Tag Archives: Democracy

Groundswell Rising

Groundswell Rising shows how Fracking – an untested energy extraction process – has contaminated drinking water and jeopardized health. We meet scientists, doctors and farmers across the political spectrum engaged in a David and Goliath struggle against Big Oil and Gas, decrying a process that puts profits over people.

Homeowners near wells suffer from respiratory ailments and property devaluation. A former industry employee shows skin lesions and edema, a result of working on drilling rigs, while others witness mistakes (5% of all wells leak) and explosions, against a back drop of rising ill health, as more and more suffer, from nose bleeds to asthma.

But there is cause for hope.

Local mothers groups unite to win some protections, while lease holders outraged by the corporations strong-arm tactics win local bans. Common Cause uncovers corruption as corporations buy influence to evade environmental protection laws, and the movement begins to gather momentum as actor Mark Ruffalo and singer Natalie Merchant support—and sometimes lead—their efforts.

Grassroots efforts have achieved bans, moratoriums, and referendums on Fracking, giving hope to others worldwide faced with the same nightmare. Transcending the genre of environmental film, Groundswell Rising’s passionate stories inspire and empower.

“Groundswell is ultimately a rousing, convincing rallying cry that the little guys, working in numbers, can triumph” LA Weekly

“But however you stand on the issue, you’re likely to be moved by the film’s portraits of grassroots activists managing to make their voices heard despite the opposition of major corporations and the big money at their disposal.” The Hollywood Reporter

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 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.

A Whisper to a Roar

Whisper to a Roar presents the inspiring and dangerous work of democracy activists in five countries around the world – Egypt, Malaysia, Ukraine, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

The film’s subjects span the full spectrum of democratic activists: student leaders (Venezuela); young professionals (Egypt); currently active opposition politicians (Malaysia and Zimbabwe) and a former president (Ukraine). These heroes tell their compelling personal stories of struggle with the oppressive regimes ruling their countries, now or in the past.

The activists come from a variety of cultures and live on different continents, yet they all take enormous risks to pursue political freedom for their people and aspire for accountable government. In each country, the regimes and rulers that oppress their people use remarkably similar techniques and the activists’ most successful techniques are also remarkably alike, regardless of their circumstances.

The presence in the film of accomplished democrats, both the famous and the unsung, from diverse cultures and religions, will inspire and instruct viewers around the world of widely varying ages, nationalities, and political persuasions.

“This deft digest from the director Ben Moses is by turns shocking and inspiring…”
New York Times

“In the case of the new documentary A Whisper to a Roar, democracy and the fight for freedom are not only moving, but also deeply personal, thought-provoking and inspiring.”
The Huffington Post

“An expertly drawn primer on the soft dictatorships that constrained five different countries and the peaceful revolutions that sought to expunge them”
The Village Voice

“The film is not only a riveting documentary, but also offers inspiration to people everywhere who seek to make governments accountable to the citizens they serve”
Hillary Clinton

Along Gaddafi’s Road

For the first time in 42 years, a camera enters Southern Libya in what was forbidden territory under the Gaddafi regime.

Shortly after Gaddafi’s demise, we accompany members of the disgraced Tabu tribe along the road to their impoverished desert territory near the Algeria-Niger-Chad borders 1000 Km from Tripoli.

Electricity has been on again for barely two months, mobile phones haven’t worked for seven. Fuel is scarce and queues are endlessly long. Two widespread weapons are in use: sat phones and Kalashnikovs.

Closely guarded by rebel escorts for security reasons, we follow the illegal immigrants route all the way to the Niger border. We discover how Gaddafi challenged Europe at the beginning of the revolution by sending and financing flows of migrants. Rebels, smugglers and victims of the old regime tell their stories.

The desert’s well-preserved secrets now finally come to light.

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..

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.

Egypt: Behind the Revolution

Filmed primarily in Egypt in March of 2011, soon after the January revolution, this film introduces you to the Egyptians who lived under Mubarak and helped to bring him down.

Including interviews with revolutionaries from all walks of life fighting for a new start in Egypt, we get an inside glimpse at the sequence of events that led to what some are calling the first Facebook revolution.  Ordinary people give their reasons for taking to the streets of Egypt to call for freedom and reforms, and what led them to demand Mubarak’s resignation.

This broad-ranging film gives the events of January 2010 both the context necessary to fully understand how a powerful regime could fall so suddenly, as well as on-the-ground testimonials that fill in important details that went unreported at the time.

From the brewing discontent that preceded the revolution, to the 18 days of often brutally suppressed protests when success seemed far from inevitable, this film puts us in the centre of the action. Finally, Egypt: The Story Behind the Revolution captures the peoples joy and relief when Mubarak steps down after thirty years in power.

