No doubt, Contact's release is well-timed to resuscitate the original and informative discussion surrounding the Great CNN-Lost World controversy. I saw the film this Saturday, and it's credits include a veritable laundry list of media personalities from politics, journalism, and other exposure-reliant fields -- Geraldine Ferraro, Dee Dee Meyers, Bernard Shaw, Geraldo Rivera [ugh], Robert Novak, etc. etc... More interesting than the exstensive list of guest celebrities credited as themselves -- a list long enough to make this film a sort of (selective)snapshot of America's news/political reporting industry -- was the 'virtual' presence of POTUS Willam Jefferson Clinton, composed entirely of cleverly recombined stock footage from hearings, press conferences, speeches, etc. One scene depicts a press-conference in the White House press-room, shooting Ellen Arroway (J. Foster) reactions as she stands on the sidelines. The camera is tight on her figure and face, next to her is a monitor ostensibly showing the TV feed of the President's face being shot from the camera equipment that engulfs her on either side, and the President's voice is rendered as coming from BEHIND the audience, while Ellen Arroway looks over our shoulders at the podium. The effect is quite convincing and fascinating, in that it touches on the character who does not appear theme also mentioned earlier, much as Professor Oblivion in Videodrome consists solely of recycled video content. In keeping with the way that Contact seemd to collect recognizable faces like trophies, I found myself wondering and waiting if President Clinton would oblige by presenting footage recorded expressly for the film, or actually appear. I doubt it would or could adversely affect the much-abused dignity of his administration a great deal, and it would complete the cycle Reagan (actor turned President) began by revealing the active president as an aspiring or practicing actor... Additionally, I was struck by the relatively poor quality of the virtual crowds, who seemd jumpy and spastic, like the animated audiences in video-game backgrounds. It is ironic that digital effects masters can convice us that we know what a dinosuar dead 80 million years looks like as it runs through San Francisco, but cannot replicate a crowd of demonstrators. Joe Lamantia ---- To sign off SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]