Program C: Jim Finn

Free and open to the public! Seating is on a space-available basis.

Encounters With Your Inner Trotsky Child (Jim Finn, USA, 2013, 21.5m)
Another chapter in the parallel­leftist­universe of Jim Finn—this video appears to be part of a communist self­help videotape series made in the early 1990’s. The series author, Lois Severin, was responding to the move from mass sociopolitical engagement of the 60’s and 70’s to the personal fulfillment fantasies of the 80’s—the Jane Fonda­ization of the Left. But these tapes were not merely a desperate attempt for Trotskyites to stay relevant in the neoliberal era. They were mimicking the Christian fundamentalist activists who organized in churches and community centers in the 70’s. While those anti­government right­wing activists prepared the ground for the so­called Reagan Revolution, Encounters with Your Inner Trotsky Child was an attempt to radicalize the personal fulfillment and self­help scene and prepare the ground for whatever is coming in the 21st Century.

Christmas with Chávez (Jim Finn, Argentina, USA/Venezula, 2013, 2m)
Weeks before the 2006 midterm elections, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez came to the United Nations and delivered his “smells of sulfur” speech about President Bush. After that speech, Bush was officially a lame duck—the Republicans lost the House and Senate and just had to wait around for the air to go out of the economy. It was an ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ moment with perfect comic timing. No matter what nutty things Chávez ever did, our nation's children will always be grateful.