MARVELOUS “WHO’S THE MONSTER” MOVIE MONDAYS!!
guest curator: Amy Khoshbin

Living as an Iranian-American artist in the US when there is a ban on Iranians coming here freely keeps me motivated to act. And it keeps me looking at our culture and at our media critically, as tiring as it can get.

I had already planned on launching this series of Who’s The Monster Movie Mondays: scenes in popular US films that portray the Middle Easterner as enemy- starting off with Back to the Future. And this morning, I was so sad to read that the worst massacre in modern American history happened in Las Vegas. All news outlets describe the shooter as a “lone wolf” and not connected to terrorism. He is the definition of a terrorist even though he’s white. White shooters are responsible for most acts of domestic terrorism.

Let’s start looking at how the media plays a huge role in why we only define Middle Easterners as “terrorists.” And let’s begin our series with the old classic, Back to the Future.

Remember when Doc gets gunned down by Libyan terrorists and Marty is unpreparedly sent back to 1955 to escape? When I was a kid in 1985, I didn’t fully understand the context of the Libyan terrorist subplot. Libya was one of the poorest countries and suddenly started making money when they found oil in 1959. The US got really interested in the region and staffed their bases up. In 1969 Gaddafi removed the US oil companies by nationalizing the Libyan oil industry so they could make money off of their own resource. The US then deemed the Libyans a “state sponsor of terrorism” in 1979. Libya and the US started fighting and then in 1982 there were economic sanctions imposed against Libya, which were ramped up in 1986.

My question is, did Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale write in the Libyan enemies because of their own feelings or were their feelings based on the media’s fearmongering of Libyans to perpetuate military actions against a country whose oil we wanted? Sounds familiar…

Marvelous Movie Mondays! It’s our final week to celebrate A Day In The Sun: Films by the EPFC Coop and we’re giving a super special shout out to the fabulous Ms. Kate Lain, charter Coop member and the creator/curator/champion of Marvelous Movie Mondays! Thanks for all you do, Kate, in bringing the global experimental community together here each week!

Let’s enjoy a nature break with Kate’s film Eaton Canyon (1.2 miles in 50 feet).

Traces of what has come before imbue the present. In Eaton Canyon, one of the most trafficked hiking destinations near Los Angeles, you can find a multitude of traces of its own making—traces of geologic change, of jurisdictional decisions, of plant and animal life, of constructions built to last but now left as ruins. This suite of works is imbued with traces not only of a particular moment in this canyon, but also of their own making.

Marvelous Movie Mondays! This month we’re celebrating A Day In The Sun: New Films by the EPFC Coop and today we invite you to enjoy Hour of Pear by Andrew Kim, EPFC’s AWESOME General Operations Manager.

“In Cannery Row, John Steinbeck refers to the Monterey dawn as the hour of pearl or “the interval between day and night when time stops and examines itself.” Transposed to a community of fishermen at the Ventura Pier in 2017, these words offer a new kind of insight.”

MARVELOUS MOVIE MONDAYS: LABOR DAY EDITION!

QUANTUM IDENTITY POLITICS: A FILM BY MIKO REVEREZA

This month Marvelous Movie Mondays celebrates the good people of the EPFC Coop and all the dedicated work they do in bringing the Cinematic Revolution to YOU!

In advance of the so-called President’s Tuesday announcement on whether he will rescind Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [DACA] program, we share with you Miko Revereza’s powerful QUANTUM IDENTITY POLITICS that speaks directly to the frustration and fury inherent in being a Dreamer in America.