07/15/2026
“What’s past is prologue” - William Shakespeare
This is an invitation to watch my short film, "Controlled Bleeding". A film that I have re-issued because it is as relevant today as it was 20-years ago in 2006 when the idea for the project was conceived. It's a film about the destructive nature of our dependency on oil - the biggest industry on Earth. The film is a feverish - complicated geo-political nightmare of power and economic dreams turned into destruction.
Controlled Bleeding was assembled from inspired imagery, derived from my documentary collection on the Middle East, and recorded off television onto video tape from the 1980's through the early 2000's. The completed work presents is my perception of reality - the epoch in which I have lived through. This history is presented, like a stylized graphic novel that reveals a nightmare; a nightmare for which we have been unable to escape - trapped in an endless tragic cycle - driven by an empire and human nature's quest for greed & power.
YOUTUBE viewing link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZDYBwj7BYg
(set resolution to 720P and turn up the sound!)
Feel free to like, subscribe, and leave a comment on the channel.
Link to blog: https://psychotropicfilms.blogspot.com/2026/04/2009s-film-controlled-bleeding-is-now.html
Regards, Bart
Concept, Direction & Editing: Bart Santello
Music: APRODUCE
Production: Psychotropic Films(tm)
c 2006-2009
TRT: Approx. 17-min
