The following films did not make it through the voting process and will therefore not be showcased this year. Here they are for your own viewing pleasure.
Big
Boys Gone Bananas!
Kinosmith
www.bigboysgonebananas.com
87 min. 2012 Director: Fredrik Gertten Producer: Bart Simpson
In 2009, Fredrik Gertten’s documentary, Bananas!, chronicling a lawsuit against controversial food giant Dole, was set to premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Dole responded with threats of legal action combined with an aggressive media and public relations campaign to quash the film’s release and discredit the reputation of the filmmakers. The filmmaking team behind Bananas! refused to be bullied, filing a counter-suit and launching their own media strategy. A true documentarian, Gertten picks up his camera again to capture his fight for free speech. Boys Gone Bananas! is an in-depth case study of an independent filmmaker’s David and Goliath battle with a corporate machine. As Dole's PR company puts it, "It is easier to cope with a bad conscience than a bad reputation". Big Boys Gone Bananas! is an unparalleled thriller.
Dying Green
www.dyinggreenthefilm.com
26 min. 2011 Director: Ellen Tripler
Set in the foothills of the Appalachians, this film explores one man’s vision of using green burials to conserve land. Dr. Billy Campbell, the town’s only physician, has radically changed people's understanding of burials in the United States. Dr. Campbell’s dream is to conserve one million acres of land. Dying Green focuses on the revolutionary idea of using our own death to fund land conservation and create wildlife preserves. 2011 CINE Golden Eagle award
Dirty Energy
www.dirtyenergymovie.com
94 min. 2011 Director: Bryan Hopkins
On April 20th, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded off the Gulf of Mexico taking the lives of 11 workers, pouring millions of barrels of oil into the ocean and creating one of the worst environmental disasters in history. Dirty Energy tells the personal story of those directly affected by the spill who are now struggling to rebuild their lives amidst economic devastation and long-term health risks. This is a story too often glossed over by the mainstream media and ignored by those sent to Washington to represent the will of the people. The fate of the Gulf region and its inhabitants is largely unknown. The systematic failures of BP and the federal government to properly confront this environmental calamity with honesty and integrity has powerful consequences, but sadly the human cost has been greatly underestimated and hidden from the public. Still today, the people of the Gulf are fighting to preserve their endangered way of life. This is their story. Social Justice Award, Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Crime After Crime
www.crimeaftercrime.com
93 min. (or 58), 2011 Director: Yoav Potash
Crime After Crime tells the dramatic story of the legal battle to free Debbie Peagler, a woman imprisoned for over a quarter century due to her connection to the murder of the man who abused her. Two rookie attorneys step forward to take her case and through their perseverance, they bring to light long-lost witnesses, new testimonies from the men who committed the murder, and proof of perjured evidence. Their investigation ultimately attracts global attention to victims of wrongful incarceration and abuse, and takes on profound urgency when Debbie is diagnosed with cancer. Filmmaker Yoav Potash methodically documented this story as it unfolded with exclusive access to Debbie Peagler and her attorneys, allowing his film to tell an unforgettable story of a relentless quest for justice. Numerous awards including: Audience Choice, San Francicso Int'l Film Festival; Audience Award, Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
All Me: The Life & Times of Winfred Rembert
www.allmethemovie.com
78 min. 2012 Director: Vivian Ducat
With his intensely autobiographical paintings depicting the day-to-day existence of African Americans in the segregated South, Winfred Rembert has preserved an important, if often disturbing, chapter of American history. His indelible images of toiling in the cotton fields, singing in church, dancing in juke joints, or working on a chain gang are especially powerful because he lived every moment, and because he experienced so much injustice and bigotry. Now in his sixties, Rembert has developed a growing following among art collectors and connoisseurs, and enjoyed a number of tributes and exhibitions of his work. In All Me: The Life and Times of Winfred Rembert, the artist relives his turbulent life, abundantly visualized by his extensive paintings and, in a series of intimate reminiscences, shows us how even the most painful memories can be transformed into something meaningful and beautiful. This music-filled film is a glowing portrait of how an artist is made. Cine Golden Eagle Award
The Carbon Rush
Kinosmith
www.thecarbonrush.net
85 min. 2012 Director: Amy Miller
Hundreds of hydroelectric dams in Panama-- incinerators burning garbage in India-- biogas extracted from palm oil in Honduras-- eucalyptus forests harvested for charcoal in Brazil; what do these projects have in common? They are all receiving carbon credits for offsetting pollution created somewhere else. But what impact are these offsets having? Are they actually reducing emissions? And what about the people and the communities where these projects have been set up? The Carbon Rush travels across four continents and brings us up close to projects working through the United Nations Kyoto Protocol designed Clean Development Mechanism. This groundbreaking documentary asks the fundamental questions, "What happens when we manipulate markets to solve the climate crisis? Who stands to gain and who stands to suffer?"
