Film Screening: In the Year of the Pig - 1968 seminal anti-war doc

July 6
In the Year of the Pig

Location: Fools Foundation - 1025 19th St. Off of K St, between 19th and 20th, next to the back-end of Old Spaghetti Factory. 7:00 PM. Admission: $5.00.

Emile de Antonio's stunning Academy Award-nominated anti-war documentary from 1968 on the US in Vietnam, filmed at the height of our involvement. Upon initial release, reaction against it was so strong that theaters which ran it received bomb threats and had screens painted over.

Interspersing footage from Vietnam with interviews of politicians, academics and military and intelligence personnel, the film traces the history of Vietnam and how it was manipulated by external forces, ultimately resulting in the Vietnam War. de Antonio shows mastery at simply allowing people to talk, and thus hang themselves with their own words - a tactic which Michael Moore is also very adept at.

Not only is this film important for historical reasons, but maintains much relevance given our current involvement in Iraq. Listening to some of the interviews in this doc seem very strangely familiar - as if you have very recently heard extremely similar statements supporting the reasons for the US being in Iraq...

We are doing regular weekly film screenings with Fools Foundation on Fridays at 7 PM - most are $5 (unless otherwise noted in advance), and will have filmmakers out from time to time.

You can always check http://www.shiny-object.com/screenings/