The documentary film Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in his Own Words won three major awards at the Anthem Libertarian Film Festival. The event ran this year from July 13-16 at the Mirage in Las Vegas. The film, directed by Michael Pack, won the Anthem Grand Prize, the AnthemVault Prize for Best Original Score, and the […]
(Originally published on Blogcritics.org) Anyone who has been exposed to social media the last few years doubtlessly remembers the Nick Sandmann video. A group of high school boys near the Lincoln Memorial, with an old Native American “Vietnam Veteran” banging a drum in the face of one of the boys. The film Rush to Judgement, […]
Birds, quotas, and two crazy bureaucrats. What could go wrong?
Can you eat a chicken and watch it run around the yard at the same time? These scientists did. Find out how.
(Originally published on Blogcritics.org) Short films add the seasoning to film festivals. In between the feature length films, bits of humor, intellectual stimulation, and emotional tugs make the experience special. This year’s Anthem Film Festival, the tenth annual, had its share of short film spice. Like most everything else in the world, Anthem, scheduled to […]
An insightful exploration of race and politics in America today
At this year’s Anthem Film Festival, two films with a continental twist played games with the minds of the audience: “May Fifteenth in Paris” and “Re-Evolution.”
I have been moved, inspired, and touched by documentaries before. “Three Days of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks” is the first documentary ever to bring me to tears
(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 […]
‘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.
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.
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.
‘The Bandit’ documents the story behind the making of ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ and of the relationship of star Burt Reynolds and his close friend, stunt double, and creative force behind the film, Hal Needham.
Searching for Eddie Running Wolf, a feature length documentary by director Thomas Hartmann, defies easy classification.
Eight little girls at a birthday party on their neighbor’s farm; what could be more innocent than that?
At the Anthem Film Festival, part of the libertarian FreedomFest conference July 8-11, 2015, at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, I was discussing films with a young woman who commented, “I like documentaries, but so many of them are so depressing. I want to see positive stories.” She was in the right place.
Producer Ted Balaker said, “There has always been outrage, but now with technology, we can supercharge outrage.”
Morgan Spurlock made a name for himself eating burgers. His film ‘Supersize Me’ was an indictment of the fast food industry. Now he’s moved on to ice cream, and Häagen-Dazs in particular, but, not to convince you not to eat it. Spurlock’s new film ‘Crafted’ debuted at the Los Angeles Film Fest, June 10-18. ‘Crafted’ aims to take us into the mindset of modern craftsmen who choose quality and personal involvement over mass production.
(Originally published on Blogcritics.org) If you were at the NuArt Theater in Los Angeles on May 15 or 16, you could have gotten a ticket for a tat. If that tattoo was based on the work of H.R. Giger, that is, and you wanted to see the premiere of Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World. H.R. […]
SXSW presents three documentaries: “Best of Times,” “They Will Have to Kill Us First,” and “Disaster Playground.” They are all about what makes us human and vulnerable.