Paraiso for Sale
www.paraisoforsale.impactofilms.com
73 min. 2012 Filmmaker: Anayansi Prado
What price would you pay for paradise? And who would you be willing to take it from? The pristine archipelago of Bocas del Toro, Panama attracts retirees and developers from the U.S. with its crystal-clear waters and its island culture. In Paraiso for Sale, filmmaker, Anayansi Prado, returns to her homeland to document the effects the fast-growing migration is having on the local community.
This engaging and revealing documentary tells the personal stories of the people who call this area home and would like to keep it that way. From an American couple who’ve invested in their home and in their Panamanian community, to a local businessman turned political hopeful and an indigenous leader fighting for his land, the characters and stories in Paraiso for Sale speak to the larger global issue of communities, new and old, under siege from faceless corporations. Paraiso for Sale explores issues of modern day colonialism, residential tourism, and global gentrification.
We Still Live Here (Âs Nutayuneân)
www.mcnabbconnolly.ca
56 min. 2010 Director:Anne Makepeace
The Wampanoag's ancestors ensured the survival of the English settlers known as the Pilgrims, and lived to regret it. Now a cultural revival is taking place. Spurred on by their celebrated linguist, Jessie Little Doe Baird, recent winner of a MacArthur `genius' award, the Wampanoag are bringing their language home and saying loudly and clearly in their native tongue, "Âs Nutayuneân," (We Still Live Here). This story begins with a vision. Years ago, Jessie began having recurring dreams of familiar-looking people from another time speaking in an incomprehensible language. These visions sent her on an odyssey that would uncover hundreds of documents written in Wampanoag, led her to a Master's in Linguistics at MIT, and culminated in an unprecedented feat of language reclamation by her people. Jessie's daughter Mae is the first Native speaker of Wampanoag in a century. Inspiration Award, Full Frame; Moving Mountains Prize, Telluride Mountain Films
United States of Africa
www.onf-nfb.gc.ca
75 min. 2011 Director: Yanick Letourneau
African hip hop pioneer Didier Awadi is on a quest to craft an album that pays tribute to the great black revolutionary leaders and their struggle to realize a dream, a united and independent Africa. In this epic musical and political journey, Awadi visits some 40 countries to collaborate with hip hop activist artists, including Smockey (Burkina Faso), M-1 of Dead Prez (United States) and ZuluBoy (South Africa). Featuring a score by Ghislain Poirier, as well as Awadi’s own songs, United States of Africa draws the viewer into one artist’s profound meditation on the power of music and the impact of political engagement, both individual and collective. A hopeful and compelling film.
Vito
www.thefilmcollaborative.org
93 min. 2011 Director: Jeffrey Schwarz
On June 27, 1969, a police raid on a Greenwich Village gay bar called the Stonewall took a surprising turn when patrons decided it was time to fight back. Vito Russo, a 23-year-old film student, was among the crowd. Over the next twenty years until his death from AIDS in 1990, Vito would go on to become one of the most outspoken and inspiring activists in the LGBT community’s fight for equal rights. He was a pivotal figure in several well-known organizations including ACT UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power), a guerilla activist group that created highly telegenic acts of civil disobedience. Vito also wrote The Celluloid Closet which explored the ways in which gays and lesbians were portrayed on film, the lessons those characters taught gay and straight audiences, and how those negative images were at the root of society’s homophobia.
