Arts Express: Al Shearer,The Other Black Guy Running For President

Collaborator: Actor and Hal Hartley muse turned filmmaker Martin Donovan stars in this ideological faceoff hostage drama metaphorically pinning the left against the right in this country, as two characters signifying historical difference go brutally toe to toe. Donovan also mulls our human relationship to power, propaganda and the media; gives an update on what’s going down in his native Canada right now with Occupy Quebec; and scrutinizes the convergence of class, war and politics along the turbulent spectrum in his movie, from Vietnam to the Red State/Blue State divide today.

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Al Shearer: The Other Black Guy Running For President. Has the time come to put a comedian in the White House? BET comic Shearer thinks so. And that’s why he’s filmed himself in this electoral mockumentary. A cross between Michael Moore and Sasha Baron Cohen, Shearer toned down the thrust of his NC-17 movie for this PG rated radio conversation with Arts Express to talk punking his way through the Iowa Straw poll; where he’s headed politically after hanging up the phone; and offering me a position as his campaign partner because he liked my questions so much. And, how hitting the Big Apple from LA during this heat wave, is melting his eyebrows.

Stay tuned for continuing features of Arts Express: Expression In The Arts. Airing On WBAI Radio’s Pacifica Network and Affiliate Stations. And if you’d like to Express yourself too, you can write to: [email protected]

Prairie Miller is a New York multimedia journalist online, in print and radio, who reviews movies and conducts in-depth interviews. She can also be heard on WBAI/Pacifica National Radio Network’s Arts Express.