Culture Jam : Hijacking Commercial Culture
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Indonesia
Wednesday February 25, 2009
Screening begins 19h00
Venue: Kunci Cultural Studies Center Jl.Nagan Lor no.17a Patehan, Kraton, Yogyakarta
public and free!
Culture Jam: Hijacking Commercial Culture
A fascinating rap on the 20th Century movement called Culture Jamming
Jill Sharpe / Canada / 2002 / 57 min
A new breed of revolutionary stands poised along our information highways waging war on logos and symbols. They're "Culture Jammers" and their mission is to artfully reclaim our mental environment and cause a bit of brand damage to corporate mindshare.
Director Jill Sharpe's subversively savvy one-hour documentary film - culturejam - Hijacking Commercial Culture- bursts our last bubble of illusion about free speech in public space and gives us spanking brand-new hope at the same time. Scream at the TV, but don't touch that dial! Yet. In the hour long film, Culture Jam: Hijacking Commercial Culture, we follow three outlandish jammers; media tigress Carly Stasko, Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping, and Jack Napier with the Billboard Liberation Front. Armed with DIY anti-ad stickers, custom neon, and stuffed mice on crosses, these jammers hijack, subvert and reclaim corporate media space. Enter the intriguing worlds of midnight billboard raids and the mid-afternoon hijacking of public space.
Ultimately Culture Jammers wage a war of "meaning". They use the tools of the medium to re-wire the "message". Will Disney's Mickey represent a "world of laughter" or will he become the anti-Christ representing "sweatshop labour practices". The verdict of public perception lies in a battle between billion dollar PR campaigns and guerrilla tactics of rebel activists. A relatively young movement, contemporary Culture Jammers first appeared in the early 80's in San Francisco. But court jesters of medieval Europe, and movements like Dada, Surrealism, and the Situationist International of Paris, as well as the recent range from punk to "post", all provide a philosophical lineage for this new brand of rabble rousers. French Situationist Guy Debord declared in the 1960's that we inhabit the "society of the spectacle" - where leisure and real living had been replaced by pre-packaged media simulated experiences. The moment has come for a new message to take back the medium. Through their interventions culture jammers make a spectacle of ad-culture.
Hard hitting, controversial, wacky and engaging, this film captures the drama of jammers in action and asks: Is Culture Jamming civil disobedience? Senseless vandalism? The only form of self-defense left?
Trailer
Credits
Since the early 1990’s director Jill Sharpe has created an award winning body of work in the documentary genre which has been presented internationally at film festivals and along broadcast airwaves in over 20 countries. Highlighted in Queue Magazine as one of the Top 21 Artists for the Twenty First Century who could change the face of BC culture, Sharpe’s interests span the issues of social justice, media and culture.
Short selected filmography:
2007 "Corporations in the Classroom" (46 minutes) investigates the upside and downside of increasing corporate influence on public education in North America. New release premiering at DOCSDF Film Festival in Mexico City. Aired on Global Televsion in Canada.
2005 "Girls Don't Fight" (46 minutes) provocatively explores women’s recent entry into what has long been considered a male domain: the fight rings of sport. Nominated for a Leo Award and Gemini Award: Best Sports Documentary. Aired on CTV in Canada.
2004 "Weird Sex & Snowshoes: A Trek Through the Canadian Cinematic Psyche" (60 minutes) bilingual documentary celebration of Canadian Cinema showcasing 70 films and interviewing Canada’s top 21 feature directors. Won the 2nd Audience Choice Award at the Whistler International Film Festival. It also garnered a Leo Award nomination for Best Arts documentary. Aired on The Movie Network , Bravo and Movie Central, Canada.
2002 "CultureJam: Hijacking Commercial Culture" (57 mins) delivers a fascinating rap on the 20th century movement called "Culture Jamming". Won the Audience Choice Awards at both the Vancouver and Auckland International Film Festivals and was selected for over 35 international festival screens. Nominated for the prestigious Donald Brittain Award for Best Social Issue Documentary, it went on to win the Leo Award for Best Social Issue Documentary & Best Editing. Aired on CBC Newsworld and Vision TV, Canada and TRIO network in United States.
2002 "In the Company of Fear" (52 mins) about the power of non-violent action in the face of state terror, profiling the work of protective accompaniment in Colombia. Nominated Best Political DOC at the Canadian National Hot Docs Awards 2000; invited to over 20 International Film Festivals including the United Nations Film Festival in San Francisco, aired on Vision TV.* NB: Directed by Velcrow Ripper, Produced, Written and Developed By Jill Sharpe.
Produced by
Lynn Booth .... co-producer
Maureen Levitt .... consulting producer: Vision TV
Jill Sharpe .... producer
Original Music by
Doug Blackley
Cinematography by
Velcrow Ripper
Film Editing by
Bonni Devlin
Awards & Festivals
Festivals:
Hong Kong Social Movement Film Festival, 2006
Sala Rekalde Art Gallery, Bilbao Spain – month long exposition, 2004
Slamdance Film Festival, Utah, 2003
Pacific Cinémathèque Vancouver, theatrical screening, 2003
Canada's Cutting edge Film Festival, Taiwan, 2003
Theatrical run at the Roxy in San Francisco, 2003
New Zealand International Film Festival, 2003
REVelation Perth International Film Festival, Australia, 2003
Commonwealth Film Festival, England, 2003
Singapore International Film Festival, 2003
Goteborg Film Festival, Sweden, 2003
Vancouver International Film Festival, 2002
Global Visions Film Festival, Edmonton Alberta Canada, 2002
Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montreal, 2002
5th United Nations Association Film Festival, San Francisco, 2002
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Arkansas, 2002
Leeds International Film Festival, England, 2002
Cork Film Festival, Ireland International Film Festival, 2002
Bangkok Thailand, 2002
Awards:
2002 Winner, Vancouver International Film Festival, Audience Choice Award
2002 Winner, Auckland International Film Festival, Audience Choice Award
2002 Winner, British Columbian Leo Awards, Best Documentary
2002 Winner, British Columbian Leo Awards, Best Editing
for History/ Biography/ Social/ Political Documentary
2003 Nominated, Canadian Gemini Awards, Best Social/Political Documentary
2003 Nominated, Canadian Gemini Awards, Best Picture Editing
2003 Winner, International SASA Award, Catania, Italy
Film site & Reviews
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