Strange Culture

Artist and college professor Steve Kurtz was preparing for a Massachusetts MoCA exhibition that lets audiences test whether food has been genetically modified when, days before the opening, his wife tragically died of heart failure. Distraught, Kurtz called 911, but when medics arrived they became suspicious of his art supplies and called the FBI. Dozens of agents in haz-mat suits sifted through his home and impounded his computers, books, cat, and even his wife’s body. The government held Kurtz as a suspected terrorist, and, nearly three years later, the charges have not been dropped. He still faces up to 20 years in prison. This is a documentary about post- 9/11 paranoia and the risks artists face when their work questions government policies.

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Script: Lynn Hershman Leeson

Cinematography: Hiro Narita

Editing: Lynn Hershman Leeson

Sound: Dan Olmsted

Actors: Tilda Swinton,Thomas Jay Ryan, Peter Coyote, Josh Kornbluth, Steve Kurtz

Production: L5 Productions

Producers: Lise Swenson, Steven Beer, Lynn Hershman Leeson

Format: DigiBeta Color

Production Country: USA

Production Year: 2006

Duration: 75

Lynn Hershman Leeson

She has been cited as the “most influential woman working in new media”. In 1998, she was a fellow at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and received the Flintridge Foundation Award for lifetime achievement in the visual arts. Her film, Conceiving Ada, screened at Sundance and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, and Teknolust played at Sundance in 2002 and won the Feature Film Prize in Science and Technology at the Hamptons IFF. Her artwork can be found in numerous collections, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Hess Collection.