Tiny White Squares

last night i attended a screening of george gittoes' Soundtrack to War held at sva. my professor arranged the screening and george was in attendance. i had seen sections of Soundtrack in michael moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 but never the entirety of Soundtrack to War itself. i found the film kind of amazing in that gittoes give a nuanced view of the beginning of america's war in iraq by using music, and the idea of soundtrack, as both a metaphor and backdrop.

in his post movie discussion, george talked about the importance of art-making and creative culture in the face of war. i found it refreshing and inspiring. he talked about the value of cultural pursuits as a unifying and healing force within a community in crisis. being in new york i have begun to feel a bit jaded about art. hearing george talk about the essence of art in culture brought me back to my belief in the power of art within society a little bit.

he also talked about being in rwanda during the 1994 genocide & collecting babies after the daily massacres. i'm trying to imagine what his veiw of humanity is like.

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on thursday and friday the museum of modern art here in nyc will be premiering gittoes' new film Miscreants of Taliwood, which george explained as an exploration of the taliban's destruction of creative culture within the tribal belt of pakistan. i'm looking forward to the screening on friday.