Laura Poitras - FishbowlLA

John Cusack Talks Freedom of the Press, Hunter S. Thompson on Reddit

Matthew Fleischer — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:00:06 +0000

Actor John Cusack has teamed up with Pentagon Paper whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, writers Glenn Greenwald and Xeni Jardin, documentarian Laura Poitras and Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Perry Barlow to launch a new First Amendment and investigative journalism advocacy foundation called Freedom of the Press. He’s currently fielding an AMA on Reddit about the endeavor… and his new film Rampart.

Plenty of info on Freedom of the Press (whose website appears to be slow/down under the traffic burden) but Cusack also had some interesting things to say about his friendship with the late Hunter S. Thompson:

I spent many many late nights on phone with Hunter through Clinton and Bush years…

Here were his thoughts on the Iraq war Bush & company started:

“We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world — a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us. No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out of our way, or we’ll kill you. “Well, shit on that dumbness, George W. Bush does not speak for me or my son or my mother or my friends or the people I respect in this world. We didn’t vote for these cheap, greedy little killers who speak for America today — and we will not vote for them again in 2002. Or 2004. Or ever. “Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid rich kids like George Bush? “They are the same ones who wanted to have Muhammad Ali locked up for refusing to kill gooks. They speak for all that is cruel and stupid and vicious in the American character. They are the racists and hate mongers among us — they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis. And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or not. Fuck them.”

HST didn’t mince words.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Sundance Institute Launches ‘New Frontier Story Lab’

Matthew Fleischer — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:26:41 +0000

The Sundance Institute announced today it was launching a new program designed to help new media artists and filmmakers harness emerging technology in their storytelling endeavors. The New Frontier Story Lab, as the initiative is called, will follow the existing Sundance lab model. Lab participants will be wholly immersed in their projects at a residential retreat, where they will receive extensive creative consultation from experts in various new media fields. This year’s creative consultants include documentarian Laura Poitras and screenwriter Richard LaGravenese, among nearly a dozen others.

Six projects have already been chosen to participate in the lab. More info on the projects, via press release, after the jump:

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Banksy’s ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’ Up for an IDA Documentary Award

Matthew Fleischer — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:39:26 +0000

“Exit Through the Gift Shop,” the documentary film by Banksy that prominently features LA artists Shepard Fairey and “Mr. Brainwash,” (along with a brief cameo from LA Weekly’s Shelly Leopold) is up for an International Documentary Association award for “Distinguished Feature Documentary.” Laura Poitras‘ brilliant film “The Oath” is also nominated. Winners will be announced December 3rd at the Directors Guild Theater in LA.

Full list of nominees, via indieWire, after the jump.

Previously on FBLA: Exclusive: ‘The Oath’ Documentarian Laura Poitras Has Had Her Reporters Notebooks Photocopied by Customs Agents

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.