Axis of Evil Deconstructs the President's Catchphrase and Illuminates the Manipulation of Truth, Language and the Media
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
From Qualiatica and BulletProof Film:
In the wake of a stinging CIA report showing that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction comes a new film prompted by the foreign policy failures of the Bush administration. AXIS OF EVIL is a feature-length documentary that deconstructs the rhetoric of the President’s catchphrase and illuminates the ways in which our government manipulates truth, language, and the media to hijack popular culture and opinion.
“Evil is a reactionary, emotional frame,” wrote AXIS OF EVIL producer Jim Swanson, in an essay in the book that inspired the film. “We must replace concepts of sin and evil with a nurturing and positive frame that recognizes harmful actions and their causes, and encourages appropriate remediations.” In interviews with 16 journalists, artists, scholars, and activists, including Howard Zinn, Daniel Ellsberg, Bernardine Dohrn, James Weinstein, and others, AXIS OF EVIL explores the concept of evil and how it has been used to justify political and military actions. But unlike most recent Bush-bashing documentaries, the film addresses the broad, complex, and interwoven issues of terrorism, racism, militarism, and other such social ills. It’s a reasoned discussion of evil as it truly exists in our society, rather than a polemic against the war in Iraq.
But make no mistake; this is not a film that sits on the fence. The activists behind AXIS OF EVIL are deeply concerned with a society that has been drifting away from democratic principles, and they hope to provoke an intelligent consideration of the current state of the union.
As dissent, debate, and discussions--like the one contained in this film--become increasingly supplanted by spin, symbolism, and sound bites, the need for voices like those in AXIS OF EVIL becomes only greater.
Interview subjects:
James Barnhart teaches Southeast Asian Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. He is a former Fulbright Fellow to France and has taught at various universities in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and the United States. He has also traveled extensively in remote regions of Asia. He is currently developing a multi-part documentary with BulletProof Film entitled, “The Empire of Water,” on the importance of aquatic themes in Southeast Asian cultures.
Jane Bohman is the Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Between 1993 and 1998, she represented the United Auto Workers in a historic labor dispute against Caterpillar.
James J. Brask teaches political science at the Barat College of DePaul
University in Chicago. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam from 1969-1971
and has spoken on many occasions about the political and social implications
of the Vietnam War.
Dr. Brask is the subject of another documentary by BulletProof Film titled "Teaching
the Vietnam War" about himself and his colleague, Dr. Robert Arnoldt,
as they use the classroom to come to terms with their experiences in
the Vietnam War. He is the Director of CER-SEA, Center of Education and
Reconciliation in Southeast Asia and the pacific rim.
Bernardine Dohrn teaches law at Northwestern University, where she founded the Children and Family Justice Center. She teaches and writes about children’s law and justice and international human rights. She was a leader in the radical 1960s protest organization, the Weather Underground. Dr. Dohrn is also featured in the forthcoming BulletProof Film production of "Teaching Vietnam."
Daniel Ellsberg is a strategic analyst and activist who is most famous
for leaking the Pentagon Papers in 1971, an event that helped undermine
popular support for the war. He’s the author of “Secrets: A Memoir of
Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.”
This interview with Dr. Ellsberg was conducted by Deb Ellis and Denis
Mueller for their documentary "Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral
on a Moving Train" (2004, First Run Features.)
Fisal M. Hammouda is Muslim community activist and engineering consultant in Chicago. He has delivered addresses explaining Islam to Christian audiences, as well as on the history of the Ottoman Empire.
J. B. Ketterson is a professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern University. He specializes in experimental condensed-matter physics and is the co-author of two books on superconductors. Dr. Ketterson is also an accomplished guitarist.
Peter Kuttner is an activist and filmmaker, and a founding member of Chicago Newsreel (a documentary filmmaking collective working with the Peace, Black Power, and Women's Movements from 1968 to 1971, where he made April 27 with Jon Jost) and has been associated with Kartemquin Films since 1972. Mr. Kuttner has extensive experience in television, narrative film, and documentaries, and is a community organizer with Rising Up Angry in the working class neighborhoods of Chicago. Two of Mr. Kuttner's films are excerpted in AXIS OF EVIL: "Trick Bag" and "The End of the Nightstick."
Martha C. Nussbaum is a professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago, where she founded the Center for Comparative Constitutionalism. She is the author of 11 books on topics ranging from ethics in Greek tragedy to the dangers of patriotism.
Gerhard Schutte is a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, where he’s the director of the Center for Ethnic Studies. He is the author of “What Racists Believe: Race Relations in South Africa and the United States.”
Geoffrey R. Stone is a professor of law at the University of Chicago, where he served as a provost from 1993 to 2002. He has served on the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union, and has written several books on the Bill of Rights. Dr. Stone's most recent book is "Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime."
Jim Swanson is the publisher of Qualiatica Press, and the producer of AXIS OF EVIL. A former board member of the ACLU and the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, he is a draft resister, drug law reform activist, and proud secular humanist.
Craig Vetter teaches magazine writing at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He’s been a freelance writer for 25 years, writing for a variety of magazines, including Playboy, Outside, and Sunset.
Floyd Webb, creative director of e22.digital.inc, is a digital animator and filmmaker based in Chicago. He was associate producer of the film Daughters of the Dust and has worked in film and digital media around the world. He was the founder of the Chicago Blacklight Film Festival, a pioneering showcase of international black cinema..
James Weinstein is the founder of the biweekly newsmagazine In These Times. He is the author of five books on American politics, most recently “The Long Detour: The History and Future of the American Left.”
Howard Zinn is a historian, activist, and author of several books on history and American politics, most famously “A People’s History of the United States.” He is currently a columnist for The Progressive. This interview with Dr. Zinn was conducted by Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller for their documentary "Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train" (2004, First Run Features.)
AXIS OF EVIL also contains images from 54 international artists from 11 countries, in a “stamp art” style that explores individual and cultural visions of evil. The artwork is used both as a visual counterpart to the interview subjects, and as a multimedia exploration of the meaning of evil.
The film was created by Qualiatica Press (www.Qualiatica.com) and BulletProof Film (www.BulletProofFilm.com), produced by Jim Swanson, Warren Leming, Carmine Cervi, and Ilko Davidov, directed by Carmine Cervi, and narrated by Warren Leming.
Qualiatica uses art as a background and stimulus for dialogue on critical social issues, through art exhibits, essay enhanced art books, and film.
BulletProof Film Inc., an independent film and video production company based in Chicago, was established in 1995 to address the production and post-production needs of Chicago’s promising independent film and video scene. BulletProof Film’s mission is to create quality programming that advances the art through the use of both traditional and innovative technology. Our programming fulfills the need for diverse voices in fiction, experimental, and documentary filmmaking. Recent productions include: PATRIOT ACTS, a 2004 documentary about two Pakistani men in Chicago as they maneuver their way through the Special Registration process designed by the Justice Department to catch potential terrorists; SACRED SOUNDS, a 2002 documentary about world sacred music, shot in Morocco it compares musical traditions from Christianity, Islam, and Judaism; and the forth coming ABOUT FACE, a feature documentary about German and Austrian Jewish refugees who turned around and fought for the Allies in WWII.
Michael Hernandez de Luna organized the stamp art, and the companion book was designed by Al Brandtner Design.
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