FESTIVAL SPEAKERS:

Anna Khachiyan
is a Russian-American cultural critic, writer, and co-host of the podcast Red Scare.

Jimmy Dore
is a Chicago-born comedian, broadcaster, and political commentator.   With an independant following of over 1.5 million subscribers across video platforms Rumble and YouTube, he is the host of The Jimmy Dore Show where he not only addresses crucial topics of the day but also actively advocates for causes like freedom of speech, press freedom, and Julian Assange.

Michael Tracey
is an independent journalist writing for Substack. He has worked with Reason, Vice, and The Young Turks as well as made appearances on Tucker Carlson Tonight. His work has led him to cover major events from the 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns to the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests and the 2020 George Floyd riots.

Jack Mason
is a cultural critic and podcaster. He is the host of The Perfume Nationalist podcast and has been a featured guest on Red Scare, The Bret Easton Ellis podcast, and many other shows that operate at the intersection of culture and politics.

Max Blumenthal
is the editor-in-chief of The Grayzone and an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including best-selling Republican Gomorrah, Goliath, The Fifty One Day War, and The Management of Savagery. He has produced print articles for an array of publications, many video reports, and several documentaries, including Killing Gaza.

Thaddeus Russell
is a historian and the author of A Renegade History of the United States. He is also the host of the interview podcast Unregistered as well as the founder of the alternative education platform Unregistered Academy.

Alec Mouhibian
is a writer, filmmaker, and comedian born and raised in Hollywood, California. He is the producer of the award-winning documentary I Am Not Alone (2019) and the co-writer/director of the psychological mystery 1915 (2015), both features. He also produced the short film anthology Children of War (2017) and is founding vice president of the global arts foundation Creative Armenia. 

In 2021, he started the travel-mystery show Filthy Armenian Adventures in which he interviews various countercultural characters in the flesh.

Charles A. Looker
has been active in underground music circles for the past two decades as a composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. His music brings together classical composition, metal, pop, electronic sound design, and improvisation. His many projects include the bands Extra Life and Psalm Zero, and his orchestral record Simple Answers. Looker’s credits as a sideman and collaborator include Xiu Xiu, John Zorn, Lingua Ignota, and Darius Jones. He also hosts the Last Things podcast and YouTube channel, a resource for artist interviews, music history and cultural criticism.

Michael Wimer
is a percussionist, drummer, educator, and podcaster based in Bloomington, Indiana. Informed by his study of Afro-Cuban folklore and the history of the New World, he can be seen performing in various musical projects across Indiana as well as performing as an accompanist for dance classes and exhibitions with the Indiana University Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance. He is also the co-host of the weekly news analysis livestream show Unreported.

Michael Olivo
is an American cartoonist and designer who started his commercial career in editorial illustration, and his personal career as a cartoonist, having been published by Cold Cube Press, Fantagraphics, and Never Press, to name a few. After many years fixating on independent comics he then opened HARPY, a contemporary artist-run gallery focused on drawing and painting, which lasted for 3 years. After that he co-founded Eternal Wealth, an art fabrication company centered around custom objects and furniture. He is also currently the Art Director of the Williams Center, a multi-venue art center located in Rutherford, NJ. He will be releasing a book of visions in 2024 called Saints & Sand.