{news} Michael Burns' new film

[David Bedell]

http://www.journalinquirer.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18594257

07/17/2007
Local filmaker uses work to 'educate, inform'
By: Joseph Laflamme , For the Journal Inquirer

VERNON - Independent filmmaker Michael Burns of the Rockville section of
town has come a long way since he began shooting films in his teens with
neighborhood friends in East Hartford.

Burns released his third documentary, "Majority Rules," in May 2007. The
film features his discussions about democracy with six college students from
six countries.

The film was inspired by the war in Iraq, Burns said, which "has a
thought-provoking relationship to democracy."

"As the administration scrambled and the main justification for the war
started to shift to promoting democracy, I realized that I wanted to make a
film that took a step back and looked at this basic concept more closely,"
he said via e-mail.

Like his 2003 debut, "Third Party," which explored the limitations of
America's two-party system, Burns said, "Majority Rules" is meant to do more
than just entertain.

"My passion is to use art to inform, educate, and stimulate discussion,"
Burns said.

"I'm what film critics might call an instrumentalist filmmaker, someone who
believes that film can help us achieve other things, namely, making the
world a better place," he said.

Although Burns received some funding for "Majority Rules" from the
University College of Dublin in Ireland, he covered most of the production
costs himself.

Burns said his interest in Connecticut politics inspired him to make his
first film. "Third Party" features interviews with S. Michael DeRosa, who
ran for the District 1 Connecticut State Senate seat in 2002 as a Green
Party candidate, according to Burns' Web site. The film is distributed by
The Cinema Guild, a company based in New York City.

"Preventive Warriors," released in 2004, chronicles the Bush
administration's application of the preventive war doctrine, which Burns
describes as "the idea that it's legitimate to attack another country before
they've attacked you simply because they are potential threats."

Burns said he has sold enough copies of "Preventive Warriors" online to
cover production costs. The film has been shown at film festivals in cities
ranging from Golden, Colo., to Trondheim, Norway, and has been aired on
cable channels in five countries.

Burns said he is trying a find a distributor to reach high school and
college students and their teachers, the intended audience for his work.

"In a country as big as ours, distributing and promoting on your own is a
difficult task," Burns said.

While attending East Hartford High School, Burns shot films and submitted
them as class projects.

"One of my teachers, Charlene Bishko, once said in class that maybe I would
be the next Steven Spielberg," Burns said.

"Maybe it stuck in the back of my mind and gave me the confidence to
continue with it," he said.

Through his early class projects, Burns said, he discovered the power of
film as a medium for conveying ideas.

"If you want to communicate something to someone, and you can do it in a
creative way, then you'll be most effective," Burns said.

Burns graduated from Georgetown University in 1998 with a bachelor's degree
in theology and from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2000 with
a master's in labor studies.

He is working to complete his doctorate in film at the University of
Birmingham in England, where he is a teaching fellow. Burns said he teaches
classes on documentary film production and its history.

"I really wanted to continue my investigations into American politics from
another country in order to learn how others see us," Burns said.

"I think we can learn so much from the rest of the world if we take the time
to listen."

Burns said he plans to return to Rockville in the spring of 2008 and hopes
to start a production company in Connecticut.


©Journal Inquirer 2007