OLDER THAN AMERICA, MADE IN CHINA, AND SEX, LIES AND L

Thursday, March 26, 2015   2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Welcome To New York. Or maybe not. Controversial director Abel Ferrara [King Of New York, Bad Lieutenant] goes toe to toe with IFC Films in a cease and desist legal battle over drastic cuts to his dramatic feature without his permission, probing the Dominique Strauss-Kahn hotel sexual assault scandal, and starring Gerard Depardieu as the disgraced former IMF head. Ferrara phones in to Arts Express from Rome to protest creative censorship, and an especially troubling dismissive editing alteration concerning rape allegations. The director likewise scrutinizes what class and power may have to do with all of this, Euro poverty, mass uprisings and the emergence of Blockupy there right now. And whether or not the unauthorized version of Welcome To New York will open here this week.

Before American Sniper, there was Older Than America. Or at least an unknown Bradley Cooper, as an official investigating crimes against First Nation children in the notorious boarding schools. Older Than America filmmaker Georgina Lightning is on the line from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Arts Express to talk about her very personal reality based drama that has never been afforded a theatrical release in seven years, and her struggles as the first Native American woman to direct a feature film. Lightning also discusses rampant First Nation trans-generational PTSD, which includes her father's suicide and her own recent attempted suicide. Older Than America is a feature at the current Paradigm Shifts Festival in New York City.

Made In China: Standup comic Des Bishop engaged in an unusual cross-cultural comedic exchange during a recent a visit to China, teaching people there all about standup while they taught him to speak Chinese. Bishop sheds light on that basis for his current solo show, and what any of this may or may not have to do with Joe Biden, Letterman, materialism, spoiler alerts, cliffhangers, punchlines, love and money. Jack Shalom reports.