JUST FOUR MOMS FROM NEW JERSEY
'Four Moms' is a murder mystery about 9/11 in which the detectives are four Sept. 11th widows from New Jersey.TAG LINE
"We felt the country was at risk from terrorists and from incompetence... and maybe worse." -Lorie Van Auken, 9/11 widow
SOURCES
*Book, 'Middletown, America: One Town's Passage From Trauma to Hope' (2003) by Gail Sheehy*Book, 'Wake Up Call: The Political Education of a 9/11 Widow' (2006) by Kristen Breitweiser
*Movie, '9/11 Press For Truth' (2006) directed by Ray Nowosielski
Vanity Fair writer Gail Sheehy spent a great deal of time in New Jersey immediately following 9/11, documenting the process of grief and recovery for her book 'Middletown'. Among the personal stories told was that of Jersey widow Kristen Breitweiser and her friends, who ultimately became known as the "Jersey Girls".
In 2006, Breitweiser told the story from her own perspective in the WarnerBooks publication 'Wake Up Call', revealing emotional details and raising startling questions about Footnote 44 of the 9/11 Commission Final Report.
That same month, Banded Artists released the feature-length documentary 'Press For Truth', also telling the “Jersey Girls” story during the first act. Though critically acclaimed ("3 1/2 out of 4 stars" from 'AM New York'; "Phenomenal, stunning, unbelievable!" said Air America's Randi Rhodes) and embraced by over a million concerned people around the world, the movie was rushed onto DVD in time for the Sept. 11th fifth anniversary, therefore passing up the opportunity to turn heads on the film festival circuit and gain a major distributor.
MOVIE SUMMARY
'Four Moms' would extend the story told in the first act of '9/11 Press For Truth' to the length of the movie while incorporating details from 'Wake Up Call' and 'Middletown', painting a more detailed and emotionally resonant journey by these amazing women. This feature-length documentary will be shot in High Definition by a top Director of Photography, narrated by a celebrity, and is intended for a mainstream theatrical release.
'Four Moms' would take a more intimate, personal approach to the widows' stories, including backstory of their lives before the attacks and getting to know their martyred husbands. The movie would also steer away from sit-down interviews in favor of seeing the women interacting with each other as they tell their stories -- driving, at home, raising their children.
Interspersed between scenes following their journey would be shocking fact-based scenes describing the disturbing revelations they unearthed along the way regarding what led to 9/11.
Demonstrable lies told on multiple occasions by NORAD officials and the Defense Department. A July 10th meeting by the CIA and National Security Adviser that was covered up. An August 6th briefing to the President entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States". Fourteen detailed foreign warnings.
The blocking of the Minnesota FBI's attempts discover the plot in time after arresting terrorist Moussaoui. The CIA monitoring of the al Qaeda meeting that led to 9/11, and their purposeful failure to tell the FBI. The San Diego hijackers living at an FBI informant's house. The NSA monitoring their calls. A Defense Department program that discovered the hijackers in the U.S. Insider trading before Sept. 11th that indicates foreknowledge by unknown parties.
Each would underscore the urgency of their battle to get the Commission to find the truth. Act Three would begin with the release of the Final Report, failing to answer 70% of their questions. They go on with their lives with a sense of "What now?"
FOOTNOTE 44
An original investigative documentary focusing, as a device, on the startling mystery in Chapter 6, footnote 44, of the 9/11 Commission Final Report.TAG LINE
Do you know about the mystery in Footnote 44?
THE FOOTNOTE
"CIA cable, 'Activities of Bin Laden Associate (Flight 77 Hijacker) Khalid Revealed,' Jan. 4, 2000. His Saudi passport — which contained a visa for travel to the United States — was photocopied and forwarded to CIA headquarters. This information was not shared with FBI headquarters until August 2001. An FBI agent detailed to the Bin Laden Unit at CIA attempted to share this information with colleagues at FBI headquarters. A CIA desk officer instructed him not to send the cable with this information. Several hours later, this same desk officer drafted a cable distributed solely within CIA alleging that the visa documents had been shared with the FBI. She admitted she did not personally share the information and cannot identify who told her they had been shared."
SYNOPSIS
The filmmakers travel the country interviewing 9/11 Commissioners and former top level officials at the White House, FBI, CIA, etc., to get opinions on what seems to have happened here.
As the movie continues, the tale is told of a CIA-monitored al Qaeda meeting in Malaysia in which the 9/11 plot was put into motion.