Sing Your Song
www.singyoursongthemovie.com
104 min. 2011 Filmmaker: Susanne Rostock
Sing Your Song surveys the life and times of singer/actor/activist Harry Belafonte. This inspirational biographical film begins with Belafonte's birth into poverty in Harlem in 1927, and his childhood years in Jamaica. Director, Susanne Rostock takes the viewer through his discovery of theater and his training as an actor, and on to his career and success as a singer. The film includes clips of his career but also reveals the compelling story is his activism for social justice. Belafonte is a tenacious hands-on activist, who worked intimately with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., mobilized celebrities for social justice, participated in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and took action to counter gang violence and the incarceration of youth. He continues to work in the prison rights movement. Despite his high profile, he has never been afraid to spend time in the trenches even when it involved taking enormous personal risks. Most Popular Nonfiction Film Award, Vancouver Int'l Film Festival
Occupy Love
www.occupylove.com
88 min. 2012 Director: Velcrow Ripper
Join acclaimed director Velcrow Ripper on a journey deep inside the global revolution of the heart that is erupting around the planet. From the Arab Spring to the European Summer, from the Occupy Movement to the global climate justice movement, a profound shift is taking place. Humanity is waking up to the fact that the dominant system of power is failing to provide us with health, happiness or meaning. The old paradigm that concentrates wealth, founded on the greed of the few, is collapsing. Endless growth on a finite planet cannot be sustained. The resulting crisis has become the catalyst for a profound transformation. Millions of people are deciding that the time has come to create a new world, a world that works for all life. Woven throughout the moving, action-oriented backbone of the story is a deep exploration of the heart of the movement, the meaning of love, and concrete examples of just what “another world” could look like. The film features some of the world’s key visionaries on alternative systems of economics, sustainability, and empathy. Best Canadian Feature, Planet in Focus Festival
Walk in Beauty; Clean Energy for a Changeable World
www.newenergyeconomy.org
14 min. 2012 Filmmaker: Doug Crawford.
The Navajo territory of “Four Corners” has often been characterized as an “energy sacrifice zone” where people from California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico have flipped their switches in complete ignorance of the devastating consequences of their choices. The list of staggering impacts from coal-fired electricity is long, and includes cancers, heart and lung disease and rampant asthma. This is especially true among the elderly and young. Rising levels of dangerous smog also impact visibility, and negatively affect traditional ceremonies and agriculture. These impacts from coal impose unacceptable costs. Navajo communities are moving to new sources of energy including solar power that can displace coal and uranium, create new jobs and build enduring pathways out of poverty.
Maestra
www.maestrathefilm.org
33 min. 2012 Director: Catherine Murphy
In Cuba in1961, 250,000 volunteers taught 700,000 people to read and write in one year. 100,000 of the teachers were under 18 years old. Over half were women. Maestra explores this story through the personal testimonies of the young women who went out to teach literacy in rural communities across the island--and found themselves deeply transformed in the process. In the midst of the literacy campaign, Cuban exiles launched the CIA-supported Bay of Pigs invasion. Although it was discovered and thwarted by the Cuban armed forces, escaped mercenaries combed the countryside, harassing the peasants and their literacy teachers. Maestra is a compelling and beautifully filmed reconstruction of one of the most significant campaigns in Cuba’s history. Fifty years on, the film clearly demonstrates the impact that it had on the lives of all those who took part. “The historical significance of this archive, and its lessons for the present, cannot be overstated.” Howard Zinn
Pink Ribbons, Inc.
www.onf-nfb.gc.ca
98 min. 2011 Director: Léa Pool Producer: Ravida Din
Breast cancer has become the poster child of cause-related marketing campaigns. Countless people walk, run and shop for the cure. Each year, millions of dollars are raised in the name of breast cancer, but where does this money go and what does it actually achieve? Pink Ribbons, Inc. is a feature documentary from the National Film Board of Canada that shows how the devastating reality of breast cancer, which marketing experts have labeled a “dream cause,” has become obfuscated by a shiny, pink story of success. The film challenges the pink-themed campaign promotion of a quick-fix mentality, focusing too much on early screening and achieving a “cure” for the disease, instead of researching causes and protection from environmental contaminants.
Surviving Progress
www.onf-nfb.gc.ca
87 min. 2012 Filmmakers: Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks Executive Producer: Martin Scorsese
Surviving Progress is a stunning feature documentary that connects the financial collapse, growing inequity, and the Wall Street oligarchy, with future technology, sustainability and the fate of civilization. Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, A Short History of Progress, inspired this film, reveals how civilizations are repeatedly destroyed by “progress traps”. Alluring technologies serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. In the past, we could use up a region’s resources and move on. But if today’s global civilization collapses from over-consumption, that’s it. We have no back-up planet.Surviving Progress brings us thinkers who have probed our primate past, our brains and our societies. Some amplify Wright’s urgent warning, while others have faith that the very progress which has put us in jeopardy is also the key to our salvation. Surviving Progress leaves us with a challenge; to prove that making apes smarter was not an evolutionary dead-end.
