Director Brian Knappenberger brought his documentary, Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press to the Hamptons International Film Festival’s Summerdocs series this weekend at Guild Hall. A provocative look at the First Amendment and what its protections may or may not have wrought, the provocative movie in three acts, now on Netflix, opens with Hulk Hogan and his take down of Gawker for posting a video of his having sex with his best friend’s wife (oy!), segueing to Sheldon Adelson’s purchase of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, ending with a meditation on fake news in the Trump era. Big questions bubbled up regarding the Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel who paid for Hulk Hogan’s trial. Gawker was forced into bankruptcy.
A panel followed the screening featuring Knappenberger,
Alec Baldwin, Elizabeth Spiers, a Gawker founder,
David Nugent, festival artistic director, and law professor
Thane Rosenbaum. A point was made: Hulk Hogan is actually a fictitious character portrayed by retired wrestler
Terry Bollea, and in the film, Bollea, on the stand, claims to have suffered emotional damage from the exposed video. A discussion about this character led to an analogy with Alec Baldwin, the evening’s host, and his SNL portrayal of the character of
Donald Trump, to which Baldwin did that lip thing he does to Trumpify. For many in the audience, that nano-moment was worth the price of admission. And while the film did not offer much of a point of view as to the right to allow that sex video, and what it might mean to have billionaires financing trials, all could express fear about the endangered nature of truth under this current American regime.
Regina Weinreich
Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura
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