The bizarre story of the Liberian warlord known as General Butt Naked is told in stirring documentary
THE REDEMPTION OF GENERAL BUTT NAKED (Danielle Anastasion & Eric Strauss, 2011)
MoMA Film
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Saturday, November 19, 3:30, and Sunday, November 20, 6:00
Tickets: $10, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days, same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk beginning at 9:30 am
212-708-9400
www.moma.org
www.generalbuttnakedmovie.com
Once again, the month of November is playing host to MoMA’s inventive “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” series. This program of American independent cinema, held in conjunction with the annual Gotham Independent Film Awards and the Independent Film Project, highlights five award-winning documentaries and features, with Q&A sessions with the filmmakers following selected shows. One of this year’s noteworthy selections is The Redemption of General Butt Naked, a documentary following the story and progression — as well as midlife crisis and career change — of brutal Liberian warlord Joshua Milton Blahyi. A figure infamous for an unimaginable resume of inhuman and genocidal atrocities, the eponymous general was known for leading an army of child soldiers into battle during his country’s long civil war, often wearing nothing more than boots and an AK-47 rifle, believing himself to be supernaturally immune to gunfire. The film examines his history and details his subsequent spiritual reawakening and self-reinvention as a charismatic Christian evangelist. Director-producers Danielle Anastasion and Eric Strauss will be on hand following the two screenings (November 19 at 3:30 and November 20 at 6:00) for a discussion of the film, which was cited for Excellence in Cinematography (Ryan Hill and Peter Hutchens) at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The series continues through November 21 with four other 2011 discoveries, Madeleine Olnek’s Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, Sophia Takal’s Green, Blue Hadaegh and Grover Babcock’s Scenes of a Crime, and Mark Jackson’s Without. The Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You winner will be announced at the Gotham Independent Film Awards ceremony on November 28.