Encounters with Your Inner Trotsky Child
2013 | 00:21:10 | United States | English / German | Color | Stereo | 4:3 | Video
Collection: Single Titles
Tags: Marxism, Pastiche, Politics


Another chapter in the parallel-leftist-universe of Jim Finn, this video appears to be part of a communist self-help videotape series made in the early 1990's. The series author, Lois Severin, was responding to the move from mass sociopolitical engagement of the 60's and 70's to the personal fulfillment fantasies of the 80's – the Jane Fonda-ization of the Left. But these tapes were not merely a desperate attempt for Trotskyites to stay relevant in the neoliberal era. They were mimicking the Christian fundamentalist activists who organized in churches and community centers in the 70's. While those anti-government right-wing activists prepared the ground for the so-called Reagan Revolution, Encounters with Your Inner Trotsky Child was an attempt to radicalize the personal fulfillment and self-help scene and prepare the ground for whatever is coming in the 21st Century.
Prizes + Awards
Honorable Mention, FLEX FEST 2015
Premiere
Views from the Avant-Garde, The New York Film FestivalNew York, NY
2013
Exhibitions + Festivals
Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI, 2014
Athens International Film/Video Festival, Athens, OH, 2014
Chicago Underground Film Festival, Chicago, IL, 2014
13th International Film Festival WATCH DOCS, Warsaw, Poland, 2013
Antimatter, British Columbia, 2014