The Ministry of Truth

Are you sick of dishonest politics? The cure is here (and surprisingly entertaining..)

It’s a simple enough question, but when filmmaker Richard Symons asks MPs, “Should it be unlawful for parliamentarians to lie?” he has them all spluttering into their mandates. Proposing his very own Misrepresentation of the Peoples Bill, Symons listens to Jack Straw, Harriet Harman and Lord Falconer tell him why it’s unrealistic for politicians to be held accountable for what they tell the electorate. Lord Falconer even suggests Symons wouldn’t himself expect to be prosecuted for a few lies. “But I don’t run the country,” Symons retorts. The parlous state of the cradle of democracy may come as a surprise to the film’s potential global audience, but sadly not to its domestic one.

This is a keenly serious film, disguised by its light-hearted tone, which led to the passing of the Misrepresentation of the People’s Act bill in Parliament.

Generation OS13: The New Culture of Resistance

Generation OS13 is an explosive insight into the attack on civil liberties occurring in western democracies and how artists, musicians, journalists and authors encourage the peoples right to resist against Banker occupation.

Examining economic dictatorships, puppet regimes, tax havens, tax dodgers, and the debt based money system the film explains why ‘you can not count on the law makers to see shit when it first happens’. For a new era, generation OS13, the repression will not be tolerated; do ‘the government really think they can win that war if the young people are like fuck this, you cant beat that you, can’t beat us, its Impossible’ – Saul Williams.

Featuring Painter, poet & song writer Billy Childish, Harry Malt from Bare Bones, Luke Turner from The Quietus, journalist Huw Nesbitt, broadcaster Max Kaiser, author Nicholas Shaxson & Artists Anika, Comanechi, Gaggle’s & Saul Williams.

“Those bailouts were absolutely required to save your civilisation, now if you talk about bail outs for everyone else you have to say to say to those people suck it in and cope buddy, suck it in and cope”

– No thanks

The Grand Experiment

There is a grand experiment underway, the birth of a new financial market, one that promises to solve society’s most complex, intractable problems. An unorthodox marriage between capitalism and charity, The Grand Experiment tracks a social innovation that has won the backing of both conservative and liberal governments, support from renowned philanthropists like the Rockefeller Foundation, and buy-in from Wall Street’s biggest investment bank, Goldman Sachs.

Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) are an investment product designed to raise private capital for social programs. Governments pay investors a return only if the programs decrease public expenditures by improving social outcomes, for example lowering the number of unemployed or prisoners. The profit paid by government to the investor is commensurate with the success of the social program.

From the halls of power to society’s struggling underclass, The Grand Experiment follows an unusual cast of characters forging previously unthinkable alliances: social workers and Wall Street bankers, the homeless and venture capitalists, conservative and liberal politicians. Over three years – in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom – this feature film tracks their efforts to use profit motivation to solve everything from crime to addiction to homelessness.

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Sir Ronald Cohen is the creator of social impact bonds, and leader of the international SIB revolution. As chair of the newly formed G8 Taskforce on Impact Investment, he’s been charged with igniting impact investing around the globe. Credited with creating the global venture capital market, Sir Cohen believes impact investing will be a democratizing force giving equal opportunity to all.  By enticing investors with the lure of a double bottom line, he aims to bridge the gap between rich and poor.

At Melody Elementary School on Chicago’s west side, we’ll follow Kindergarten children through a school year in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. These students and their parents are part of a program designed to reduce the city’s special education costs. Goldman Sachs and local venture capitalists have invested $17 million in the Chicago bond.  If the children test well, they’ll make a profit, which they hope will galvanize a global impact investment market.

For head teacher Michelle Stewin, the money is a chance to keep their program alive. Poverty, unemployment, and homelessness, have stacked the cards against her students.  Will the teachers and children at Melody get the test scores they need to keep the money flowing?

In Canada, the Ontario government is looking to launch its first social impact bond. We have negotiated exclusive access to film the final selection process, as four short-listed non-profits work with finance consultants to hone their business case and pitch to investors. The finalists are attacking a wide range of confounding social problems: generational unemployment, habitual young offenders, and chronic homelessness.

In the UK, Sir Cohen’s creation is facing growing opposition.  Some labour unions and non-profits are accusing the British Cabinet Office of pursuing a privatization agenda, and opening up government coffers to society’s wealthiest individuals. In the United States, academics have questioned the metrics used to pay Goldman Sachs a maximum return on the country’s first successful SIB.

Despite the concerns surrounding SIBs, they are the fastest growing social innovation in modern history. Currently there are 53 in more than a dozen countries, including: the UK, U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Israel, Japan, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, India and Malaysia.

