Persistence of Vision

...for Brothers at War, a moving new documentary about two brothers deployed in Iraq--and a third who went with them to see what it was all about. This film is getting rave reviews--and is opening in theaters across the country.

Right now, it's playing in Manhattan at the AMC Village 7, and will be there all week. This past weekend, it opened in Traverse City, Michigan; Dublin, Georgia; and Mounds View, Minnesota. Later this week, it opens in Santa Monica. Check out tickets and showtimes here.

Mark your calendars now: On Friday, May 29, at 7 p.m., 2081 will premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival. This stunning 25-minute film from MPI fellow Chandler Tuttle adapts for the screen "Harrison Bergeron," Kurt Vonnegut's classic tale of egalitarianism run amok. You can purchase tickets for SIFF's "Shortsfest" opening night online now.

2081 depicts a dystopian future where everyone is finally equal: The strong wear weights, the beautiful wear masks and the intelligent wear earpieces that fire off loud noises to keep them from taking unfair advantage of their brains. It is a poetic tale of triumph and tragedy about a broken family, a brutal government, and an act of defiance that changes everything.

Featuring an original score performed by the world-renowned Kronos Quartet (Requiem for a Dream) and narration by Academy Award nominee Patricia Clarkson (Far From Heaven, Goodnight and Good Luck), 2081 stars James Cosmo (Braveheart, Trainspotting, Narnia), Julie Hagerty (Airplane!) and Armie Hammer (Justice League: Mortal).

The Seattle International Film Festival is a top 10 festival worldwide and the largest in the United States, with over 150,000 attendees each year. If you are in the Seattle area, reserve the date and come see a remarkable film premiere.

For more on the film, visit FinallyEqual.com.

If you aren't following the Motorhome Diaries, you should. These are the chronicles of three friends who took to the road last month to try to track down what freedom means to Americans. They are talking to all kinds of people -- and have their fingers, and their cameras, on the pulse of how the American people are currently thinking about and living out their conceptions of freedom. Increasingly, they are finding an America filled with people who deplore big government and who long for a restoration of individual liberty.

Recently, they sat down with Ron Paul. Check it out.

On Sunday, citizens of Wichita, Kansas, held a demonstration to protest government-run health care. MPI's FreeMarketCure.com project, which features four short films on health care alongside sharp commentary from policy experts, anchored their efforts. Read about it and see photos at WichitaLiberty.org -- and check out the video footage above.

From a staff editorial in this morning's New York Times:

American law, with its strong First Amendment traditions, makes it hard to sue authors for libel. To get around these protections, book subjects have been suing American authors in England, where the libel law is much less writer-friendly. Two states -- New York and Illinois -- have already adopted laws prohibiting "libel tourism," and several more, including Florida and California, may soon join them.

That is a good start, but it still leaves writers with only a patchwork of protection. Congress needs to pass a law that makes clear that no American court will enforce libel judgments from countries that provide less protection for the written word.

The dangers to authors and free speech are clear in the case of Rachel Ehrenfeld, who wrote a book in 2003 alleging that a prominent Saudi businessman financed terrorism. The book was published in the United States, but because a few copies were sold over the Internet in England, the British courts allowed the businessman to sue for libel.

In British law, writers are at a distinct disadvantage. In some cases, the burden is on them to prove the truth of what they have written, rather than on the subject to prove that it was false. Ms. Ehrenfeld decided not to defend herself because she did not believe she should have to appear before a British court. The Saudi businessman was awarded more than $200,000 in damages.

The House of Representatives passed a bill against libel tourism last year. Peter King, Republican of New York, and Anthony Weiner, Democrat of New York, are sponsoring a stronger bill, which would, among other things, allow writers in Ms. Ehrenfeld's position to countersue for treble damages. Congress should pass one of these versions of the law, preferably the tougher one, which has a companion bill in the Senate.

If authors believe they are too vulnerable, they may be discouraged from taking on difficult and important topics, like terrorism financing, or from writing about wealthy and litigious people. That would not only be bad for writers, it would be bad for everyone.