Medium Cool
Aug 22 - Aug 23, 2008
(Haskell Wexler, USA, 1969, 35mm, 110 min)
Talk about WILD IN THE STREETS! Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler (WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, BOUND FOR GLORY) produced, directed, wrote and shot this very cool, very radical end-of-the-60s artifact, a cinéma vérité-style drama set against — and actually filmed during — the infamous 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, where hippies, Yippies and other anti-Vietnam War protestors engaged police in bloody battle on the city streets. Robert Forster (JACKIE BROWN, MULHOLLAND DRIVE) plays a detached TV news cameraman who becomes conscious of the political and ethical ramifications of his work when the FBI begins using his footage to identity militants.
“One of the most devastating and technically sophisticated anti-establishment films ever made. Taking its title almost straight from mouth of media guru Marshall McLuhan…[MEDIUM COOL] film remains a landmark of political cinema and an insightful essay on the ‘cool medium.'” -James Monaco, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM