Public Hearing
Jun 26, 2013
(James N. Kienitz Wilkins, 2012, United States, Blu-ray, 110 min)
When history remembers our society, how well will it read between the lines? Public Hearing, a tense and hilarious reenactment of the minutes from an American town meeting, digs for an answer. Bickering over how much space the new Wal-Mart should take up in town, citizens and governors take part in a much graver fight below the surface: a struggle for authority in this mini-model of American democracy. From its overwhelming close-up shots to its use of PowerPoint slides from the real town meeting, Public Hearing turns our civilization’s republican customs into absurdities, in a transformation whose most startling feature is its effortlessness.
>> This film is part of our new documentary series N-E-X D-O-C-S: you can buy a series pass and see all of the films in N-E-X D-O-C-S at a discount! $35/Film Forum Members, $55/General