Friday, November 21, 8pm

Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping

A Documentary Film by Dietmar Post

In honor of NATIONAL BUY NOTHING DAY, Aurora Picture Show presents Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping. Reverend Billy, a.k.a. Bill Talen, is an actor/performance artist and a leading figure in the anti-globalization movement. The Reverend’s "shopping interventions" in public spaces are in the tradition of the Living Theater, José Bové, Lenny Bruce, The Yippies. New York Times theater critic Jonathan Kalb calls his work "the most hilarious and pointed political theater in New York, something that has to be done in the risky environment of the street." The actions/performances inside and outside of Starbucks coffee shops and Disney stores often end with the Reverend being arrested. The Reverend claims that social change always begins with civil disobedience and includes as his heroes the civil rights, peace and labor movements.

Dietmar Post was born in Espelkamp, Germany in 1962. He studied at the Free University of Berlin and at the Complutense University of Madrid. Since 1995 he has lived in New York City and Germany and has worked as a film curator at Deutsches Haus at NYU.