Tag Archives: future

Tears of Gaza

Disturbing, powerful and emotionally devastating, Tears of Gaza is less a conventional documentary than a brutal record – presented with minimal gloss – of the bombing of Gaza by the Israeli military. Almost purely observational, this powerful film by director Vibeke Løkkeberg focuses on the impact of the attacks on the civilian population.

Photographed by several Palestinian cameramen both during and after the offensive, the film shuttles between the actual bombings and the horrific aftermath on the streets and in the hospitals. Løkkeberg contrasts these graphic scenes with footage of bachelor parties, weddings and visits to the beach – social activities that epitomize daily life in Gaza during more peaceful times.

Tears of Gaza makes no overriding speeches or analyses. The situation leading up to the incursion is never mentioned. Indeed, as one reviewer noted, this film ‘doesn’t take sides as much as obliterates politics’ and demands that we examine the costs of war on a civilian populace. The result is horrifying, gut-wrenching and unforgettable.

“Few antiwar films register with the disturbing immediacy and visceral terror of Tears of Gaza.”
John Andersen, Variety

“Perhaps the ultimate anti-war film. A compelling film about war.”
Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter

“NYT CRITICS PICK: A brutally uncompromising blast of outrage.. Using extraordinary footage (Tears of Gaza) spotlights the extreme deprivation of life under a blockade and the physical and psychological wounds of war.. a tapestry of human misery impossible to shake off”
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

“Tears of Gaza documents air-delivered incendiary weapons and unimaginable violence.. identification with these people is not difficult”
Chris Packham, The Village Voice

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.

Three Days of Freedom

After 15 years behind the prison walls, Piotr goes on his first leave.Three Days of Freedom follows him as for the first time he engages with an outside world that has changed dramatically, and left him behind.

Public transport, eating at restaurants, experiencing consumer culture and even speaking to women are all new and baffling experiences for him, but perhaps none are so intense as a visit to his sister who he had lost contact with.

Meditating on a the life he could have had, Piotr is forced into the realisation that he must soon once again return to his prison cell, and adjust his expectations once again of what kind of future he can realistically expect.

When China Met Africa

A historic gathering of over 50 African heads of state in Beijing reverberates in Zambia where the lives of three characters unfold. Mr Liu is one of thousands of Chinese entrepreneurs who have settled across the continent in search of new opportunities. He has just bought his fourth farm and business is booming.

In northern Zambia, Mr Li, a project manager for a multinational Chinese company is upgrading Zambia’s longest road. Pressure to complete the road on time intensifies when funds from the Zambian government start running out.

Meanwhile Zambia’s Trade Minister is on route to China to secure millions of dollars of investment.

Through the intimate portrayal of these characters, the expanding footprint of a rising global power is laid bare – pointing to a radically different future, not just for Africa, but also for the world.

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.

Parallel Worlds

As the world prays for a breakthrough at the latest round of Middle-East peace talks, a film that shows the conflict from the inside, and why the talks will fail.

Filmed during the 2009 Gaza War, three conflicted, Jewish-Israelis, navigate toward their differing visions of Israel’s future: and thereby the future of the conflict itself.

The Teacher: Erez, an ideological settler, founded two of the largest youth movements in Israel – he plans to train a generation of hyper-nationalist, pro-military leaders to shape Israeli society in the decades to come.

The Peace Activist: Mihal runs a Jewish/Arab peace group planning to bridge the ethnic divide when at it’s most pronounced – Israeli Independence Day. To Israel’s Jews a day of great celebration but to Palestinians known simply, as The Nakba: The Catastrophe. The group must hold together as the war rages on and find a way to accept each other’s frank confessions of mutual suspicion and a thirst for revenge.

The Photographer: At 23 years old, Mor finds herself straddling the fault lines of Israeli society. Recently atheist but raised religious orthodox and ultra-nationalistic, her love for Israel is all that’s left of her traditional upbringing, but as she begins to see what life can be like for Israel’s Arab population, her faith is tested once again.

Instead of the endlessly rehearsed contestable facts, this film focuses on the atmosphere in which they are created. From mortars raining down in Southern Israel to the collision of pro and anti-war marches in Tel Aviv, this is the story of five months in the life of the Arab/Israeli conflict as seen from the streets. And the lives of three unique individuals reacting to the history unfolding around: of lives lived in exceptional conditions, and the beliefs that crystallise under the intense pressure of life at the centre of our geo-political world.

