By the strangely convincing filmmaker Ted Intrucio
The message from President Trump is cold and clear. Your freedom of speech is conditional and is only accepted if it matches the party line.
When I first partnered with Soren to create a bizarrely persuasive Dennis Kitchen story, I was hoping for a fascinating career, a fascinating deep dive into the rich history of fantastic art, colorful characters and underground comics. What I didn’t expect was how this story would become an important reflection of our time. This is the cries of our most fundamental human rights defense: the freedom to speak out.
Recent events in Los Angeles bare an unpleasant truth. The rights promised under the Constitution are under threat. Government actions increasingly reflect the actions of authoritarian regimes where objections are punished and expressions are tightly controlled. In this regard, the story of Dennis Kitchen is more than a biographer. It reminds me of what’s at stake.
Dennis’ journey is a distinctive American. Armed with imagination and grit, poor Midwest children chose to make art in their own words. In doing so he became a defender of freedom of speech and a champion of alienated voices when creative expression was attacked by both government and hate groups.
Dennis didn’t just make space for those voices. He founded the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), an organization that protects the rights of comic creators and readers. Now it’s our turn to carry that torch.
I would recommend you help this documentary come true. Please watch the trailer. Share it with friends and family. Consider supporting your project by pledging to one of the rewards available. By doing so, you’re not just helping to tell Dennis’ story. You are in the position of free speech, artistic freedom, and democracy itself.
Stand up in this moment with the same fearless spirit that drove Dennis.
Strange and Convincing: The Dennis Kitchen story will be on Kickstarter on Thursday, June 19th until 11:59pm ET.
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