Brian Flemming is an American film director, playwright and activist. His films include ''
Hang Your Dog in the Wind'', ''
Nothing So Strange'', and ''
The God Who Wasn't There
''The God Who Wasn't There'' is a 2005 independent documentary written and directed by Brian Flemming. The documentary questions the existence of Jesus, examining evidence that supports the Christ myth theory against the existence of a historical ...
''. His musicals include ''
Bat Boy: The Musical'', which won the
LA Weekly Theater Award
LA Weekly Theater Award was an annual critics' award system established in 1979, organized by the '' LA Weekly'' for outstanding achievements in small theatre productions in Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal ...
,
Lucille Lortel Award
The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...
, and
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...
. He advocates for the
free-culture movement
The free-culture movement is a social movement that promotes the freedom to distribute and modify the creative works of others in the form of free content or open content without compensation to, or the consent of, the work's original creators, ...
and is an outspoken atheist.
Early career
Flemming's first feature film was the low-budget ''
Hang Your Dog in the Wind''. Partly to promote his film, Flemming co-founded a punk film festival in
Park City, Utah
Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County, and it extends into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City' ...
, called the
Slumdance Film Festival, a pun on the name of the
Slamdance Film Festival
The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...
(which in turn referred to the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
).
Slumdance brought Flemming to the attention of
John Pierson, who later hired Flemming to work as a director and segment producer for Pierson's
Independent Film Channel
IFC (formerly known as the Independent Film Channel) is an American basic cable channel owned by AMC Networks, originally launching in 1994 as a TV channel devoted to independent films. The Independent Film Channel originally operated as a com ...
magazine-style show called ''Split Screen.''
''Bat Boy''
After Slumdance, Flemming turned his attention from indie film to theater with ''
Bat Boy: The Musical''. The stage musical is based on a story about a half-bat half-boy from the tabloid ''
Weekly World News
The ''Weekly World News'' was a tabloid which published mostly fictional "news" stories in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news t ...
''. Flemming co-wrote ''Bat Boy'' with Keythe Farley and
Laurence O'Keefe. The musical grew from a Los Angeles theater to winning the
LA Weekly Theater Award
LA Weekly Theater Award was an annual critics' award system established in 1979, organized by the '' LA Weekly'' for outstanding achievements in small theatre productions in Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal ...
for Musical of the Year Award for 1999, plus four
Ovation Award
The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the non-profit arts service organization LA Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Winne ...
nominations and six
Drama-Logue Award
The Drama-Logue Award was an American theater award established in 1977, given by the publishers of Drama-Logue newspaper, a weekly west-coast theater trade publication. Winners were selected by the publication's theater critics, and would recei ...
s.
''Bat Boy: The Musical'' made its way to a New York production in March 2001, for which the play won the
Lucille Lortel Award
The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...
for Best Musical, the
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...
for Best Musical Off-Broadway,
and six Drama Desk nominations.
[ '']The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' described ''Bat Boy'' as a "giggling cult hit". ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote, "It is astonishing what intelligent wit can accomplish". The musical ran in New York through December 2001.
''Nothing So Strange''
Flemming released a faux documentary about the assassination of Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
called '' Nothing So Strange''. Bill Gates said through a spokesman that it was "very disappointing that a movie maker would do something like this". ''Nothing So Strange'' debuted at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
. ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called it, "a crackling good movie... hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
may be the ideal prototype film for the digital age". The film won the Claiborne Pell New York Times Award for Original Vision at the 2002 Newport Film Festival.
On 24 October 2003 the film had a simultaneous debut in theaters and as an Internet download. It was released on DVD in December 2004.
''The God Who Wasn't There''
In 2005, Flemming released his third feature-length film, the documentary ''The God Who Wasn't There
''The God Who Wasn't There'' is a 2005 independent documentary written and directed by Brian Flemming. The documentary questions the existence of Jesus, examining evidence that supports the Christ myth theory against the existence of a historical ...
''. Through interviews with biblical and folklore scholars, Flemming investigates the evidence for the existence of Jesus, concluding that it is highly improbable that the Christian savior ever actually lived. He then discusses the beliefs of conservative Christian fundamentalist
Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and ...
s, Christian moderates (who, he states, simply enable the fundamentalists), and returns to confront the principal of the fundamentalist Christian school he attended as a child. Flemming launched three media campaigns to support his documentary: War on Christmas, War on Easter, and Blasphemy Challenge
The Rational Response Squad, or RRS, is an atheist activist group that confronts what it considers to be irrationality, irrational claims made by theists, particularly Christians. The most visible member of RRS is co-founder Brian Sapient. The Rat ...
. The Blasphemy Challenge was the most successful of the three publicity stunts, gaining coverage by Newsweek, NBC News, Fox News and many other media outlets, and participation by Penn Jillette
Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American magician, actor, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller as half of the team Penn & Teller. The duo has been featured ...
.
Activism
In addition to working in film and theater, Flemming is an activist on copyright issues. He has released ''Nothing So Strange'' as an open source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
project, which means all of the raw footage that makes up the film is released without copyright restrictions for anyone to use. The final cut of the film, however, remains protected by copyright.
Flemming founded the organization Free Cinema, which encourages feature filmmakers to create films under two rules:[
# No money may be spent on the production, and
# The film must be released under a ]copyleft
Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose, ...
license.
Flemming claims that filmmaking can now be "as inexpensive as writing novels" and that the copylefting practice is a way for new artists to gain notice and distribution in a marketplace dominated by large corporations. Free Cinema was inspired by the Free Software Movement
The free software movement is a social movement with the goal of obtaining and guaranteeing certain freedoms for software users, namely the freedoms to run the software, to study the software, to modify the software, and to share copies of the s ...
, which is guided by similar principles of freedom. Flemming is also the owner and operator of Fair Use Press, which distributes e-books critical of public figures such as Bill O'Reilly and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
for their stance on intellectual property law
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
.
During the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival
The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...
, Flemming, who had been invited to sit on the festival's documentary jury, saw a demo of the video game Super Columbine Massacre RPG!
''Super Columbine Massacre RPG!'' is a role-playing video game created by Danny Ledonne and released in April 2005. The game recreates the 1999 Columbine High School shootings near Littleton, Colorado. Players assume the roles of gunmen Eric H ...
and hearing about it having its nomination pulled by the festival's founder, convinced fellow jurors to award it a "Special Jury Prize" for Best Documentary (an unofficial award not endorsed by the festival). The festival's founder, Peter Baxter, later told Flemming that legal considerations prevented SCMRPG from receiving the award.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Flemming, Brian
1966 births
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
American atheism activists
American male bloggers
American bloggers
Christ myth theory proponents
Critics of Christianity
Film directors from California
Living people