"I have a lot of fun being a heretic," MPI founder Thor Halvorssen told New York Times writer John Strausbaugh in a feature article devoted to him. Many of us like to say--with cliched pride--that we "wear many hats" in our work and lives. But Halvorssen wears more than many of us put together. "If you ask him whether he’s a human-rights activist, a free-speech advocate, an anti-Communist, an anti-fascist or a movie producer, he could plausibly answer 'all of the above,'" Strasbaugh writes. “He’s uncategorizable,” Nat Hentoff agrees. “Thor’s the embodiment of the nonpolitically correct person.”
What pulls it all together is film:
Since 2005, having already founded two nonprofit organizations focused on free speech and human-rights issues, Mr. Halvorssen has made the movie business part of his portfolio of controversy-stirring efforts. Established with a small amount of his money, his nonprofit Moving Picture Institute has raised about $1.5 million in donations to date to pay for, promote and seek distribution for documentary films.At a time when the most successful documentaries on political or social issues all seem to be anti-corporate, anti-Bush, pro-environmentalist and left-leaning, the Moving Picture Institute has backed pro-business, anti-Communist and even anti-environmentalist ones. The latest, “Indoctrinate U,” follows the first-time filmmaker Evan Coyne Maloney as he turns Michael Moore’s guerrilla interview tactics on their head to address what he sees as political correctness on campus. In one scene, Mr. Maloney strolls into the women’s studies centers on several campuses and, playing innocent, asks directions to the men’s studies center. He is met with genuine bafflement, derisive laughs or icy hostility.
To Mr. Halvorssen his new role as a fledgling movie mogul dovetails perfectly with his other activities. “Pop culture has the power to be transformational culture,” he said. “A film can reach a lot more people than a white paper. You could think of the film as a trailer for the white paper.”
He paused, then said, “Put it this way: What ‘Sideways’ did for pinot noir, I want to do for freedom.”
It's increasingly clear that film is the scene of cutting edge policy debate. And it's increasingly clear, too, that MPI, Halvorssen's brainchild, is becoming a major player within cinematic presentations of core American issues and ideals. As he told Strausbaugh, now is the time for movies to revolutionize freedom: "Exploiting technology, marketing and alternative distribution will transform human rights," Halvorssen notes, "making it inspiring and even sexy."