In Chicago and Ontario, and through the international efforts of Sir Cohen, The Grand Experiment will document one of the most important shifts of the 21st Century. At the heart of this film is one central question: is capitalism the answer to our social problems?

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Contact us to request full treatment, more screening material, information on broadcast partners, budget, finance plan or any other matters relating to potential partnerships.

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Director: Nadine Pequeneza
Producer: Nadine Pequeneza
Distributor: Sideways Film
Country of Production: Canada
Language: English
We are looking for: Co-Pro and Pre Sales
Stage of Project: Development
Delivery Date: Dec 2017

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Key Biographies

Director – Nadine Pequeneza

Nadine Pequeneza is an award-winning Producer, Director and Writer best known for her observational films offering unique access to character-driven stories about social justice. With over 15 years international experience, she has received multiple awards including; a Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing in a Documentary Program, the American Bar Association Silver Gavel, a Gold Hugo from the Chicago International Film Festival, a Golden Sheaf from the Yorkton Film Festival, and a Gold Panda from the Sichuan TV Festival. Nadine is a 7-time Canadian Screen Award nominee in both directing and writing categories. Her work has broadcast in more than 50 countries.

As the founder of HitPlay Productions, Nadine has produced and directed the company’s feature documentaries, including: Up In Arms, Inside Disaster, and Raising Cassidy. Her most recent documentary feature, 15 to Life: Kenneth’s Story, premiered in August 2014 on the award-winning PBS series POV. She is currently in production on a film about the legalization of physician assisted dying in Canada for CBC.

Editor – Ricardo Acosta

Ricardo immigrated to Canada from his native Cuba in 1993. He is a Sundance alumni and has edited award-winning documentaries for the past 20 years, including: Sembene! premiered at Sundance and screened at Cannes in 2015.
Marmato won Best Editor in a Documentary from the Canadian Cinema Editor Awards. Herman’s House premiered at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and won an Emmy for best Political Arts documentary.

The Take directed by Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis, official selection at the Venice Film Festival and winner of the Canada Screen Award for Best Picture Editing.

Cinematographer – Stan Barua

Stan Barua’s work has attracted accolades and awards on five continents. Born in Poland where he earned his MA in Cinematography from the National Film School in Lodz, he also lived and worked in Kenya before moving to Canada in 1998.
Baba’s House Best Cinematography Award, Yorkton Short Film Festival; Eastman Kodak Cinematography Award, Houston International Film Festival; Best Canadian Short Drama Award, Atlantic Film Festival.

Rain Best Atlantic Canada Short Film Award, Atlantic Film Festival. Forgotten Places Best Cinematography Award, Warsaw Terra Film Festival.

Pot Farm

The war on drugs is over. The world is rehashing it’s pot laws. Medical marijuana trials are set to begin in Australia. A controversial new industry is emerging…

Meet Max and James. They’ve decided to become farmers.

Max is a computer genius and James is a hustler, they’re clever city-slickers, but they’re ready for a tree change. They’ve never farmed before, they’ve got masses to learn, and they’re borrowing a whole lot of coin to get this venture started.

They’ve bought a banana plantation in Byron Bay, and they’re gonna turn it into a Pot Farm.

A couple of years ago Max had leukaemia, and during chemotherapy smoked pot to help with his nausea and lack of appetite. He was the only one not throwing up in his ward. He knows it works, so now he and James have bought a banana farm, and are going to grow pot. Legally.

Byron Bay has one of the biggest concentrations of illegal cannabis in Australia. So on the up side there will be a very skilled (and eccentric) advisors available. On top of this, they’ll employ WOOFers (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) from all over the world.

But they’ll also have some pretty unhappy locals if their low-THC marijuana cross-pollinates and ruins the abundant illegal varieties.

They have in hand a coveted license to grow cannabis at less than 1% THC (the stuff that gets you high), with which they are hoping to produce medical oil. It’s well-documented that hemp oil is a wonderful product for patients, as it has such a low THC content, it’s very safe, especially for parents not wanting to get their kids high!

But the laws and bureaucracy are so complex with their new paranoid-level regulations that they are pushing the proverbial uphill for miles, especially when the government decides that hemp oil will not legally be used for medicinal purposes. It looks like all is lost, until they meet Mukti the white witch, who makes vaginal lubricant. With their magic ingredient they can help ladies orgasm. Another noble venture.

This has the potential to turn Max’s wife Kirby around. She’s not so keen on her hubby’s plans to farm marijuana in a mozzie-infested backwater with their baby Archimedes in tow. And Kirby and James aren’t so keen on each other either. But she does like the sound of the lube. And so do thousands of Italian women, it seems, through their new Italian investor.

If their incredibly ambitious plans fall in a heap, they will have borrowed to the hilt and sunk two million dollars into their venture for nothing.