The Marlon Riggs prize, named after the late gay African-American filmmaker to honor “courage and innovation” by a BayArea artist, was bestowed upon Lynn Hershman Leeson by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for her latest feature, “Strange Culture.”

Strange Culture, which premiered at the inaugural 01SJ festival in 2006, has also been selected to open both the 2007 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival and the documentary section of the Berlin International Film Festival. The film features Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton, Chronicles of Narnia), Peter Coyote (E.T., Erin Brochovich), Thomas Jay Ryan (Henry Fool, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, My Dinner with Andre); Original score by The Residents.

Strange Culture details the surreal legal nightmare of artist and University at Buffalo professor Dr. Steven Kurtz. Dr. Kurtz was illegally detained and accused by the U.S. government of “bioterrorism” in 2004 after police became suspicious of common science materials used in his internationally exhibited art practice. He now awaits trial on charges of “mail fraud” – charges which carry the possibility of a 20-year jail term under the USA PATRIOT Act. Since the ongoing nature of the case prevents Dr. Kurtz from discussing its details, Hershman Leeson has enlisted actors to dramatize parts of the story, skillfully interweaving dialogue with news footage, animation, interviews, testimonials, and footage of Kurtz himself.

WATCH THE TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikNO1ANHIQs