Spring Break
Film responses to 9/11 attended by students, faculty
Ahsan Latif
Issue date: 9/16/02 Section: News
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Any films associated with Sept.11 may evoke the distasteful depictions of death akin to such films as those in the "Faces of Death" series.
Many found that Sept.11 films can also evoke thought-provoking and emotional reactions as well, as numerous students attended screenings of "WTC: Uncut" and "Underground Zero last Wednesday, as well as a lecture by "WTC: Uncut" co-director Steven Mudrick.
Professor of Communication Studies Thomas Poe was largely responsible for arranging the events that took place on campus last week.
"It's really a unique chance for the students of UMKC," said Poe. "'WTC: Uncut' is only being shown at four places in the country, and since we're showing it at 7:45 a.m., it's actually premiering here first."
"Uncut" consists of video footage Mudrick shot from his office in Manhattan just after the first plane crashed. The film continues to roll until the second tower falls. While the towers are shown burning, audio clips from live radio coverage of the attack, as well as interviews with New Yorkers, firefighters' funerals and other memorials, and its transformation into a tourist attraction are played.
"It's very much the anti-media sound-byte version of the events," said Poe.
Poe also said that many times that there are images permanently etched into the collective minds of the country, one example being the image of the towers smoldering. The video takes that image and expands and distorts it in a way that transcends that simple image and makes it mean much more.
"Underground Zero," a two-and-a-half hour compilation of various independent filmmakers' responses to the events of Sept.11, was also shown last Wednesday.
The films were best described as "abstract." One short featured various shots of a child's drawing at a memorial in New York over which the voices of an interview with two small children was played. When asked what happened on Sept.11, a small girl responds, "The plane bumped into one tower, and then five minutes later it bumped into the other. There were a whole lot of injuries."
Another featured an interview with a visual artist that produces paintings derived from ashes.
These events were presented by the Film and New Media Program at UMKC, The American Studies Program, and the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee.
Many found that Sept.11 films can also evoke thought-provoking and emotional reactions as well, as numerous students attended screenings of "WTC: Uncut" and "Underground Zero last Wednesday, as well as a lecture by "WTC: Uncut" co-director Steven Mudrick.
Professor of Communication Studies Thomas Poe was largely responsible for arranging the events that took place on campus last week.
"It's really a unique chance for the students of UMKC," said Poe. "'WTC: Uncut' is only being shown at four places in the country, and since we're showing it at 7:45 a.m., it's actually premiering here first."
"Uncut" consists of video footage Mudrick shot from his office in Manhattan just after the first plane crashed. The film continues to roll until the second tower falls. While the towers are shown burning, audio clips from live radio coverage of the attack, as well as interviews with New Yorkers, firefighters' funerals and other memorials, and its transformation into a tourist attraction are played.
"It's very much the anti-media sound-byte version of the events," said Poe.
Poe also said that many times that there are images permanently etched into the collective minds of the country, one example being the image of the towers smoldering. The video takes that image and expands and distorts it in a way that transcends that simple image and makes it mean much more.
"Underground Zero," a two-and-a-half hour compilation of various independent filmmakers' responses to the events of Sept.11, was also shown last Wednesday.
The films were best described as "abstract." One short featured various shots of a child's drawing at a memorial in New York over which the voices of an interview with two small children was played. When asked what happened on Sept.11, a small girl responds, "The plane bumped into one tower, and then five minutes later it bumped into the other. There were a whole lot of injuries."
Another featured an interview with a visual artist that produces paintings derived from ashes.
These events were presented by the Film and New Media Program at UMKC, The American Studies Program, and the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee.