Who at the CIA "lost" two future hijackers as they traveled from the meeting to San Diego? Why do later documents refer to "on-going surveillance" of the two, inferring that the CIA did monitor them in the U.S.? If so, what was the CIA's aim and did this monitoring continue right up until they hijacked the planes? Who at Bin Laden Unit purposefully blocked sharing this with the FBI? To what end?
The looming specter of "conspiracy theory" will be addressed head-on, as the filmmakers promote their previous movie 'Press For Truth' at events and radio shows. Again and again, they attempt to differentiate between their concerns for government accountability versus fringe theorizing, as they are berrated during Q&As for not exploring theories of "bombs in the buildings", "no plane at the Pentagon", and so forth.
The movie will also explore issues parallel to the footnote 44 mystery. These "San Diego hijackers" later moved in with an FBI informant for counter-terrorism. Their calls were monitored by the NSA. And their presence in the U.S. was also discovered by a Defense Department operation called Able Danger. What more did these officials need, a hand-written letter from al Qaeda?
‘Footnote 44’ would call for government accountability, calling out specific officials for specific failures, lies, perjury, and obstruction of justice, tying together for the audience what we can know happened, based on the available facts, and pointing out that no one has been fired. Are these officials the same people presently securing our homeland and fighting the War on Terror?!
ABSURD WORLD
A weekly half-hour comedy television series.CONCEPT
If 'The Ali G Show' reality stunts made more blatant points which shared the world-view of 'South Park'. If 'Monty Python' sketches had the style and attitude of 'Jackass'. Take those two concepts and plant them firmly within the setting of our Up-Is-Down, Black-Is-White, Slavery-Is-Freedom Era of Terra' America. You’ve got 'Absurd World'.
APPROACH
Post-modern. Contradictory, self-aware, and a bit anarchic. Both the sketches and reality stunts will be shot using a similar approach -- hand-held digital video, lower-resolution hidden cameras, web cam-style fish-eyes, and, when called for, a deliberately stylized Betacam-ish TV news look. Some of the "reality stunts" will be real, others will be staged but still shot in hidden cam style.
The line between what is real and what is not will be difficult for the viewer to decifer, as it often is in our real, absurd world. The precise messages behind each segment will also often be difficult to decifer ("Wait, are they saying they are for that, or making fun of it?").
Transgressive. Pushing boundaries to make points. Entertainment with a political message often makes the mistake of alienating audiences with a holier-than-thou preachiness (Think: Michael Moore giving a photo of a dead child to Charlton Heston). The attitude of this show is one of zany glee toward the issues being satirized, taking the logic of "our opponents" at face value and pushing that to it's logically absurd conclusion.
Essentially, if it's the end of the world, the 'Absurd World' team won't be holding a sign proclaiming doom and gloom. They will be riding the Doomsday Bomb while wearing a cowboy hat and shouting, "Wooooo!!!"
SAMPLE SKETCHES
"Bush Eats Baby" - President Bush slowly devours a baby, one bite at a time, on a stage in front of a crowd of American citizens and members of the press. Only one man reacts in horror, utterly perplexed as to why he can't make anyone else see how big a deal this is!
"My Contribution to the Drug Culture" - A sardonic monologue attempting to persuade the audience as to why our generation should refer to a joint as a "Billy D", after Lando Calrisian himself...
"Man Forced into Second Hand Smoke-Filled Bar at Gun-Point" - The anti-tobacco lobby's worst nightmare comes true, as a man's informed arguments for how unhealthy second hand smoke is fall on the deaf ears of his gun-wielding assailant.
"Innovative Suicide Techniques" - A how-to guide to ensuring that the last thing you do in life isn't derivative.
"The Jesus Fish Wars" - The ongoing bumper battle between Creationists and Evolutions escalates, as car bumpers now feature a Jesus Fish With Machine Gun Mowing Down a Darwin Fish, and a Darwin Fish 69ing Another Darwin Fish, just to irritate Christians, etc.
"American Invasion" - A reality show in the style of 'American Idol' designed to create a feeling of citizen participation in the War on Terror, as Americans text their votes to decide which nation "will be the next American invasion!"
"Menstruation Made Illegal As a Form of Partial-Birth Abortion"
"Reparations" - Congress' passing of slavery reparations for black Americans sets off a series of worldwide reparation requests by other groups for various historical injustices, eventually resulting in everyone breaking even.
"Founding Father Rolls Over in His Grave" - Intercut between real news clips about domestic spying, PATRIOT ACT, etc., is a skeleton with a Jefferson whig which begins twitching a bit, then moaning, finally spinning at full speed yelling "Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"
"Radio Industry PSAs" - When a commercial comes on your radio, and you change the channel to another station, you are stealing music.