Kinosmith
www.bigboysgonebananas.com
87 min. 2012 Director: Fredrik Gertten Producer: Bart Simpson
In 2009, Fredrik Gertten’s documentary, Bananas!, chronicling a lawsuit against controversial food giant Dole, was set to premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Dole responded with threats of legal action combined with an aggressive media and public relations campaign to quash the film’s release and discredit the reputation of the filmmakers. The filmmaking team behind Bananas! refused to be bullied, filing a counter-suit and launching their own media strategy. A true documentarian, Gertten picks up his camera again to capture his fight for free speech. Boys Gone Bananas! is an in-depth case study of an independent filmmaker’s David and Goliath battle with a corporate machine. As Dole's PR company puts it, "It is easier to cope with a bad conscience than a bad reputation". Big Boys Gone Bananas! is an unparalleled thriller.
Dying Green
www.dyinggreenthefilm.com
26 min. 2011 Director: Ellen Tripler
Set in the foothills of the Appalachians, this film explores one man’s vision of using green burials to conserve land. Dr. Billy Campbell, the town’s only physician, has radically changed people's understanding of burials in the United States. Dr. Campbell’s dream is to conserve one million acres of land. Dying Green focuses on the revolutionary idea of using our own death to fund land conservation and create wildlife preserves. 2011 CINE Golden Eagle award
Dirty Energy
www.dirtyenergymovie.com
94 min. 2011 Director: Bryan Hopkins
On April 20th, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded off the Gulf of Mexico taking the lives of 11 workers, pouring millions of barrels of oil into the ocean and creating one of the worst environmental disasters in history. Dirty Energy tells the personal story of those directly affected by the spill who are now struggling to rebuild their lives amidst economic devastation and long-term health risks. This is a story too often glossed over by the mainstream media and ignored by those sent to Washington to represent the will of the people. The fate of the Gulf region and its inhabitants is largely unknown. The systematic failures of BP and the federal government to properly confront this environmental calamity with honesty and integrity has powerful consequences, but sadly the human cost has been greatly underestimated and hidden from the public. Still today, the people of the Gulf are fighting to preserve their endangered way of life. This is their story. Social Justice Award, Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Crime After Crime
www.crimeaftercrime.com
93 min. (or 58), 2011 Director: Yoav Potash
Crime After Crime tells the dramatic story of the legal battle to free Debbie Peagler, a woman imprisoned for over a quarter century due to her connection to the murder of the man who abused her. Two rookie attorneys step forward to take her case and through their perseverance, they bring to light long-lost witnesses, new testimonies from the men who committed the murder, and proof of perjured evidence. Their investigation ultimately attracts global attention to victims of wrongful incarceration and abuse, and takes on profound urgency when Debbie is diagnosed with cancer. Filmmaker Yoav Potash methodically documented this story as it unfolded with exclusive access to Debbie Peagler and her attorneys, allowing his film to tell an unforgettable story of a relentless quest for justice. Numerous awards including: Audience Choice, San Francicso Int'l Film Festival; Audience Award, Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
All Me: The Life & Times of Winfred Rembert
www.allmethemovie.com
78 min. 2012 Director: Vivian Ducat
With his intensely autobiographical paintings depicting the day-to-day existence of African Americans in the segregated South, Winfred Rembert has preserved an important, if often disturbing, chapter of American history. His indelible images of toiling in the cotton fields, singing in church, dancing in juke joints, or working on a chain gang are especially powerful because he lived every moment, and because he experienced so much injustice and bigotry. Now in his sixties, Rembert has developed a growing following among art collectors and connoisseurs, and enjoyed a number of tributes and exhibitions of his work. In All Me: The Life and Times of Winfred Rembert, the artist relives his turbulent life, abundantly visualized by his extensive paintings and, in a series of intimate reminiscences, shows us how even the most painful memories can be transformed into something meaningful and beautiful. This music-filled film is a glowing portrait of how an artist is made. Cine Golden Eagle Award
The Carbon Rush
Kinosmith
www.thecarbonrush.net
85 min. 2012 Director: Amy Miller
Hundreds of hydroelectric dams in Panama-- incinerators burning garbage in India-- biogas extracted from palm oil in Honduras-- eucalyptus forests harvested for charcoal in Brazil; what do these projects have in common? They are all receiving carbon credits for offsetting pollution created somewhere else. But what impact are these offsets having? Are they actually reducing emissions? And what about the people and the communities where these projects have been set up? The Carbon Rush travels across four continents and brings us up close to projects working through the United Nations Kyoto Protocol designed Clean Development Mechanism. This groundbreaking documentary asks the fundamental questions, "What happens when we manipulate markets to solve the climate crisis? Who stands to gain and who stands to suffer?"
