Crying Games

Produced using open-source face-substitution software, Crying Games features a cast of actors playing Tony Blair, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney, political figures whose ideas, policies, and military campaigns defined the 2000s—the violent repercussions of which continue to echo through our own time. In the video the actors’ faces are digitally replaced with the political figures’ faces, allowing Kline to put words in their mouths and emotions in their eyes. Harnessing this new technology, Kline attempts to turn historical revisionism—a mainstay of American politics and mass communication—into a critical tool.

Directed by Josh Kline