Underground Zero: Independent Filmmakers’ Response to 9/11
Wednesday, September 11, 2002
McBean Theater 2pm

Experimental and documentary filmmakers respond to both the events and the media coverage of September 11 one year ago, in the program Underground Zero, at the Exploratorium, Wednesday, September 11. When media coverage of the terrorist attacks and their aftermath seemed to enter an endless loop of repeated footage and superficial rhetoric, San Francisco filmmakers Jay Rosenblatt and Caveh Zahedi decided to turn their feelings of frustration into creation. The resulting collaborative project, Underground Zero, is a compilation of personal shorts, from one to ten minutes, by various filmmakers intended to give voice to diverse responses within the independent film community — cutting across race, ethnicity, class, gender and religion. Besides selections from this collection, the Exploratorium will also screen the classic short film, In the Street, by author James Agee and photographer Helen Levitt, who depict the New York street as both playing field and battleground. The 2pm screenings in the McBean Theater are free with admission to the Exploratorium.

For Underground Zero, Rosenblatt and Caveh invited friends and colleagues to create short films that could help people cope with the complicated emotions and effects of September 11. "Caveh and I were feeling so despairing, powerless and unfocused," Rosenblatt said. "We concluded that collective action would be more powerful than isolated individual action. We don’t have a political agenda; we just wanted something other than what we’re being fed by the media."

Some of the Underground Zero titles that will be screened include Prayer (2001, 3 mins.) by Jay Rosenblatt, Visual Stream of Consciousness (2001, 3 mins.) by Yael Braha, Untitled (2001, 6 mins.) and A Strange Morning (2001, 5 mins.) by David Driver, Isaiah's Rap (2001, 3 mins.) by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, Drink from the River (2001, 3 mins.) by Thad Povey and The Scratch Film Junkies and "Awake" (2001, 40secs.) by Greg Watkins.

The Exploratorium is located inside the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco's Marina District. Museum admission is as follows: Members FREE; Adults (18-64) $10.00; University Students (with ID) $7.50; Senior citizens (65+) $7.50; People with disabilities $6.00; Youth (5-17) $6.00; Children Under 4 FREE. First Wednesdays of the month FREE. The Exploratorium's winter hours, from Labor Day through Memorial Day, are TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY 10amÐ5pm (WEDNESDAYS UNTIL 9:00pm), CLOSED MONDAYS, except for most holidays. From Memorial Day through Labor Day, the Exploratorium is open SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, from 10amÐ6pm (Wednesdays until 9pm). The Exploratorium is wheelchair accessible. For information, call(415) EXP-LORE.

CONTACT: LINDA DACKMAN (415) 561-0363 / Leslie Patterson (415) 561-0377