On Saturday, a friend of mine and I attended the Vancouver premiere of Ground Noise and Static, a documentary about independent media covering protests at the 2008 RNC and DNC in St. Paul and Denver, at the Vivo Studios. Ground Noise and Static, a dismissive term used by McCain to describe protesters who interrupted one of his speeches, provided a very compelling look at the independent media's attempt to cover the actions of activists who sought to protest and disrupt the RNC and DNC. The filmmakers were on hand to present their work and answer questions (unfortunately I missed the Q&A due to a mind numbing night shift). I had the chance to speak with Joe and Lambert before the film and their soft spoken manner belied their impact and sobering work. It was, in a word, awesome. I wish I had a chance to speak with them following the film as I would have been interested in their take on the current political situation down south and if they believed an Obama presidency would bring about any of the changes sought by the activists. My friend was able to stay for the Q&A which by his account was brief, save for a question about what local activists could do to be more effective. According to my friend, the general opinion was to attempt to gain more mainstream support by getting out the message. Obviously the filmmakers believe that the story of resistance, which is all too often ignored or twisted by the main stream media, is compelling enough that wider exposure would result in wider support. After watching the film I could not agree more.
The film provides first rate embedded footage of the activists clashing with the police as well as personal accounts from those targeted by the state in preemptive police raids. The film raised some questions which speak to the core of democracy and freedom: Who gets to tell us what we can see? Who gets to tell us what we can say? Who gets to tell us whom we can associate with? Moreover, the film and its creators leave the viewer with the question: Who is the press and who says? The answers provided by the film makers is simple, "don't hate the media, be the media".
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