This is an important moment in history. The breakdown of Western (American) capitalism, as evidenced by the virtual collapse of Wall Street this past fall, presents an unprecedented opportunity to move “EVERYTHING” into a new direction. Independent cinema, independent media and independent Internet sites are important weapons to get this point across. Big media is on the defensive but it’s no less powerful then ever before and small, local, independent film festivals are increasingly the only way to bring the independent filmmakers, scattered around the world, to the public. The public is waking up and realizing that what they have been watching in corporate Cineplexes, on corporate television and on corporate Internet sites is a product, just like any other corporate product. Corporate films are no different than the latest model of an automobile, or a McDonalds “treat” or a new version of an artificially sweetened cola. All of these corporate products, in one way or another, are poisons, polluting our lives just like they pollute the world. The public must take command of what they watch. We must not let corporations impose a corporate feudal system on our lives.

More than ever Play-Doc is precisely what we need to bring us together. It’s small and local. The films are carefully selected and there are not too many films to see. People attending the festival have the opportunity to see every film that plays during the five days of the festival. After screenings there are many opportunities for everyone to speak with each other. Everything at the festival is done on an informal, personal atmosphere scale.

I loved tasting the local culture: the food, the restaurants, wine, the town’s people and the music. Music is a big part of the festival and concerts after the screenings are as important as the films. Play-Doc is on the very front of the culture war against the corporate domination. In these times, when we are hunched over our computers searching for something that there never seems to be enough of, it’s important to be able to turn off the computers and look at people face to face to discuss films and music and life in this small town of Tui in northern Spain, far away as possible, even if it’s for a few hopeful days, from all the “noise” and pessimism in our lives.

Lech Kowalski