Tag Archives: America

J Street: The Art of the Possible

J Street is on the frontlines of the world’s most “intractable” problem. An upstart lobby group in Washington, D.C., J Street dares to assert what to many seems obvious: that a two-state solution is Israel’s only future, and any peace deal will require robust American participation. It sees itself playing David to AIPAC, the Israel Lobby’s Goliath, and, less than five years old, has been making surprising gains.

With full access to the inside workings of a lobby group struggling to represent the centre ground of Jewish American thought, this documentary tracks J Street as it attempts to change what it means to be pro-Israel in America. We see their missteps and their triumphs as they push the Obama administration to take an active role in negotiating a two-state solution, fend off accusations of harbouring ‘anti-Israel’ objectives and gain influence among America’s Jewish population.

In this urgent political story told with the intimacy of cinema vérité, we feel the pulse of an organization, taking viewers to high-level strategy meetings, and long nights on the road. It is here that our characters come to life and the J Street story unfolds. J Street: The Art of the Possible is at once a gripping story about the desperate need for a two-state solution, and a captivating glimpse at the role of Lobbyists in the American political process.

The Good Neighbour

The Good Neighbour highlights the operations of the Norwegian oil company  Statoil,  in the notorious Canadian oil sands industry. Statoil is primarily owned by the Norwegian people and  has in recent years become a major player in global oil production.

The controversial oil sands in Northern Canada  are the biggest energy project in the world.

It is well established that the oil sands are an environmental disaster – however is it also a human rights disaster? The land belongs to First Nation Peoples who are fighting against environmental damages. Norway is the richest country in the world and Statoil promotes itself as being at the forefront of a developing industry that prioritizes equality, social justice and the importance of environmental responsibility. Do they fulfil this commitment from the perspective of the First Nations people?

A young Norwegian woman Julie Strand Offerdal wants answers and embarks on an epic journey from Montreal to Fort McMurray in a truck that runs on used vegetable oil. She navigates through a system, which proves to lack monitoring mechanisms, governmental rules and regulations, and violates  First Nation´s human and land-based constitutional rights. The overbearing presence of the companies weaves into the fabric of the every day lives of the people in an irreversible way, altering for better or worse the way of life of the First Nation’s people forever.

ISIL: Rebranding An Old Story

ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) has undoubtedly become a real, illusive threat to the whole of the Middle East. In spite of what we see on the surface, so many questions have arisen that give pause for reflection about the many factors involved in sustaining this terror group. Who are funding them? Who benefits most from the disorder and chaos across the region? Who are the major players behind the scenes?

This comprehensive documentary answers all of these questions. It takes us to the formation of ISIL explaining the process through which they have been funded, armed, and equipped by countries including the US, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and more, and explores how western interference in the region has led to the chaos in which ISIL are able to thrive.

Diary of a School Under Siege

During the student demonstrations in Chile, a group of High-School students break in to one of the most emblematic schools of the capital city, the Darío Salas high school, and occupy it for six months.

The camera is locked in with them as this group of idealistic young protesters take on the authorities in a battle to draw attention to their governments brutally destructive new education policies.

Barricaded inside, the situation intensifies as their struggles to maintain unity and political influence vie with the problems faced by teenagers the world over, all the while under the constant threat of police raids.

Hunger strikes and tear gas attacks clash with attempts to organise lessons and cleaning rotas. Press conferences and raids punctuate days of political debate over their direction, while girls fall pregnant, the school falls into disrepair and arguments emerge over the future of their protest.

By the end of this transformative period, our inspiring protagonists have changed forever. Diary of a School Under Siege is a bittersweet coming-of-age story, set against and reflecting a global movement that echoes throughout every corner of the planet.

The Revolutionary

Sidney Rittenberg arrived in China as a GI Chinese language expert at the end of World War II. Discharged there, he joined the Chinese Communist Party, and was an active participant and eye-witness in the Chinese communist revolution and its aftermath, including the Cultural Revolution, the Great Leap Forward and The Hundred Flowers Campaign.

An intimate of the Party’s leadership, including Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, he gained prominence at the Broadcast Administration, one of the most important agencies of government. But in the convulsions of a giant country constantly reinventing itself, he twice ran afoul of the leadership, and served a total of 16 years in solitary confinement. He returned to the United States in 1980.

Rittenberg’s story would be just a footnote to history, except for his exceptional intellect, uncompromising honesty, and engaging personality. Over a five-year period, award-winning former-CBS journalist and China specialist, Irv Drasnin, interviewed Rittenberg to produce a compelling, complex and unique understanding of the 20th century’s biggest revolution. From Sid first meeting Mao in the caves of Yan’an, to his becoming famous and powerful during the Cultural Revolution, to his battling insanity in solitary, his journey and his profound insight illuminate a much greater history—a history few Chinese are aware of, let alone many Americans, told by an American who was there.

Red Reign

The Chinese Government’s brutal oppression of Falun Gong – a spiritual discipline based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance – is well documented. Falun Gong practitioners make up the largest group of prisoners of conscience in the world. Between 450,000 and one million are extra-judicially detained at any given time. All the while the Communist Party has initiated a nationwide crackdown on this “heretical organisation,”” even blocking websites that mention Falun Gong.

Red Reign exposes the until now concealed story of the systematic execution of those Falun Gong members held in custody to service a growing demand for harvested organs.

The scale of this trade and the manner in which it is executed amount to a modern day genocide. Desperate western clients are reluctant to ask how it is possible for organs to be “booked” in advance without an execution-to-order taking place, and as a non-smoking or drinking practice, the Falun Gong are uniquely vulnerable to this trade. Despite previous attempts by the media to uncover this story, a black-out has been instigated by the Chinese Communist Party interfering with public broadcasters and television festivals around the world.

