Untitled Video on Lynne Stewart and Her Conviction, The Law and Poetry
Paul Chan
Documentary Video 17:00 2006

A simple and moving portrait of Lynne F. Stewart, the New York lawyer convicted in 2005 of aiding Islamic terrorism by smuggling messages out of jail from a client she was defending, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. Now disbarred, Ms. Stewart faces a 30-year jail sentence. In the portrait, Lynne Stewart talks about her life as an elementary school librarian,

activist and lawyer, and recites poetry by Blake, Brecht and Ashbury.

Making Waves
Michael Lahey
Documentary Video 64:00 2004

It’s a smart, entertaining, and ably made movie with a lively cast of characters and a strong visual sense, and I recommend it highly. ­

Jesse Walker, author of Rebels on the Air

“What do a public access TV personality, an electronics engineer, a Vietnam vet, a libertarian congressional candidate, and a retired millionaire have in common? They’re all operating unlicensed, low-power, ‘pirate’ radio stations in Tucson, Arizona. Making Waves follows their uphill struggle

to be heard on our publicly-owned but corporate-controlled airwaves.

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) argues that low-power radio interferes with business, creating ‘chaos on the airwaves’; low-power advocates say the NAB interferes with democracy. Meanwhile, due to loosened regulations passed by Congress, big business has seized the airwaves

and driven the independent station owner to near extinction.

Armed with low-cost micro-radio equipment, the First Amendment, even a how-to video by a Michigan pastor, the Tucson pirates use unlicensed radio as a form of civil disobedience, protesting the lack of individual expression and diversity on the airwaves and the FCC regulations that make getting licensed next to impossible. For one station, this means providing the real alternative to ‘alternative’ music. For the others, it means

educating the public about its Constitutional rights.

Making Waves reveals the pirates’ personal and political passions that compel them to defy the FCC. As they confront the difficulties and risks of running an unlicensed station and take their fight for free speech into the open, the film invites the viewer to ask, ‘If the public took back the

airwaves, what would they sound like?’ ­ Michael Lahey

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