By the time of these screenings you will most likely be fully fed up with the cacophony of noise that is the 2024 race for United States President. Tired of the incessant barrage of the 24 hour news cycle’s obsession with candidates Trump and Harris’ every move. Escape with us 32 years into the past to see all the lessons that were never learnt from two documentary films concerning the 1992 presidential election that pull back the curtain on the behind-the-scenes happenings and illuminate the full on charade that is US politics: Kevin Rafferty and James Ridgeway’s FEED (1992) and Brian Springer’s follow-up, SPIN (1995). Both films utilize pirated television satellite feeds obtained by Springer that show a side of the race and the personalities at play that were/are often unseen by the general public.
Spectacle is excited to share some of our favorite pieces of documentary exposé with you this Election Day (as well as a few days prior). Because if you’re like us, you will much prefer watching them instead of the mind-numbingly slow and drawn out parade of live exit polls and results from states across the country. Fuck the cable news channels, come hang with us as we completely ignore the 2024 election, and laugh at our bizarre past that was the 1992 election.
SPIN
Dir. Brian Springer, 1995
United States. 57 min.
In English
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 – 7:30 PM, this event is $5, but it is $10 if you are wearing an “I Voted” sticker.
During the year leading up to the 1992 Presidential election, artist Brian Springer spent his time tuning into satellite feeds used by the campaigns and the television networks that were not intended for public consumption, but were available to those with the know-how and the technological means to intercept them. The footage collected and Springer’s commentary shine a light on the manipulative practices of mass media. Pulling the mask back on the insidious system that silences public debate and shuns anyone outside the inner circle of those manufacturing the news; politicians, journalists, spin doctors, and televangelists. It is truly a must see for any paranoiac.
SPIN’s revelations highlight the fact that the job of President is really more about presentation, look, and likeability than it is policy. And that it is more in line with the job description of an actor, or television host/personality. Seeing the entertainment-ification of the presidential election which we now cannot escape from. In addition to the main characters of the election, George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, and even Al Gore and Larry King, SPIN also looks at the events of the Los Angeles Rodney King riots and its racist portrayal by the news media as well as the unsuccessful presidential bid by Larry Agran, who was ignored and excluded by the media despite his polling numbers.
Brian Springer is an artist, educator, and documentarian, working primarily in video, sound and performance. Springer has exhibited internationally, and taught at a number of institutions across the States.
Special thanks to Video Data Bank.
FEED
Dirs. Kevin Rafferty, James Ridgeway, 1992.
United States. 76 min.
In English.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 – 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 – 9 PM, this event is $5, but it is $10 if you are wearing an “I Voted” sticker.
A comedy about running for President
FEED is a collage of a documentary, presenting footage of the 1992 presidential election’s New Hampshire primaries and showcasing the candidates and their staff without commentary or narration. Using moments filmed on the campaign trail as well as pirated satellite feeds where the candidates are caught between segments in their more natural state. Released in October of 1992, just weeks before the general election, FEED features a cast of characters including Jerry Brown, Pat Buchanan, Bob Kerrey, Ross Perot, Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Bush Sr., Bill & Hillary Clinton, and many more.
The satellite footage was supplied to the film by SPIN’s creator, Brian Springer, and both documentaries feel like desperate pleas with the public for media literacy. An appeal which is represented in a scene in FEED where candidate Jerry Brown pleads with a classroom of college students about propaganda and if any of them have even so much as heard of Marshall Mcluhan. They had not. Unlike SPIN, which skewers media manufacturing, FEED takes aim at the personalities that are running for office and their buffoonish antics with a comedic tendency which invites the audience to laugh at them, not with them.