"The Gay Terrorist" - Marwan, a flamboyant-acting Muslim, makes the rest of his terror cell feel uncomfortable, though he serves as an excellent distraction for the Americans they encounter, who are all so focused on his homosexuality that they miss the glaring signs of terror activities in their midst.
"DEA Outlaws Serotonin"
"Papal Qombat" – Now, long-running religious differences can be settled among friends in this new Mortal Kombat-style video game, which allows you to battle Pope vs. Billy Graham, Israeli Prime Minister vs. Yasser Arafat, Dalai Lama vs. Ganesha, each with their own fighting styles, catch phrases, and finishing moves.
"'Law & Order: Victimless Crimes Unit'" - Exciting chases, suspenseful interrogations, and heated court room cross-examinations underscore how seriously this task force takes pot smoking, seat belt violations, trans fats served at restaurants, etc.
"'Absurd World' Supports the War on Terror'" - The producers of the show frantically argue to the camera that the show has been misunderstood, as they are certainly in now way enemy combatants, dissidents, political extremists -- or anything that “would necessitate disappearing us".
SAMPLE REALITY STUNTS
"Cashenin XR" - An 'Absurd World' cast member pretends to be a pharmaceutical sales rep, entering doctors' offices to hock a catch-all pill called Cashenin XR. ("It doesn't treat acne, but it makes you feel better about it." "Manages the symptoms of guilt by lowering sense of personal responsibility." "Stops morning sickness. Turns it into afternoon sickness.")
"Free Market Begging" - A cast member applies the principles of capitalism to pan-handling, setting up next to real beggars and under-cutting their going rates (BUM: "Got a dollar?" AW: "Hey, I'm only asking for 75 cents.")
"Rhetoric Translator" - Cast member stands at the front of a political press conference and, much like a sign language translator for the deaf, holds up signs to decifer the political double-speak into plain English for the politically gullable and inept.
"Mr. Sarcasm" - For no particular reason, Mr. Sarcasm stands on a busy street corner throwing sardonic remarks at passers-by.
"Solving World Problems in Under a Minute" - Eavesdropping on real pretentious coffee house patrons' conversations and instigating higher and higher levels of pretension.
"Fun With Credit" - By accepting a pamphlet handed out on the street corner, an unwitting cast member (who is not in on the joke) has agreed to pay Fake Company, LLC, twenty-five dollars. An invoice arrives at his house followed by collection notices, before the matter is finally turned over to an actual collection company and reported to the five major credit bureaus.
"Surveillance Society" - Crew members non-chalantly set up our video cameras in public places like banks and grocery stores, recording the cameras that record us. Meanwhile, cast members stare at watchful security guards using binoculars, from five feet away.
MY OWN BACKYARD
'Fight Club' meets 'Napoleon Dynamite', 'My Own Backyard' is a feature-length fiction comedy about the quest for fame and America's obsession with Reality TV and the Internet.TAGLINE
It's all fun and games until somebody loses a limb.
SYNOPSIS
A group of Midwest teens quickly gain national attention for a series of 'Jack Ass'-style backyard wrestling videos that they release on the Internet. When "Parents For A Violence Free America" raise a fuss, Phil Troy, host of the national 'Newsline: To Catch a Pervert' show, travels to the small Indiana town of Southport to exploit the story into a career revival for himself. His arrival sends their backyard inner circle into turmoil as rival wrestling groups compete for screen time and fame by attempting to be the most violent and outrageous.
SHOOTING FORMATS
HD, High 8mm, 24p & 60i DVTHE FALL
A dark, existential feature-length art film. Stranded together in the vast wastes of the American heartland, two strangers confess their sins to one another. As their bond grows stronger, the confessions grow darker, and the duplicitous nature of modern man is revealed.TAGLINE
"The idea that comes most naturally to man, as if from his very nature, is the idea of his innocence." - Albert Camus
SYNOPSIS
Thomas has to hitchhike after his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. He is picked up by Harley, a man who took to life on the road after a violent event changed his way of thinking. Harley is easy to talk to despite, or perhaps due to, his up-front, no-nonsense personality. Stopping for the night at a motel in the American heartland, the two strangers begin revealing dark secrets from their pasts over drinks. A night fueled by alcohol, sex, and violence bonds the two, and their confessions grow darker, revealing the duplicitous nature of man. When this ugly reality becomes apparent, Thomas sees Harley for who he really is, opening his eyes to his own true nature. Their final revelation condemns us all.