal on October 27, 2010 for the first ever laughter competition — Le Grand Championnat de Rire de Montreal. Comedy contests are common, however this will be the world’s first televised laughing contest. The contest was inspired by my documentary Laughology, currently distributed by The Disinformation Company, in which I demonstrate that people can laugh spontaneously by using various “active laughter” techniques.

Contestants across Quebec will compete in diabolical laughter competitions, contagious laughter face-offs, and competitive laughter duels to see who will be crowned the “Best Laugher in Quebec.” The show is a pilot for an eventual international laughter competition to demonstrate that laughter could itself be a competitive sport.

The Championnat is a based on the revolutionary concept that because laughter is contagious: laughing makes people laugh. It involves games designed to produce natural contagious laughter. The whole event is also being filmed for Rire Extreme, a documentary for CANAL D. I got the idea for my documentary Laughology after meeting Doug Collins, an American who is said to have the most contagious laugh in the world:

I believe that because of Quebec’s tradition of Joie de Vivre and Quebec may have laughers who are as good or better than Collins. This summer Laughter contests where held at major Quebec festivals, including le Festival du Grand Rire in Quebec, The Western Festival of St. Tite and le Festival de Poutine du Drummonville. The winners of those contests have been invited to the Championnat which takes place at in Montreal in a special ring.

We really found some extraordinary laughers. I’m afraid to imagine what happens when we get them all in the same room. I hope that the idea of a laughter competition is to spread the positive, healthy emotions of laughter. And I’m trying to prove that laughter could be a competitive sport.

Contestants are coming from around Quebec however, we have left one spot open for one last great laugher. Auditions will be held on Oct 27th at Salla Rossa at 5 p.m. Please email hey@laughology.info. to be put on the list.

Waiting For Superman: Good Luck, Going to Public School, Kids Today! (Parents Take Notice.)

ralph — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 09:48:55 +0000

As a product of the public school system in the Great State of New York, this film is well overdue. Everyone, please watch this.

If you attended public school in any state in the U.S. I think you know what I mean.

And if you have kids, please, at least watch at least a minute into this trailer. You will realize the filmmaker’s intent.

The public school education system is BROKEN …. if you’re working within it, please speak out and join the effort to reform it. I knew something wasn’t right as a child in the system, but what the hell do kids really know? Time to make a change,

Zeitgeist: Moving Forward

majestic — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:12:34 +0000

Peter Joseph has created another sequel to the ever-popular Zeitgeist. Entitled Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, the movie will be released in 60+ countries and in 20+ languages starting January 15th 2011. Here’s the official description:

Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, by director Peter Joseph, is a feature length documentary work which will present a case for a needed transition out of the current socioeconomic monetary paradigm which governs the entire world society. This subject matter will transcend the issues of cultural relativism and traditional ideology and move to relate the core, empirical “life ground” attributes of human and social survival, extrapolating those immutable natural laws into a new sustainable social paradigm called a “Resource-Based Economy”.