The Censorship Show
Deadline: Friday, March 29

Triggered by the case against experimental filmmaker Lawrence Brose, Termite TV is producing a show about art and censorship.

Background: Lawrence Brose is an internationally-known award-winning gay experimental film artist who has created over thirty films since 1983. In November 2009, Lawrence was charged in federal court with possessing internet images of child pornography, including 100 images from his most famous, internationally-shown film, De profundis. Despite maintaining complete innocence, Lawrence lost his job as Executive Director of CEPA Gallery; was forced to hire a lawyer, which depleted all his savings; and many of his freedoms, such as the freedom to travel have been severely restricted. Since the arrest many facts have to light that call the charges against him into question. A detailed description about the case can be found at http://lawrencebroselegaldefensefund.com/. A good article about the case, “The United States vs. Lawrence Brose: A Butterfly on the Wheel” by William Altreuter can be found here: http://www.artvoice.com/issues/v11n45/guest_essay

Purpose of program: In this program we seek to show our solidarity with Lawrence Brose by addressing some of the pertinent issues this case raises (such as artistic censorship, prosecurial overreach, freedom of speech, criminalization of gay art), as well as related issues connected to Lawrence and his artwork. As this case is still ongoing Lawrence himself cannot be interviewed for this program. Experimental work is welcome.  We are interested in pieces that captures some aspect of the emotional and intellectual impact of this case and the events surrounding it. Please contact coordinating producers Dorothea Braemer at [email protected] or Joanna Raczynska at [email protected] to discuss your idea before you submit work.