Anthem Film Festival: Three Short Film Jewels About Dreams, Trauma, and Mules
(First published on blogcritics.org) Three short films at the Anthem Film Festival, part of FreedomFest, billed as the world’s largest gathering of free minds, July 13-16, in Las Vegas, deserve special mention. All less than fifteen minutes long, they each shed light on what it means to be an individual and how we experience the […]
Anthem Film Festival: Police are Coming to Take Your Stuff and Kill You Dog
‘Seized’, winner of Anthem’s Best Short Documentary award, explores a police practice called civil asset forfeiture. ‘Of Dogs and Men’, winner of Best Libertarian Documentary Feature tries to explain why 10,000 pet dogs are killed by police every year.
Anthem Film Festival: ‘Deep Web’ Explores Silk Road, Looking for the Dread Pirate Roberts
Ross Ulbricht received two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years. He must have done something terrible, right? The film Deep Web, which explores his crime, capture and prosecution screened at the libertarian themed Anthem Film Festival, part of FreedomFest, July 13-16 at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.
Anthem Film Festival: Slavery Is Alive and Well and May Be Living Down Your Street
Slavery has become more subtle and is not just something that happens far away in third world countries. This was the message of The Return, a film by director Matthew Szewczyk and producer Chelsea Fenton, which won the “Best Libertarian Ideals, Short Narrative” award at the Anthem Film Festival.
Anthem Film Festival: Laughing Though the Pain
Lord Byron said, “Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.” If that’s true, then attendees of the Anthem Film Festival, part of FreedomFest, July 13-16 at Planet Hollywood, left Las Vegas well medicated.
Anthem Film Festival: Lenny Bruce, Gilbert Gottfried, and Penn Jillette vs. The Outrage Mob
In the 1960s, cops arrested Lenny Bruce for word crimes, but today the policed have become the police.
Anthem Film Festival: Do Right-Wingers Have a Sense of Humor?
Do right-wingers (meaning conservatives, libertarians and anyone who would not be caught dead wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt) have a sense of humor? You might not think so, if your main sources of news have been John Stewart and Lena Dunham piped into your safe space on a politically correct campus. I have, however, seen right-wing humor in the wild, often at previous iterations of the Anthem Film Festival, and I have laughed and survived.
Anthem FilmFest: Top 10 Libertarian Films Rock with Jennifer Lawrence, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman
“When I grow up, I want to be Dr. Manhattan,” was one of the responses Anthem Film Festival organizer Jo Ann Skousen received during the “Top 10 Films Every Libertarian Should Know” panel. Sometimes you get more than you ask for. After the audience joined the panel in suggesting films, well, there were a lot more than 10.
Anthem FilmFest: ‘Searching for Eddie Running Wolf’
Searching for Eddie Running Wolf, a feature length documentary by director Thomas Hartmann, defies easy classification.
Anthem Film Fest: County Charges Farmer $15,000 for Hosting a Birthday Party
Eight little girls at a birthday party on their neighbor’s farm; what could be more innocent than that?
Anthem Film Fest: Help Me, Obi Penn Jillette – You’re My Only Hope
Producer Ted Balaker said, “There has always been outrage, but now with technology, we can supercharge outrage.”
Interview: Jo Ann Skousen, Anthem Film Festival Founder
Chatting with Jo Ann Skousen, founder of the Anthem Film Festival, a venue for filmmakers who care about individuality and libertarian ideals
Anthem Film Fest: Countryside vs. City – Two Wars
An attack on Vietnam veterans – I suddenly felt like I was back at UCLA in 1971. Beyond Courage: Surviving Vietnam as a POW brought back questions, controversies, and anger from a war which was the model for the Chinese Communist vision of the peasants in the countryside rising up and overcoming the city. Empire State Divide brought viewers into the world of today and a war by the city on the countryside.
Anthem Film Fest: Mind Reboot
Two of the documentaries at the Anthem Film Festival caused my brain to do a reboot.
Anthem Film Fest: ‘Cough’ – A Must-Watch for Filmmakers
This is an amazing 11 minutes of film. In the space within which most films are still on the titles, Australian Writer/Director Jason Kempnich gives us a “save the cat” moment, a character flaw (despair), an inciting incident, a character arc, conflict and a resolution. And the special effects are good, too. I saw Cough at the Anthem […]
Anthem Film Fest: A Dark Future, but with a Few Laughs
Two films — two questions about America’s future
Anthem Film Fest – ‘America: Imagine the World Without Her’
It is a rare experience to have a documentary film move you emotionally as narrative films often do. New York Times bestselling author Dinesh D’Souza’s defense of America did just that.
Anthem Film Festival – Yes, the NSA is Listening
If you thought Edward Snowden was the first NSA whistle blower, you need to see this film.
Anthem Film Fest – Telling the Truth Could Get You Killed
(First published on blogcritics.org) Filmmaker Reaves Washburn quoted Oscar Wilde: “Wilde said, ‘If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise, they’ll kill you.’ For us,” he continued, “that means give them good themes, peak their interest, ease people in and make it fun in every way.” Washburn, whose film Knocked Down won the short […]
Anthem Film Fest: ‘Sick and Sicker’
(First published on blogcritics.org) Since l was old enough to comprehend such things, sometime in the 1960s, I’ve heard stories of how bad things can be in countries with socialized medicine. Until Saturday, July 13, 2013, at the Anthem Film Festival, I had no idea just how bad it could be. Logan Clements in his […]
