Is this a true story? -Joel
----- Original Message ----- From: "][mez][" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <WRYTING-L@listserv.utoronto.ca> Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 12:18 AM Subject: Fwd: Open Letter from Jem Cohen >Begin forwarded message: > >>Hello. I'm attaching an open letter regarding an incident that took place in >>January. I was stopped from filming out of a train window and had my film >>confiscated and turned over to the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI. >> >>I went to the ACLU, and have been assisted by a lawyer at the NYCLU (New >>York Civil Liberties Union). I wrote a piece about it and included the >>attached letter in the last issue of Filmmaker Magazine. >> >>Recently, the lawyer called to say that the FBI was returning the film, as >>it had been cleared by the authorities. When I went to pick it up, I found >>that the original box and reel had been sent back, but the reel was empty, >>save for a few inches of film. The matter remains unresolved, and for me, >>deeply disturbing. >> >>Most of us are inundated with email, and I had mixed feelings about sending >>yet another mass missive. Please forgive the intrusion. >>I'm not asking for you to do anything, and that includes write me back. >>I'm sending this simply because I feel that people should know about such >>incidents. You are welcome to pass along the attached letter, although I >>would prefer that my email address not be made entirely public. >>I would be glad to talk to the press about it, although an editor I spoke to >>at the New York Times suggested that it might not be of interest to the >>media because such incidents are becoming too commonplace. >> >>Thank you for having a look. >> >>Sincerely, >> >>Jem Cohen >> >> >> >>---------------- >> >>An open letter to the film and arts community: >> >>On January 7th, 2005, I was filming from the window of an Amtrak train going >>from New York to Washington D.C., and my film was confiscated by police, due >>to supposed national security concerns. At first, I was told by a ticket >>taker that I couldn't shoot because I was in the 'quiet car,' but when I got >>ready to move, he said I couldn't shoot at all. I explained that I was a >>filmmaker who'd done this for years, and politely asked to speak with >>someone else about it. I stopped filming, waited, and asked again, but no >>one came. When the train stopped in Philadelphia, at least four uniformed >>officers entered the car and demanded that I step off the train with the >>camera. They took my personal information and told me to give them the film >>from the camera. Not wanting to ruin it, I insisted on rewinding the roll, >>which I then gave up. Upon arrival in D.C., I was immediately met and >>questioned by more officials, this time out of uniform. My film has >>apparently been given to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and then to the >>F.B.I. As of this writing, I have not been able to get it back. (I took my >>case to the American Civil Liberties Union, who are working on it). >> >>I'd been shooting in 16mm, using an old, hand-wound Bolex. I was filming the >>passing landscape as I've often done over the past 15 years. As a filmmaker >>who does most of my work in a documentary mode and often on the street, my >>role is to record the world as it is and as it unfolds. I build projects >>from an archive of footage collected in my daily wanderings, and in travels >>across this country and overseas. I film buildings and passersby, the sky, >>streets, and waterways; the structures that make up our cities, life as it >>is lived. I cannot pre-plan and attempt to obtain permits every time that I >>shoot; it is an inherently spontaneous act done in response to daily life >>and unannounced events. >> >>I believe that it is the work and responsibility of artists to create such a >>record so that we can better understand, and future generations can know, >>how we lived, what we build, what changes, and what disappears. This has >>been the work of documentarians and artists including Mathew Brady, Lewis >>Hine, Walker Evans, Helen Levitt, Gary Winogrand, Robert Frank, and so on. >>Street shooting is one of the cornerstones of photography itself, and it is >>facing serious new threats, some declared, many not. In New York, the MTA >>apparently intends to forbid all unpermitted photography of and from its >>trains and subways. I have heard about a film location scout in upstate New >>York being interrogated for hours, even after presenting clear documentation >>that he was working for a legitimate production company; about documentary >>crews having their license plates called in and being visited by the FBI; >>about photojournalists working for the New York Times being stopped from >>doing the work that they have always done. >> >>As a filmmaker, I am concerned about what this kind of clampdown means both >>to our livelihood and to the public, historical record. As a citizen, I am >>concerned about a climate in which a person can be pulled off of a train and >>have their property confiscated without warning or redress. >> >>I am also, frankly, concerned about terrorism, and genuine threats to our >>lives and cities. This leads me to ask if these are efficient, intelligent >>allotments of limited law enforcement resources and personnel. Does stopping >>us from photographing a bridge make us safer when anybody can search the >>internet and see countless photographs of the same bridge? Are all of those >>photographs to be somehow suppressed? Given that anyone can purchase a video >>recorder with a lens the size of a shirtbutton or any number of hidden >>camera devices, are the people openly taking pictures such an actual threat? >>What about all of those cell phones with cameras? As Ben Franklin said: >>"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety >>deserve neither liberty nor safety." Are we even gaining any safety? >>Given that intimidation and the curtailing of our freedom are exactly what >>terrorists want, I wonder if these infringements of our civil liberties are >>not in fact a form of capitulation. >> >> I write this to urge the film and arts communities to keep a >>record of such incidents and to notify their representatives in Congress and >>such organizations as the ACLU when they occur. This is also a call to >>publications, curators, and programmers: I recommend that you make the >>public aware of what important past work would not exist if these >>restrictions had been in place. >> >>Lastly, I write this to encourage a more general awareness of the ways in >>which, under the rubric of an endless "war on terror," we are seeing the >>denigration of due process, free speech, and the right to privacy, which are >>crucial safeguards of a free and democratic society. >> >> >>As printed in Filmmaker Magazine, Spring 2005 >> >> >> >>Postscript: >> >>I was recently informed by my contact lawyer at the New York Civil Liberties >>Union office that the FBI was returning my film, as it had been cleared by >>the authorities. When I got to the office I was relieved to see the original >>film container. Unfortunately, the reel inside it was empty, save for a few >>inches of film. >> >>One bit of great news: faced with opposition from the public and the NYCLU, >>the MTA has backed down from its proposal to ban photography in and of the >>subways. .observation.[st(a)r.(g)ait]jacketing ......................[[vs]]........................ .social.wurdage.in.a.commentary.cu[s]p http://www.hotkey.net.au/~netwurker/ .
