Michael Becker
News Editor

IB Spectres of the Spectruin
U.S.A., 1999, 94 minutes
Director /Producer/Screen-
play: Craig Baldwin.

IT.was no smali irony that
Craig Baldwin's first print ver-
“sion of Spectres of the Spectrum
" was marred by sound trouble.
* The filmmaker introduced
the worid-premiere showing
‘in Vancouver on Tuesday
night and personaily apolo-
gized for'a film that had yet
to see some additional fine
tuning.
The lousy sound was defi-
oS nitely a low-level irritant for
the duration of the screening.
‘Yet the rough audio also

“4 seemed to confirm the con-

-: spiratorial nature of this factir-
al-fictional take on a century’s
of commercial exploita-
f band-width and full-
von assault of the ionosphere
‘by the industrial- rei
nb

Baidwin special res in col: -
peas im form.:He crafts fres!

¢} projection; o
declared the fo

he is not trying to present

truth or even a version of it.
Rather Baldwin hopes to
open a window of receptive-
ness on the part ef the viewer
to consider the topic.

- This film advances along
the creative path travelled by

Baldwin in 1995's Sunsc

Gutlaws, his discourse on

‘ copyright infringement and
wt anti-corporate activism, other-

wise’ knewn as corporate cul

ture-jamming.-

~ The.weak # link h here is in’
be found in a poorly realized”

” story line that attempts to ade ;

' DARK forces afoot in Spectres of the Spectrum.

a layer of narrative form to
the discourse.

Documentary purists will
sce this kind of approach as
blasphemy and balderdash.
Some viewers may even be
overwhelmed by the funda-
mental disjointedness of the
technique. Yet the cast of
characters is fascinating.
Among the many we meet in
the life and death struggle -

over electrons: ‘ :
B Nikoia Tesla, ‘the Serbian- :
* American i inventor, electrical -

engineer and scientist who

invented among many other

. Big Monday, a 74 minute feature by

things, polyphase alternating-
current system, the induction
motor, alternating-current
power transmission, the Tesla
coil transturmer, wireless
communication, radio and
duorescent fights;

@ Thomas Alva Edison, the
American who dreamt up the
Universal Stock Ticker, the
carbon telephone transmitter,
the phonograph, the incan-
descent li ot Bulb, and had a
hand in starting f the movies
with George Eastman;

@ Edward Teller, father of the
hydrogen bomb;

W@ former Marconi lackey and
RCA president David Sarnoff;
8 Edwin H. Armstrong,
broadcasting pioneer and
inventor of FM (Frequency
Modulation). .

Of course it all leads to
Bill Gates and corporate
control and commercializa-
tion of the latest big leap in
communications technology.

The real value of this piece
is in its review of the race to
harness the airwaves and
dominate the communica-
tions world. In the process, ..:
our gec-whiz nations of ....'.

pro; bang up against. the!
rordid evidence of an elec:
_ tronic environment ‘tnder «* *:

: «ei focused corporate -

control.

* Michael Rehfield, was shot sequentially:
-in one take on a 60 minute extended

Jogma’95 rules say thet cam:
Id-be hand-held or.on the. :
aliies allowed: - Lights

tirely organic, and.”

camera work must be-na ralistic, wid

In‘a scene from Novoi, che patter
rain falling over an abandoned ware-
housé is real rain, not sound effect. >
And French actor. Jean-Marc. Barr, st

of Big Blue and von Trier’s Breasin ngs the

Waves, had his wife play piano in a°/.
‘next'door to the apartment he” ;
shot first feature. The Loversin,

pply fora-“Dogma 95. certifi
whose insignia is “the ass
said Broderick

hole’ of”

a cassette, with New York subway, |.’

uskers inadvertently pro iding b:
* ground 1 music...
The Lovers — which telis the story 6
- an international romance unfolding —
was filmed on autofocus over 38 hours.
- Irish director John Carney,com-
“posed the soundtrack to his film ‘Per:
_ Including:a six day shéot on 411-8 and
“DV¥..cameras, the entire process
~ him ‘a mere £25,000, resulting ina filin
“thar Broderick described as having ws
“almost a Hitchcock quality,” ee
Big-name directors’ neluding
~ Peter Greenaway, Wim Wenders, §
Lee, and Eric. Roclinie:

comput
-sionate about’

sion on her ‘colleagu and whea Gon

cided to start her own schoo! in LA: in

ding a en ors; Carole Lombatd, took .
xception to LeGon’s act and’ denianded

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