Grand Lake Theater- September 11, 2008

Bonnie Faulkner, host of KPFA's Guns and Butter, Mistress of Ceremonies

Peter Dale Scott and Carol Brouillet

The 9/11 Film Festival was a great success on many levels. People came, even before noon when we were just setting up, the large auditorium began to fill up. Our Mistress of Ceremonies was late for the welcome, but conveniently our techie, who was setting up the equipment on stage, happened to be the producer of 9/11 and Nationalist Faith (as well as most of the films featuring David Ray Griffin), and so Ken Jenkins introduced the first film.

During the eleven hour festival, people continued to pour into the theater; they came from the Bay Area, from Fresno, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, and from as far away as the East Coast. Mike Godbe, a history major at Vassar College, working on his 9/11 thesis, flew out from the East Coast to interview people.

Across the street from the Grand Lake Theater - September 11, 2008

Street Action near Grand Lake Theater- September 11, 2008

We had great films, great speakers, the lobby was filled with activist organizations, including World Can’t Wait, Richard Hayes Phillips with his book on the 2004 Stolen Presidential Election, Peace Resource Project, Guns and Butter, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, and, of course, the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance, tabling information and resources. We soon ran out of the featured films- Zero:An Investigation into 9/11 and 9/11 False Flag. On a spare table, on the floor, activists worked to fold and prepare info to be distributed the next day in New York City. On the marquee, on the sidewalks, in the park across the street, we proclaimed our message: “The War on Terror is a Fraud” “Expose the 9/11 Cover-up” “The 9/11 Commission Report is full of holes”… The mainstream press ignored us, although prior to the event there was a cover story in the North Bay Bohemian with two good articles on Ken Jenkins and Richard Gage, and another on Bonnie Faulkner which mentioned the film festival. The activist, independent, media brought their video cameras, recorded the speeches and will no doubt post and blast the messages online and on the radio.

Gabriel Day

Craig Bartmer

By evening the auditorium and the lobby were packed with people. At least six hundred people came during the course of the day. I was proud of the volunteers, organizers, crew, speakers for keeping very close to the scheduled program times. We did have a couple of program changes. Craig Bartmer, a New York Police Department officer on September 11th, witness, first responder, survivor, spoke after In Their Own Words: The Untold Stories of the 9/11 Families (The sequel to 9/11 Press for Truth). He is currently working on Cindy Sheehan’s campaign which he feels is critical towards getting a real investigation into 9/11. He read aloud Cindy’s Reflections on 9/11.

Also, Vic Sadot, who composed “Cheney’s in the Bunker” (and other great 9/11 Truth songs) didn’t make it. His truck broke down in Wyoming 800 miles away. Artist, musician, Bernard Rauch, sang in his place (Bernie had just celebrated his 70th birthday and has been a member of the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance for years).

Bonnie Faulkner, had to excuse herself briefly to co-host KPFA’s Flashpoints with Dennis Berenstein interviewing David Ray Griffin about his latest research and book- The New Pearl Harbour Revisited, 9/11, the Cover-Up, and the Exposé.

Richard Gage, Dan Hamburg, Peter Dale Scott, and Ken Jenkins, all gave great talks and informed anyone who hasn’t been immersed in the subject of 9/11 night and day for seven years, insights on the latest research, developments, world opinion and the movement.

The event was a group endeavor, and of course, much applause and credit should go to the film makers who spent years and poured many resources into the creation of the excellent films, but bringing folks into a theater on a Thursday afternoon took a bit of work, as well. We did have an organizing committee and many people put many hours/days/weeks into all the logistical details. In the aftermath of the event, Paul Rea, wrote to the organizing committee:

“Wow! What a huge success! Congrats to all, and many thanks to Alan [Who generously donated the Grand Lake Theater to us, again!].

From the very start, when I entered an already-crowded theater at 2:30, I was truly amazed.

Not only had we done the publicity right, and not only were the films were the films very good, but the presenters I heard were at the top of their game. Bonnie and Carol were relaxed, lively and informative throughout; Richard was terrific, better than I'd ever heard him (lively, funny, and genial) and took great advantage of having Craig from NYPD on hand; Peter Dale was urbanely witty and highly informative, as always, but also very spirited and inspirational; and Ken was insightful, funny, mellow yet earnest (relaxedly "urgent" but nowhere near "panic" mode).

Ken should also be applauded for checking to see just who his audience actually was--and then pitching his remarks toward them. We probably need to decide what we mean by the "choir," and possibly bring in another term like "the congregation," which would seem to describe the group I saw Ken addressing. And when he asked for people who had not been doubters before today, he did get about five hands. At 9:39 on a weeknight, after many hours of speakers and films, that's remarkable. No doubt a similar show of hands done earlier would have revealed many more "new converts." …"

(Click on cards for a full description of the films and speakers, plus links)

P.S. I posted a report with photos of our 7th Annual 9/11 Truth Rally and March on my website. Frankly, I have been too busy organizing, speaking, baking cookies, loading and unloading the car, to keep up with the press work, phone calls, paperwork, my blogs, my websites...