Lynn Hershman Leeson

Strange Culture is a documentary feature film produced by Lynn Hershman and Lise Swenson and it is based on the recent experiences of Steve Kurtz, an Associate Professor of Art at the State University of Buffalo and a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Critical Art Ensemble.

On May 11, 2004 Steve Kurtz’s wife Hope died in her sleep of cardiac arrest. Medics arrived, became suspicious of Kurtz’s art supplies that were out in his home, as he was working on an upcoming exhibit, and called the FBI. Within hours, Kurtz was charged as a suspected bio-terrorist as dozens of agents in hazmat suits sifted through his work, impounded his computers, manuscripts, books, his cat, even his wife’s body. As a result, Kurtz and his collaborator Dr. Robert Ferrell, former Chair of the Genetics Department at the Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, were charged with bio-terrorism and mail fraud, each potentially carrying a sentence of 20 years.

Strange Culture features a remarkable cast including Tilda Swinton, Peter Coyote, Thomas Jay Ryan, Josh Kornbluth and Steve Kurtz.

Directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson and shot by Hiro Narita with an original score by the Residents, the film also features Patriot Act Expert Tony West, Greg Bordowitz, Steve Dietz, Robin Held, and Claire Penticost.

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