Greenwich-based MacMillan films has has secured a feature film placement in the competitive Washington Film Festival by taking a lesson from Greek Drama to shine a light on how movies encourage violence and mass killing.
TRUE DRAMA, which will premiere in the nation’s capital and won feature film placement in the competitive Washington Film Festival, suggests an alternative way for films to use violence.
“Even though Greek Drama is violent, the violence in Greek drama does not teach vendetta or mass shooting – just the opposite,” said out Director James Thomas in a release. “It’s an instructive wakeup call to warn citizens to avoid catastrophe. That’s why we are so excited to have True Drama featured at the WFF in the heart of our democracy in Washington DC.”
The director, whose credits include The Oresteia, Medea and Prometheus Bound, came up with the idea for the film when he noticed how differently Greek plays handle violence. “Athenian drama is thoughtful, but it can be complex and hard to fathom.” That’s what inspired him to make an exciting film that shared the ancient wisdom. The connection between film violence and real-world violence continues to stir debate today as mass shooters copycat movies and as many deny any connection between film violence and the real world. True Drama points out that drama was originally created to be instructive. It began as a state project to give viewers the mental toolset to take on the role of citizen. In fact, drama and democracy were invented together – they are twin inventions – and they are meant to work together. So, drama was always instructive at its core and its prime cause was to teach how to decern truth so Democracy could function.
In TRUE DRAMA, Dionysus comes to Greenwich Connecticut and is outraged that a slasher film is being filmed in town. Slasher films can look like Greek drama with the actors wearing masks and gowns – but the similarity is only costume deep. Dionysus is outraged at the slasher film and decides to terrorize the set. The Greenwich police get involved and things quickly spiral out of control as they race to solve the puzzle of what’s truly happening before a Greek tragedy unfolds.
The Greeks loved riddles, sophistry, rhetoric, and false logic – and their dramas are filled with them – teaching the skill of decerning truth. A skill that is just as valuable today in our democracy as it was to the first democracy of Athens.
You can see TRUE DRAMA by subscribing to the Washington Film Festival at www.wdciff.com and you will be sent a link that will be active for Sept 4-5.
The Washington Film Festival is a competitive jury festival that picks inspiring films from around the world that increase understanding and appreciation of the world. The mission is to bring innovative and groundbreaking works to their national and international audiences. In 2021, 141 films of were selected from 1,092 submissions – of which 43 narrative features were selected for the program. The festival offers two grand jury awards. This year, they have chosen a film that looks and how movies contribute to violence in American and brought attention to a film that could help reduce the cycle of mass killing in America. Find out more about the film at www.TrueDramaMovie.com.