Paraiso for Sale
www.paraisoforsale.impactofilms.com
73 min. 2012 Filmmaker: Anayansi Prado
What price would you pay for paradise? And who would you be willing to take it from? The pristine archipelago of Bocas del Toro, Panama attracts retirees and developers from the U.S. with its crystal-clear waters and its island culture. In Paraiso for Sale, filmmaker, Anayansi Prado, returns to her homeland to document the effects the fast-growing migration is having on the local community.
This engaging and revealing documentary tells the personal stories of the people who call this area home and would like to keep it that way. From an American couple who’ve invested in their home and in their Panamanian community, to a local businessman turned political hopeful and an indigenous leader fighting for his land, the characters and stories in Paraiso for Sale speak to the larger global issue of communities, new and old, under siege from faceless corporations. Paraiso for Sale explores issues of modern day colonialism, residential tourism, and global gentrification.
We Still Live Here (Âs Nutayuneân)
www.mcnabbconnolly.ca
56 min. 2010 Director:Anne Makepeace
The Wampanoag's ancestors ensured the survival of the English settlers known as the Pilgrims, and lived to regret it. Now a cultural revival is taking place. Spurred on by their celebrated linguist, Jessie Little Doe Baird, recent winner of a MacArthur `genius' award, the Wampanoag are bringing their language home and saying loudly and clearly in their native tongue, "Âs Nutayuneân," (We Still Live Here). This story begins with a vision. Years ago, Jessie began having recurring dreams of familiar-looking people from another time speaking in an incomprehensible language. These visions sent her on an odyssey that would uncover hundreds of documents written in Wampanoag, led her to a Master's in Linguistics at MIT, and culminated in an unprecedented feat of language reclamation by her people. Jessie's daughter Mae is the first Native speaker of Wampanoag in a century. Inspiration Award, Full Frame; Moving Mountains Prize, Telluride Mountain Films
United States of Africa
www.onf-nfb.gc.ca
75 min. 2011 Director: Yanick Letourneau
African hip hop pioneer Didier Awadi is on a quest to craft an album that pays tribute to the great black revolutionary leaders and their struggle to realize a dream, a united and independent Africa. In this epic musical and political journey, Awadi visits some 40 countries to collaborate with hip hop activist artists, including Smockey (Burkina Faso), M-1 of Dead Prez (United States) and ZuluBoy (South Africa). Featuring a score by Ghislain Poirier, as well as Awadi’s own songs, United States of Africa draws the viewer into one artist’s profound meditation on the power of music and the impact of political engagement, both individual and collective. A hopeful and compelling film.
Vito
www.thefilmcollaborative.org
93 min. 2011 Director: Jeffrey Schwarz
On June 27, 1969, a police raid on a Greenwich Village gay bar called the Stonewall took a surprising turn when patrons decided it was time to fight back. Vito Russo, a 23-year-old film student, was among the crowd. Over the next twenty years until his death from AIDS in 1990, Vito would go on to become one of the most outspoken and inspiring activists in the LGBT community’s fight for equal rights. He was a pivotal figure in several well-known organizations including ACT UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power), a guerilla activist group that created highly telegenic acts of civil disobedience. Vito also wrote The Celluloid Closet which explored the ways in which gays and lesbians were portrayed on film, the lessons those characters taught gay and straight audiences, and how those negative images were at the root of society’s homophobia.