Red Reign uncovers the systematic murder of the Falun Gong through Organ Harvesting as well as the work of courageous doctors, politicians & lawyers around the world who are bringing this monstrous injustice to the light of day.

You, Me and the SPP

Not heard of the Security Prosperity Partnership? You’re not alone. The people behind the SPP want to keep us all in the dark.

The SPP is the latest version of corporate plans to control the social, political and economic destiny of the world.

Following the shock of 9/11, right wing political and business leaders have pushed the Security Prosperity Partnership. Negotiated away from public scrutiny, they say it is a way to keep trade flowing between the USA, Canada and Mexico.

You, Me and the SPP shows the SPP is much more than a trade agreement.

The SPP undermines our democratic rights and the ability of our elected representatives to pass laws and regulations that safeguard the environment, protect workers rights and control the economy in the interests of ordinary citizens.

The SPP threatens the sovereignty  of all three countries through the integration of military and security structures, and regulatory regimes.

Democracy could become an empty shell..

How Ping Pong Saved the World

How Ping-Pong Saved the World recounts the events of April 1971 when a U.S. Table Tennis team became the first Americans allowed to enter communist China in decades. Their invitation paved the way for President Nixon’s landmark visit just eight months later.

For eights days, 15 unlikely American Ping-Pong playing diplomats discovered the little known world behind the Bamboo Curtain. These unlikely diplomats were about to reshape history and in the process make a breakthrough of historic proportions and in doing so, foster the beginning of the end of the cold war.

Ping-Pong soon became a metaphor for the on-going difficult relations between the United States and China – two ideological opposites on the brink of detente. ‘Ping-Pong Diplomacy’ marked the beginning of a new relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China; one that over the next 40 years would evolve into the world’s most important bilateral alliance.

Cape Spin: An American Power Struggle

Cape Spin! An American Power Struggle tells the surreal, fascinating, tragicomic story of the battle over America’s largest clean energy project.

Cape Wind would be the U.S.’s first offshore windfarm…But strange alliances formed for and against: Kennedys, Kochs, and everyday folks do battle with the developer and green groups over the future of American power.

As the democratic process rumbles on, contradictions and counter-claims emerge pitting environmentalists, wealthy NIMBYS and even Native Americans against one-another in a contest where nothing is as it seems.

With full access to both sides, a commitment to impartial storytelling and fueled by a satiric ‘revolutionary’ soundtrack, Cape Spin is a gripping and entertaining study of eco-capitalism and grassroots democracy.

Fish Out of Water

Fish out of Water tackles the seven Bible verses used to condemn homosexuality and justify marriage discrimination.

This documentary uses humour and original animation to make a traditionally complex and controversial topic accessible to those who don’t like talking about religion and sexuality. Fish out of Water dives into the underbelly of America, crisscrosses red and blue states and talks to ministers from every denomination to uncover America’s impassioned relationship with homosexuality and the Bible. With slapstick animation and quirky interviews taken everywhere from barbershops to mega churches, Fish out of Water delivers a voice to the oppressed and informs the misled. Most importantly, Fish out of Water sits down with hundreds of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folks to impart their experiences with faith and sexuality.

Infiltrados

Infiltrados takes an in-depth look at FARC, one of the world’s oldest and deadliest terrorist organisations, examining the Colombian National Police and the involvement of its intelligence division in the recent lethal strikes against the FARC.

Featuring first hand accounts from spies who infiltrated FARC, living for many years among them before relaying intelligence back to the Colombian military, these brave people undertook what were to be the most dangerous missions ever conceived of.

Those who were discovered were tortured and murdered as a warning to other under cover agents, and the threat of exposure lingered throughout their missions. Added to this is the threat of ambush from their own employers- the Colombian military- as well as the difficulty in returning with intelligence as deserters are executed. The chances of survival are slim.

For the first time the terrifying experiences of these people who left their lives in the cities of Colombia to live for years in the jungle as FARC members, are captured on film, and their stories recreated through animations to protect their identities.

Informant

Informant examines Brandon Darby, a radical activist turned FBI informant who has been both vilified and deified, but never entirely understood.

In 2005, Darby became an overnight activist hero when he traveled to Katrina-devastated New Orleans and braved toxic floodwaters to rescue a friend stranded in the Ninth Ward. Soon after, he became a founding member of Common Ground, a successful grassroots relief organization.

After two young activists were arrested at the 2008 Republican National Convention, Darby shocked close friends and activists nationwide by revealing he had been instrumental in the indictment as an FBI informant.

As the only film with access to Darby since his public confession, Informant meticulously constructs a portrait of his life – before and after the death threats – through interviews with Darby and tense reenactments starring the man himself.

Darby’s version of events are accompanied and often contradicted by commentary from acquaintances and expert commentators on various points along the political spectrum.

“The unreliable-narrator docu develops a new wrinkle or two with “Informant.” Jamie Meltzer’s engrossing portrait lets Brandon Darby tell his own story – of a self-proclaimed far-left, anti-government activist-turned-FBI snitch now feted at Tea Party gatherings –while fellow travelers cast doubt on that testimony every step of the way. An absorbing puzzle with the potential to intrigue viewers all along the political spectrum.”
– Dennis Harvey, Variety

“A kind of ‘Fog of War’ for the age of Occupy”
– Indiewire

“The force of Darby’s personality – a rich stew of righteousness, arrogance and self-delusion — gives the doc a psychological appeal independent of politics… it deserves a theatrical run.”
-John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter