A sassy one-woman show who directs and shoots from the driver's seat, (Alexandra) Pelosi ventures out over a year-long period for up-close and personal encounters with some influential members of the evangelical community...

In her slice-of-life exploration, Pelosi travels to the red states and beyond to meet an array of open and forthright evangelicals who represent a broad sampling of the community. Many are pro-life and against gay marriage, and believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, rebuking Darwinism.

Among them is Pastor Ted Haggard, who recently stepped down as president of the 30-million strong National Association of Evangelicals - the largest evangelical group in the U.S. - following allegations that he had sex with a male prostitute and bought illegal drugs. Before the scandal broke, Haggard welcomed Pelosi to his world, explaining that an evangelical is "a person who believes Jesus is the Son of God, the Bible is the Word of God, and that you must be born again." While mega-churches like his New Life Church in Colorado Springs have replaced the quaint churches of yesteryear, Haggard explains that their sense of community is as strong as ever and this contributes to evangelicals' happy lives.

Says Haggard, "We've settled the issue of eternal life. The Bible is clear about it...we are not afraid of death because of it. We are living in the United States of America; we have representative government; and we have freedom of religion and freedom of the press." He asks, "Why in the world would a person in that environment not be happy?"

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A labor of love on the part of Pilger, a long-time activist for peace and freedom for all, Pilger journeys into several Latin American countries-Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, and Chile, and documents efforts being made to broaden the accessibility of freedom. He documents the populism promulgated by leaders by Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales, the President of relatively poor Bolivia, to promote the values of true democracy, in which the poor are franchised and invested in the well-being of the country. Pilger talks to people who were adversely affected by CIA-backed coups in many of these same South and Central American countries during the second half of the 20th century, making a powerful witness to the deleterious effect of greed and the disproportionate allocation of power in the hands of a few. The work of the CIA on behalf of US corporately acceptable "leaders" is documented; much of this is not new, but Pilger's main accomplishment is collating and connecting the material on so many foreign interventions by the CIA.

A wise cinematographic decision by Pilger is to interview and show the people of these nations. They appear decent and it is important for Westerners to realize that they have a lot in common with the so-called impoverished. Beneath our different exteriors, we share many characteristics. Also, the footage of the countries, and often just the day-to-day lives are lovely and the mountainous backdrops of Bolivia, Peru, and Chile, are beautiful. Pilger makes a strong case for government conducted on behalf of the people and interviews Chavez, allowing him to make his case for such a rule-of-law. Pilger interviews a couple of CIA sources, including the head of the CIA in South America during the mid-1980s. He asks him whether the ouster of Allende had been justified and the man states that the ends had to justify the means. He also said that US interests were protected via the installation of Pinochet, failing to recognize the contrast between US claims of respect for democratically elected governments and US intervention when the US, oh.....felt like it. Pilger's decision to refuse to interrupt while the man put his foot in his mouth and re-affirmed the importance of protecting US interests over even sovereign governments, seems wise. The man only seems all the more out-of-touch and arrogant for his unapologetic defense of autocracy. This is a powerful indictment of greed and of the possible benefits available to ALL if the US will allow sovereign governments to work autonomously. Notably, the film is available via Google Video for those interested. -- www.IMDB.com

(But try to find it in a U.S. movie theater - Editor)

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Lubbock, Texas has some of the highest teen pregnancy and STD rates in the nation. The town's solution? A strict abstinence-only education curriculum in the public schools and a fire-and-brimstone preacher who urges kids to pledge abstinence-until-marriage, telling them that True Love Waits... or else.

Shelby is a pledger, a politically conservative, deeply religious, fifteen-year old Southern Baptist who joins the Lubbock Youth Commission, a group of high school students representing a youth voice in city government, because she loves politics. But when the teens confront Lubbock's sexual health crisis and campaign for comprehensive, factbased sex education, a new world opens up for Shelby. She throws herself into the fight with missionary fervor, struggling to reconcile her newfound political beliefs with her conservative religious views.

When the fight widens to include a group of LBGT students who are trying to start a gaystraight alliance, Shelby must make a choice: Stand by and let others be hurt, or go against her parents, her pastor, and even the other teens on the commission, to help the gay kids in their fight?

By the end of the film Shelby, now 17, has learned a lesson that will guide her to adulthood: "Some people never take their head out of the Bible to see the world around them. And it's sad, but it's understandable, because it's safe. But God wants you to question, and God wants you to do more than just blindly be a follower." -- incite-pictures.com

(Winner of multiple awards)

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Despite coverage in major newspapers and TV shows, the Kurtz case still has not received the media spotlight it deserves. Perhaps Lynn Hershman-Leeson's electrifying and alarming film will change this. Like last year's festival entry, "An Inconvenient Truth," the film needs a distributor that understands the solid business and political reasons for releasing the film.

Even before the tragedy of May 11, 2004, Kurtz's own work operated below the radar. A long-haired associate professor of art at SUNY Buffalo and founding member of the theater troupe Critical Art Ensemble, Kurtz was then working on an exhibition for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art that confronted the hot-button topic of genetically modified food. When his wife, Hope, died early that morning in her sleep of heart failure, Kurtz's called 911. The paramedics grew suspicious of the professor's art supplies, which often consisted of petri dishes containing bacteria ordered over the Internet. The FBI was called in, and soon agents in hazmat suits were rifling through his house. They impounded books, computers and even his wife's body. He immediately was branded a "bioterrorist" and arrested.

Two and a half years later, the case still is pending in federal court. Because his lawyer advised him not to talk about certain aspects of the case, Hershman-Leeson has chosen to explore the situation in an experimental approach. Actors -- notably Thomas Jay Ryan as Steve and Tilda Swinton as Hope -- dramatize certain scenes. News footage, comic book drawings and talking-head interviews with colleagues and fellow artists fill in other gaps. -- The Hollywood Reporter

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