The Fourth World War
the latest from independent production company Big Noise Films will be featured at the Athens Independent Film and Video Festival 7:00 p.m. this Friday, April 23, at the Athena Cinema, 20 S. Court St. The screening will also include a question-and-answer portion with those involved in the documentary.
Filmed by Rick Ralli and Jackie Soohin, The Fourth World War is a conglomeration of images and testimonies from South America and the Middle East that explore the idea of social revolution in times of strife. This same theme is echoed throughout many of Big Noise Film's documentaries.
The Big Noise Web site (http://www.bignoisefilms.com) says of the network involved with its films: We are not filmmakers producing and distributing our work. We are rebels crystallizating radical community and weaving a network of skin and images of dreams and bone
of solidarity and connection against the isolation
alienation and cynicism of capitalist decomposition.
Ruth Bradley, director of the film fest, said she admires the filmmakers as both political activists and artists. They create an essay in visuals
she said.
The Athens Film Fest screened two Big Noise documentaries, A Storm from the Mountain and This is What Democracy Looks Like
in 2001. The response was enormous
said Bradley, describing how many audience members had to sit on the floor at the Ridges Auditorium to view the films.
Bradley said she believes that the opening night screening of The Fourth World War is very significant. It sets the tone (for the rest of the festival)
she said, as the film explores politics, relationships and struggle-ideas many of the festival's films will look at. It tells you how to be a human in the world today
Bradley said.
Jenny Nelson, telecommunications professor, said she is expecting that The Forth World War will look at the large theme of globalization in a small way so that audience members will see the reality of the issues.
Nelson has shown Big Noise's This is What Democracy Looks Like - a documentary on the 1999 World Trade Organization Protests in Seattle - in her Media, Culture and Technology classes in order to give exposure to forms of independent media. Most of her students, she said, are not familiar with the issues brought up in the documentary, let alone non-corporate media.
Many students take a cynical approach to what they see, Nelson said, though many are intrigued with the idea of young filmmakers who use media to promote social change and will actually become more involved with this idea of 'citizen's media'.
I need to see something like this in these times
said Nelson of The Fourth World War.
Aaron Carter, president of InterAct, a coalition that works with other progressive groups, said he was exposed to Big Noise Films at the 2001 film fest and that the screening triggered his respect for the company.
InterAct is co-sponsoring the film's screening along with many student groups, including Positive Action.
They (Big Noise) tell stories from a radically different vantage point