Sing Your Song
www.singyoursongthemovie.com
104 min. 2011 Filmmaker: Susanne Rostock
Sing Your Song surveys the life and times of singer/actor/activist Harry Belafonte. This inspirational biographical film begins with Belafonte's birth into poverty in Harlem in 1927, and his childhood years in Jamaica. Director, Susanne Rostock takes the viewer through his discovery of theater and his training as an actor, and on to his career and success as a singer. The film includes clips of his career but also reveals the compelling story is his activism for social justice. Belafonte is a tenacious hands-on activist, who worked intimately with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., mobilized celebrities for social justice, participated in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and took action to counter gang violence and the incarceration of youth. He continues to work in the prison rights movement. Despite his high profile, he has never been afraid to spend time in the trenches even when it involved taking enormous personal risks. Most Popular Nonfiction Film Award, Vancouver Int'l Film Festival
Occupy Love
www.occupylove.com
88 min. 2012 Director: Velcrow Ripper
Join acclaimed director Velcrow Ripper on a journey deep inside the global revolution of the heart that is erupting around the planet. From the Arab Spring to the European Summer, from the Occupy Movement to the global climate justice movement, a profound shift is taking place. Humanity is waking up to the fact that the dominant system of power is failing to provide us with health, happiness or meaning. The old paradigm that concentrates wealth, founded on the greed of the few, is collapsing. Endless growth on a finite planet cannot be sustained. The resulting crisis has become the catalyst for a profound transformation. Millions of people are deciding that the time has come to create a new world, a world that works for all life. Woven throughout the moving, action-oriented backbone of the story is a deep exploration of the heart of the movement, the meaning of love, and concrete examples of just what “another world” could look like. The film features some of the world’s key visionaries on alternative systems of economics, sustainability, and empathy. Best Canadian Feature, Planet in Focus Festival
Walk in Beauty; Clean Energy for a Changeable World
www.newenergyeconomy.org
14 min. 2012 Filmmaker: Doug Crawford.
The Navajo territory of “Four Corners” has often been characterized as an “energy sacrifice zone” where people from California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico have flipped their switches in complete ignorance of the devastating consequences of their choices. The list of staggering impacts from coal-fired electricity is long, and includes cancers, heart and lung disease and rampant asthma. This is especially true among the elderly and young. Rising levels of dangerous smog also impact visibility, and negatively affect traditional ceremonies and agriculture. These impacts from coal impose unacceptable costs. Navajo communities are moving to new sources of energy including solar power that can displace coal and uranium, create new jobs and build enduring pathways out of poverty.
Maestra
www.maestrathefilm.org
33 min. 2012 Director: Catherine Murphy
In Cuba in1961, 250,000 volunteers taught 700,000 people to read and write in one year. 100,000 of the teachers were under 18 years old. Over half were women. Maestra explores this story through the personal testimonies of the young women who went out to teach literacy in rural communities across the island--and found themselves deeply transformed in the process. In the midst of the literacy campaign, Cuban exiles launched the CIA-supported Bay of Pigs invasion. Although it was discovered and thwarted by the Cuban armed forces, escaped mercenaries combed the countryside, harassing the peasants and their literacy teachers. Maestra is a compelling and beautifully filmed reconstruction of one of the most significant campaigns in Cuba’s history. Fifty years on, the film clearly demonstrates the impact that it had on the lives of all those who took part. “The historical significance of this archive, and its lessons for the present, cannot be overstated.” Howard Zinn
Pink Ribbons, Inc.
www.onf-nfb.gc.ca
98 min. 2011 Director: Léa Pool Producer: Ravida Din
Breast cancer has become the poster child of cause-related marketing campaigns. Countless people walk, run and shop for the cure. Each year, millions of dollars are raised in the name of breast cancer, but where does this money go and what does it actually achieve? Pink Ribbons, Inc. is a feature documentary from the National Film Board of Canada that shows how the devastating reality of breast cancer, which marketing experts have labeled a “dream cause,” has become obfuscated by a shiny, pink story of success. The film challenges the pink-themed campaign promotion of a quick-fix mentality, focusing too much on early screening and achieving a “cure” for the disease, instead of researching causes and protection from environmental contaminants.
Surviving Progress
www.onf-nfb.gc.ca
87 min. 2012 Filmmakers: Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks Executive Producer: Martin Scorsese
Surviving Progress is a stunning feature documentary that connects the financial collapse, growing inequity, and the Wall Street oligarchy, with future technology, sustainability and the fate of civilization. Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, A Short History of Progress, inspired this film, reveals how civilizations are repeatedly destroyed by “progress traps”. Alluring technologies serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. In the past, we could use up a region’s resources and move on. But if today’s global civilization collapses from over-consumption, that’s it. We have no back-up planet.Surviving Progress brings us thinkers who have probed our primate past, our brains and our societies. Some amplify Wright’s urgent warning, while others have faith that the very progress which has put us in jeopardy is also the key to our salvation. Surviving Progress leaves us with a challenge; to prove that making apes smarter was not an evolutionary dead-end.