Great Speeches From a Dying World
Dec 05 - Dec 11, 2008
(Linas Phillips, USA, 2008, DigiBeta, 92 min)
Sponsored by Real Change Newspaper and KBCS 91.3 FM
Director Present Opening Weekend!
Finding that homeless people seem to be invisible to the rest of society, director Linas Phillips (Walking To Werner) set out to familiarize himself with 12 people who were living on the streets of Seattle. As he developed friendships and discovered each person's particular struggles, he asked the subjects to read a famous speech from history that they felt related to their lives. Phillips encounters human empathy and hope alongside the low points of extreme poverty in this intimate exploration of homelessness.
"It's a bracing reminder that these speeches articulate, in an immediate and visceral way, the experiences of living people in desperate circumstances. It strips away the crust of history and sterility from the words, making them unsettling—and dangerous—all over again." -The Stranger