(DISINFORMATION; 80 mins.)

www.disinfo.com

BY RANDY HARWARD

Brett Gaylor's film puts the "Copyright" against the "Copyleft" - implying ideological differences similar to the familiar political wings and treating art like health care and welfare. The former represents the fatcats whose financial girth was gained from making filthy lucre from art deemed "intellectual property." The latter is the altruistic side, self-charged with the duty to "protect the public domain... and ensure the free exchange of ideas and the future of art and culture." Gaylor demonizes and lionizes them, respectively, motivated by accusations that his favorite artist, Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis), is called a thief for stitching together other people's music to make his own.

The argument the film makes, that access to all this media equals more creativity -"consumers are now creators, making the folk art of the future" -  is a good one. If more people have the means and inclination to create art, be it folk or fine, our society is richer in art as well as social and political commentary. And fair use is fair use. We should be able to build on each other's ideas because it only refines and progresses our culture, which Gaylor's manifesto says "always builds on the past." So Gaylor courts Gillis and other remix artists, as well as people on the Copyright, hoping to make a case for open source media.

He's convincing, except for two things: How far will the film really go toward making fair use fair? Can he beat the corporate Goliaths? Only time will tell-but one thing's for sure, the cause is building momentum. Take it from someone who, until he saw this film, once bashed people like Girl Talk for his methods, wondering how he's considered an artist. There's more going on than we get to see. But I wonder still how many people at a Girl Talk show just wanna dance and could care less about how Gillis-the guy dancing around his laptop - stitched together Dee-Lite,  Nirvana and The Gap Band. How many will forget the original songs?

Special Features: Ninety minutes of interviews, mashups and photos.