Zizek: The Documentary

(a message from Astra Taylor)

Hello everyone,

I am writing about an independent feature documentary I am just finishing about the Slovenian theorist Slavoj Zizek.

The documentary is part primer on Zizek's philosophy and part personal portrait. I am including a brief synopsis below.

You can also visit The Documentary (a more thorough website, Zizek: The Movie, is a work in
progress).

The film has not been released yet or publicly screened. I am looking to set up
campus events in the spring or next fall after the movie has premiered.

Please forward this notice to anyone who may be interested in organizing a university screening of the movie.

Thanks,
Astra
astra@documentarycampaign.org


ZIZEK! LONG SYNOPSIS

Slavoj Zizek has been called an "academic rock star" and the "Elvis of cultural theory." In major cities around the world lecture halls overflow with thousands
of fans anxious to catch a glimpse of the frenetic and iconoclastic style that makes Zizek so famous.

An unconventional and intimate portrait, ZIZEK! trails the thinker from New York City to Buenos Aires and back to his hometown of Ljubljana, Slovenia. All the while Zizek never stops philosophizing, compulsively revealing the invisible workings of ideology through his unique blend of Lacanian psychoanalysis, Marxism, and critique of popular culture.

Footage of impromptu observations on street corners and sit- down interviews centering on his central counterintuitive critiques are combined with animated
passages from Zizek's main texts, giving the viewer a thorough and yet entertaining overview of the philosopher's work.

Over the course of the film Zizek leaves little untheorized, particularly his recurring themes – ideology, psychoanalysis, politics, revolution, Marxism, religion, love, sex, and the history of philosophy. But Zizek is also unafraid to turn his critical gaze on himself, astutely analyzing his private life and offering cutting commentary on his own personality to the camera.

Possessing the capacity to appeal to the uninitiated in a way no other philosopher before him could, Zizek's combinations of high and low culture, Marxism and The Matrix, will fascinate even those who once believed philosophy to be a bore.

Zizek! is the second feature length project of the Documentary Campaign, a non-profit working to combine progressive politics with artistic filmmaking. Generous support was also provided by the Canada Council for the Arts.