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Great Man and Cinema
(3:45, 2009)
Kim Jong Il, the Stalinist David O. Selznick, runs the state film studio as a way of promoting his own and his father's cult of personality. The film's title "Great Man and Cinema" comes from a propaganda booklet filled with stories of how the Dear Leader has written, edited, produced and given acting advice in films for the last 40 years. This film succinctly synthesizes the Dear Leader's directing philosophy with his feelings toward the imperialist beast at his heels.
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The Juche Idea
(62 min, 2008)
"Ready for a Marxist-Leninist-musical documentary? Jim Finn, the Busby Berkeley of propaganda, follows a South Korean video artists in North Korea who hopes to to revitalize Juche cinema... Finn is the undisputed champion of propaganda as pure art, and this is his best yet. He employs documentary, formal avant garde, language lesson videos, and sci-fi recreations to examine the souls of governments, leaders and the media. This is no kitsch mockumentary, just a careful analysis of the love of cinema that is as surreally funny as it is true. Isn't art revolutionary?"
—Cinevegas Film Festival
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La Trinchera Luminosa del Presidente Gonzalo
(60 min, 2007)
"A crypto-retro-Marxist faux-documentation of one day in a Peruvian women's prison populated by Shining Path Maoists, Trinchera has the flattened feel and relentless tempo of a long-lost artifact of low-tech propaganda; shot entirely in Spanish and Navajo, complete with large-scale rallies and musical numbers, its compulsive ambition only furthers its enigmas."
— Village Voice
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Interkosmos (71 min, 2006)
"What a delight! How charming and fantastic, so full of rare atmospheres."
— Guy Maddin, director
"...a retro gust of Communist utopianism..."
— Village Voice |
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la lotería (video
series, 2004-5)
"Twelve are the winning numbers in this audiovisual lottery in the key of agit-pop, created from remains of media trash and starring Jim Finn. Write it down: 5, 11, 21, 23, 25, 28, 36, 38, 39, 16, 48, 52. All of them last less than four minutes but, according to its utopian assignment of preference, together they're much more, because in the eventful and episodic universe of Finn's cinema, everything's possible. Thus, TV appearances from Fidel Castro, Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein, are contrasted with home movies (which range from a choreography in front of the bathroom mirror to a relationship with the nicest squirrel in the world), and silenced by the soft melodies –now involuntarily subversive- of Ana and Juan Gabriel, Rocío Durcal, Los Guaraguao, The Weavers, Leonard Nimoy and even the beloved Argentine duo Pimpinela. Like the rest of his work, La lotería shows that Jim Finn has one of the most original and quick cinematic minds in present day." — Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente
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super-max (13 min, 2003)
“Finn’s chilling super-max is a tour of maximum
security prisons shot from a moving car, their hulking forms
framed by telephone poles and power lines that divide landscape
and sky. The concluding voice-over, making reference to Lewis
and Clark, implicitly equates the European occupation of this
continent with imprisonment.”
— Fred Camper, Chicago Reader
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Decision 80 (10 min,
2003)
A decisive moment in American history remixed into the prelude
to your worst fucking nightmare.
— New York Underground Film Festival
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wüstenspringmaus
(3 min, 2002)
“’The gerbil has long been associated with New World
capitalism because of its incessant energy.’ The Golden
Age of Hollywood takes on the history and evolution of this
delightful household pet.”
— International Film Festival Rotterdam
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el güero (3 min,
2001)
“A refreshing look at karaoke, psychedelic dance moves,
and donuts all mashed together into a small and swinging film
about a man who considers his private thoughts and private jokes
worth sharing with a large audience. And it’s unlikely
that many would disagree.”
— Impakt Festival
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comunista! (3:30 min,
2001)
“You are invited to Jim’s party! Snake optional.”
— Cinematexas Festival
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sharambaba (3 min, 1999)
A young communist girl named Sharambaba resists her suitor in
a carriage.
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übermax (1 min, 2004)
A musical companion piece to super-max: “Hitler, he had
only one ball.” |
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the golden horde (4:30
min, 2004)
A reference to the Mongolian invasion of Russia, the golden
horde is a a musical, animal film about broken hearts.
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