MASS MoCA's Thursday Night Cinema Lounge Full of Lying, Cheating, Stealing, and Faking It

MASS MoCA's Thursday night Cinema Lounge will feature a series of documentary films that examine the complicated ethical questions of our modern world. Titled Lie, Cheat, Steal and Fake It, the four films uncover stories of the ruthless nature of the world economy and the effects of a society that has an insatiable hunger for money, power and success.

All four films will be shown in MASS MoCA's cozy Club B-10 on Thursday nights at 8 PM. Club B-10 features a full bar stocked with Berkshire Brewing Company beer and spirits from Berkshire distillers plus snacks and Herrell's ice cream from Lickety Split. Films will be introduced by Williams College film professor Shawn Rosenheim and followed by discussions with Rosenheim and other scholars and activists.

Kicking off the documentary series on Thursday, January 21, is a film that effectively captures the way in which officials on Wall Street and banks around the country lied to everyday people when they signed them up for the high interest sub prime mortgage loans that caused the sudden collapse of the economy. American Casino shows how bankers were going "all in" on very risky bets that eventually forced the bankruptcies of major banks. Written and directed by Leslie and Andrew Cockburn, filming actually began before any of the major bankruptcies and devastating effects of the crisis - the film documents the entire collapse. The film moves between interviews with the "high roller" bankers and segments that follow a handful of hardworking, civic-minded individuals who tell wrenching personal stories of how their lives have been wrecked by these loans. The Cockburns' film attempts to truly educate and explain this crisis and its effects and lies far from finger-pointing made famous by documentarian Michael Moore. The New York Times says, "American Casino does not leave you assured that the worst is over. The lesson of this story: if enough money is involved, greed trumps morality."

The second film on Thursday, February 11, demonstrates the cheating aspect of the doc series. The Yes Men Fix the World is part mockumentary, part journalism. Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno are two artists who impersonate corporate and government officials and stage elaborate pranks that reveal the unethical and controversial doings of those businesses. Armed only with their thrift-store suits and fake corporate websites they pose as representatives of large corporations such as Dow Chemical, Exxon, Halliburton, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Once they are invited to an event or press conference as spokesmen, they unspool elaborate hoaxes like their declaration on the BBC that Dow Chemical would set up a $12 billion fund to compensate the victims of the Bhopal disaster at a Union Carbide pesticide plant, or when "representing" Exxon they announced the release of a new biofuel made of flesh from people who had died due to global warming. Their hoaxes and the after-effects are documented in a hilariously eye-opening film that highlights corporate and government irresponsibility. New York magazine calls the movie a "glorious testimony to the moral power of satire."

Fraude: Mexico 2006 , directed by the veteran Hollywood director Luis Mandoki (When a Man Loves a Woman and Message in a Bottle), documents the Mexican electoral process and, in particular, the virtual theft of the 2006 presidency by Felipe Calderón. Using original footage shot during the campaign period and at polling stations around Mexico on (and after) election day, Mandoki attempts to portray the political environment of Mexico from the eyes of leftist supporters of the losing candidate and former mayor of Mexico City, Andres Manuel López Obrador. It has been widely rumored that numerous irregularities occurred at the polling stations on Election Day; and when these events are combined with evidence of smearing negative advertisements and speeches from former Mexican President Vicente Fox (both of which are illegal in Mexico) it appears that Obrador was powerless and Calderón was destined to win. In addition to his own footage, Mandoki acquired 3,000 hours of 'home-shot' footage by Mexican citizens inside the polling stations and during the official review of vote tallies, bringing to light irregularities in the Mexican electoral process. The controversial director frames the documentary for a group of people who believe that something is wrong in the electoral process, a theme that many Americans will have no trouble understanding. Fraude: Mexico 2006 will be shown on Thursday, March 25.

The last film in the doc series aptly brings to light the practice of "faking it." Rather than focusing on women, however, this film shines a light on the pharmaceutical industry - the industry's "discovery" of new diseases and dysfunctions and its ability to cure them through drugs. Orgasm Inc. investigates the newest disease: Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD) and the race among large drug companies to win FDA approval for a new drug, the first Viagra for women. Filmmaker Liz Canner created this shocking and hilarious documentary when she was hired by a pharmaceutical company to edit erotic videos for drug trials. Initially she planned to create a film about science and pleasure but soon realized that her employer and many other pharmaceutical companies were racing to develop drugs that are taking advantage of women in pursuit of billion dollar profits. The film is not a bleak exposition of corporate medicine and its greedy and unethical goals, but rather an upbeat and engaging film that explores the often taboo subject of female sexuality. The film will be shown on Thursday, April 29, to complete MASS MoCA's Thursday night Lie, Cheat, Steal and Fake It documentary series.

Tickets for individual films are $8 adults and $5 students. A special package including tickets for all 4 films is just $24. Single tickets and the package are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located off Marshall Street in North Adams, open from 11 A.M. until 5 P.M., closed Tuesdays. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or purchased on line at www.massmoca.org. The galleries will stay open until 7:30 PM before the show. Full bar and dinner and snacks from Lickety Split are available before and during the show.