IFTA Not Invited To ‘Cocktail Party’

The Independent Film & Television Alliance is back on the Internet and they are still fighting. The IFTA has long been battling media consolidation and net neutrality but lately they have ratcheted up the pugnacity with a series of online videos.

First came ‘Bound’ a searing three minute video indictment of big media properties like Warner Brothers and Time Warner. The video showed a child bound to a chair and being forced to watch a TV screen, though he tries to look away.

And now comes the somewhat more mild but nonetheless punchy “Cocktail Party.” The video features a gaggle of well-groomed people chomping on hors d’oeuvres with classical music swirling around them. The dinner guests are rendered nearly mute; they can only communicate by speaking the name of whatever big media company they belong to. While it doesn’t pack the same shock as “Bound” the message from the IFTA-that media consolidation diminishes the opportunities for robust conversation-remains consistent.

The IFTA is hoping that the new Administration and President Obama’s new FCC Chairman-designate will be more sympathetic to the causes they champion than the previous administration.