Future By Design

Future By Design tells the fascinating story of Jacque Fresco, the self taught Scientist, Engineer, Artist, Sociologist and Futurologist. After meeting Einstein as a boy, and coming of age during the depression Fresco immersed himself in learning, from the conflicting ideologies of the time to science and technology. He designed aircraft during the war and afterwards travelled the world before finding himself living with a tribe in Tahiti. It was here that he began to question his values and the organisation of the world, a process that would set him on a path to becoming a prolific inventor, one of the world’s most influential thinkers and the inspiration behind the Zeitgeist Movement.

From the Oscar nominated Director William Gazecki, Future By Design is a visually and intellectually engaging exploration of one man’s vision of a future where war is outdated, there is no shortage of any resource and our focus as a species is harmony and sustainability.

After giving up on the ‘patchwork’ solving of technological and social problems, Jacque decided to start again by re-designing society from the ground up on humanist terms. Far from presenting a vision of Utopia, Jacque demonstrates that with the intelligent management of the world’s resources, a bold combination of high-technology and nature, and a paradigm shift in our attitude to commerce, there could be a viable, sustainable and equitable alternative.

Jacque Fresco’s ideas are not born wholly of optimism or creativity but of the very same scientific rigour that he advocates as the solution to the problems we face. Now in his 90’s, his ideas are more popular than ever, and between world lecture tours he can be found at work in The Venus Project – a research centre built around his vision of the future.

An outspoken and immediately likable character, his radical and sometimes irreverent ideas are sure to draw praise, wonder and controversy.

Jacque Fresco was featured in the Zeitgeist Addendum documentary, and is currently on a World Lecture Tour.

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.

Driverless

Over 40,000 people will die from car crashes in the U.S this year; the leading cause of death for young people.

The driverless car’s arrival promises to save many of these lives by eliminating human error, but how will the introduction of such a revolutionary technology shape our cities and influence our behaviour?

From the fascinating history of America’s embrace of the automobile to a present grassroots movement against them, Driverless is a documentary that seeks to look beyond the engineering marvel and ask, in what kind of world do we want to live and are we driving down a road that will get us there?

Rise of the Sex Robots

Advances in computer science and engineering have lifted animatronic lovers from the realms of science fiction to reality with the first models due to go on sale by the end of the year.

We meet the men who are making the sex robots, the customers who want to buy them – and the critics who say they are dangerous.

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Contact us to request full treatment, budget, schedule, budget, finance plan or any other matters relating to potential partnerships.

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Director: Tom Silverstone
Writer / Presenter: Jenny Kleeman
Executive Producer: Charlie Philips
Executive Producer: Kazz Basma
Distributor: Sideways Film
Country of Production: UK
Language: English
We are looking for: Co-Pro and Pre Sales
Stage of Project: Early Development
Delivery Date: TBA

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Key Biographies

Director – Tom Silverstone

Tom Silverstone is a London and New York based filmmaker currently working for the Guardian, making short films across current affairs, tech and culture. You can see his portfolio at www.tomsilverstone.com

Writer / Presenter – Jenny Kleeman

Jenny Kleeman is an award-winning journalist who travels the world telling thought-provoking stories you won’t have heard from anyone else.

On TV, she’s reported for BBC One’s Panorama and The One Show and Channel 4’s Dispatches, as well as making 13 films from across the globe for Unreported World, Channel 4’s critically acclaimed foreign affairs documentary strand. She’s a regular commentator on Sky News’s nightly Press Preview.

Executive Producer – Charlie Philips

Charlie Phillips is the Head of Documentaries at The Guardian, commissioning and acquiring new short documentaries from all around the world. He was previously Deputy Director at Sheffield Doc/Fest and Editor of FourDocs for Channel 4.

Executive Producer – Kazz Basma

Kazz Basma set up Sideways Film in 2010 to distribute social justice and dramatic narrative documentaries. He has licensed films to broadcasters, all rights buyers, the education market and online on every continent and have been screened at prestigious festivals worldwide including Sundance, Tribeca, IDFA, Hot Docs and Sheffield Doc Fest. He attends at least twelve documentary festivals each year where he is regularly invited to speak on panels and at round-tables, serves as a guest lecturer at the London College of Communication and is an invited expert at EAVE (the European Audio Visual Entrepreneurs network).