STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
A 30-year-old scifi drama that the filmmaker says has new resonance today - she's taking a new print of her movie on a road trip throughout the United States, and NPR's Neda Ulaby has more.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: The movie is called "Fresh Kill," after...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FRESH KILL")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) ...The world's biggest dump.
ULABY: Fresh Kills in Staten Island was a gigantic landfill back when this movie was made. Now it's closed, but in the early 1990s, it took in about 2,000 tons of trash every day.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FRESH KILL")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Nobody wants it.
ULABY: "Fresh Kill" is not a documentary. It's an experimental movie, a hectic hustle through a New York City set in the near future that's teetering on an environmental crisis.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FRESH KILL")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) The smell is getting worse out there.
ULABY: "Fresh Kill's" characters are concerned lesbian moms, eco terrorists, and wealthy business bros, who snack on contaminated sushi that turns their skin glowing green.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FRESH KILL")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Green - green - I saw it.
ULABY: The director is Shu Lea Cheang. She's originally from Taiwan.
SHU LEA CHEANG: When the film first came out, many people didn't quite get it.
ULABY: She decided to tour the remastered 35-millimeter print throughout the country.
CHEANG: I wrote to every cinema that have 35-millimeter projection capacity.
ULABY: That's Cheang at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. It's the 12th stop on her tour of 21 theaters in 33 days. Cheang is traveling with two younger filmmakers. As they travel, they're stopping at other places facing crises, such as Flint, Mich., and Springfield, Ohio. And they're making a documentary about their journey as they go.
Neda Ulaby, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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