Strange Culture
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| Strange Culture | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Lynn Hershman Leeson |
| Starring | Tilda Swinton Thomas Jay Ryan Peter Coyote Josh Kornbluth |
| Music by | The Residents |
| Running time | 75 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Strange Culture is a 2007 documentary film directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson It stars Tilda Swinton and Thomas Jay Ryan
It premiered January 19, 2007 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
[edit] Synopsis
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The surreal nightmare of internationally-acclaimed artist and professor Steve Kurtz began when his wife Hope died in her sleep of heart failure. Medics arrived, became suspicious of Kurtz’s art, and called the FBI. Within hours the artist was detained as a suspected "bioterrorist" as dozens of agents in hazmat suits sifted through his work and impounded his computers, manuscripts, books, his cat, and even his wife’s body. Today 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.
Because Kurtz cannot legally talk about the case, Hershman Leeson enlists actors to interpret the story. The director weaves dramatic reenactment, news footage, animation, testimonials, and footage of Kurtz himself into a sophisticated documentary about post 9/11 paranoia and the risks artists face when their work questions government policies.
