visit http://www.cinematexas.org/parallax for a printable schedule

The following blog entries include the full Parallax View program which occurs Sept 22-24 at The Victory Grill (1104 E. 11th St). For questions or concerns, email leslie@cinematexas.org

I. Intro
II. Schedule
III. APOCALYPSE NIGH: DEATH AND TERROR IN THE MIDDLE EAST (9/22)
IV. REMAKING NEW ORLEANS FROM BELOW (9/23)
V. TORTURE EXPRESS: THE RISING COST OF FREEDOM (9/24)


PARALLAX VIEW: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF IMAGES

The mass media focuses on global issues and problems in a superficial way, often glossing over causes and potential resolutions. This year, Parallax View looks at modern conflict from an on-the-ground perspective, seeking to provide practical ways to become a part of the solution.

Whether disaster is man-made or natural, made-in-the-USA recipes to fix them seem evermore destructive. Our countrys force-fed freedom agenda in Iraq seems to be staying the course straight into civil war as Condoleeza Rice confidently decrees, "We need always to be cognizant of and looking to what kind of Middle East we are trying to build. It is time for a new Middle East." The agenda is victory by any means necessary, even when the cause is lost.

Unfortunately, our government has been successful at creating a new New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina, Bush proposed a Gulf Opportunity Zone - ostensibly for displaced residents to rebuild. However, developers from all over the country flocked to the prime real estate of predominately black-owned neighborhoods that were flooded and left to rot. Thankfully, volunteer groups and community activists rallied to assure that whole neighborhoods werent illegally bulldozed.

From these crisis situations, strong, solidified grassroots movements are emerging to preserve the livelihood, culture, and basic human rights of the people affected. Individuals are realizing that participation in a system contrary to our governments nightmarish bureaucracy can be efficient, effective and influential. Parallax brings film, artwork, music, interventions, activism, journalism, and their respective creators to challenge this regimes hegemony and skillfully escape their stranglehold on the media.

Leslie Dreyer