An inspired and radical new contribution to the hybrid genre of essay film, this supremely calm, and calmly defiant, pilgrimage of witness to the cemetery graves, overlooked public monuments (plaque and statue) and varied historical indicators of an oppositional, egalitarian, democratic United States is a remarkable and timely work.
From the Wobblies to Malcolm X, Chicago to Chavez, Gianvito’s camera visits the traffic islands, malls, roadsides and martyr sites of those who variously stood and were cut down for the crime of speaking truth to the violence of state and corporation on behalf of their communities and comrades. With his camera locked off in the spirit of James Benning, Gianvito testifies with the lens to the little remembered sacrifices and struggles across the centuries. Utterly committed but closer to Tarkovsky than agit-prop rhetorical, PROFIT MOTIVE… hymns another America, and places the spirit of place with the people against power.
Introduced by Gareth Evans, Editor, Vertigo Magazine
Vertigo, CINECITY’s national media partner, champions innovation & diversity in form and content for international independent film and the moving image, through its award-winning quarterly magazine, website and special events.
Director: John Gianvito. US 2007. 55 mins. UK Festival Premiere.
