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The main character of this film, Suzana Lipovac, used to be one of the most successful managers in Germany until she decided to dedicate her life to humanitarian activities. After twelve years of work in Bosnia, she set off to Afghanistan in 2003, the country decimated by the war. In Kabul and its immediate surroundings she succeeded in setting up several first-aid centers. With the financial support of the German government and private donors, she set her sights on establishing a clinic in the remote region of Dashtag, which peacekeeping soldiers and humanitarian aid workers are rarely able to reach. This territory, inhabited by people from the Pashtun tribe, is considered to be extremely dangerous. Furthermore, the Pashtun themselves are evidently distrustful of Lipovac's obviously valuable project. This documentary film by Jochen Frank has received acclaim at the film festival in Hof, Germany, and is a natural and authentic recording of the complicated work of humanitarian workers in the crisis areas of the world. At the same time it is very personal portrait of the woman, who gave up her successful career as a manager to help the citizens of the country, which the outside world seemingly cares less and less about since the end of the war.
"We are not just good at destroying the old world, but also at building the new one," announced Mao Tse-tung many years ago, and even he could not have foreseen the extent to which China is fulfilling his words at the beginning of the 21st century. Most notably Peking, in connection with the organizing of the 2008 Olympic Games, has become one giant construction site. This symbol of the "New China" is built by hand by approximately one million laborers traveling for work mainly from the poorer villages in the countryside. A number of them have not yet received their wages after several months, while their families wait desperately for the money. All of this is part of the transformation of Peking into a modern metropolis with a Western character. Young Chinese writer and documentary filmmaker Xiaol Guo has succeeded in creating a visually rich and imaginative film essay on the character of contemporary China, whose polished appearance has been created at the expense of the suffering of ordinary people. The film is interlaced with playfully generalized passages of the turning points in Chinese history, ironic and bitterly humorous commentary of the other side of the "Chinese miracle," and also the high-quality mixed soundtrack by Matt Scott.
When the first Belgians arrived in Congo in 1880, they began to write one of the darkest chapters in the history of this African country. During the next several decades, as a result of unbelievably brutal colonization led by Belgian King Leopold II, over ten million innocent civilians were killed. Foreshadowing the Nazi concentration camps, a number of work camps were established where the prisoners had only one task: to extract from the surrounding trees as much rubber as possible, the sale of which would finance the magnificent palaces in Brussels and was behind the economic blossoming of Belgium. Leopold's paid mercenaries committed unprecedented crimes against the native population of Congo. Director Peter Bates, in his brilliantly directed reconstruction of the colonization of Congo, uses unique archival material as well as stylized scenes from a fictitious court in which the actors put into the mouths of various diplomats and missionaries testimonies from that time period about the extent of the genocide in Congo.
Each year in the streets of the American city of New Orleans, on "Fat Tuesday", the last day before Lent, an enormous moving carnival takes place here. Necklaces made of beads play a large role in the festivities. Thousands of them fly throughout the air to those who are brave or brash enough to reveal their naked bodies before the screaming crowds. Those who are present are oblivious to where these beads come from. All except for documentary filmmaker David Redmont, who in this brilliantly filmed and very successful debut sets off to the Chinese factory in the special economic zone of Fujian, where the beads are made. Over four hundred young women work here six days a week from morning until night threading beads or decorating miniature carnival masks. During the grueling work, under the threat of a fine, they are not allowed to even whisper. The average earnings for a twelve-hour work shift is less than two dollars. Director David Redmont succeeds in connecting the world of the American consumers and the Chinese workers in a very personal way, and the beads in his ingeniously constructed picture become a metaphor pointing to the structure of globalization, which creates social inequality. It is also worth paying attention to the superbly mixed music of David Dogherty, whose cold humor and ironic view of the film is underscored by the industrial rhythms formed by the real sounds of the factory.
The earthquake followed by devastating tsunami killed more than 300 thousand people in the Eastern Asia. Second most afflicted country was Sri Lanka. Before that this country was well-known as a paradise island, marvelous sea resort, exporter of cinnamon and excellent tea. It took only a few minutes to change one of the most beautiful seasides into apocalyptic picture of catastrophe and misfortune. Humanitarian aid from all over the world started to stream to Sri Lanka. Also People in Peril Association, Slovak humanitarian organization, did not stand aside. Slovak money has been helping the poorest as well as the most afflicted ones – fishermen. As usual, People in Peril has it done its own way. Actually, that is the story this documentary tells about.
General sponsor: Slovnaft, joint-stock company, TV JOJ
Experienced documentary filmmaker Thomas Balmés, author of the highly regarded film The Gospel According to the Papuans, decided to examine in the style of direct cinema how socially responsible the firm NOKIA truly is towards its employees. The directors of this world leader in the manufacture of mobile phones are proud not only of the success of the company, but also of their responsible behavior towards their employees. This is supposed to apply to their Chinese subcontractors as well and they hope to include this in their marketing in order to improve further on their own image. For this purpose they employed a specialist in the maintenance of basic employee rights, Hanna Kaskinen, who together with her British colleague set off for China to perform a thorough inspection of the workings of the factory there with special regard given to the employees' working conditions. It slowly comes to the surface that ninety percent of the workers are comprised of women living across from the factory in ramshackle living quarters, with eight women sharing one small room and working six days a week. They have a right to the minimum wage only after thirty-six hours of overtime. According to one of the workers, they spend the majority of their money on food as the meals in the local canteen are very poor. The reality in the factory of the Chinese subcontractor as captured by the film crew shows itself to be rather different from what the directors of the firm NOKIA would have wished.
Shot on the frontlines of struggles spanning five continents – The Fourth World War is the untold human story of men and women who resist being annihilated in the current global conflict.While our airwaves are crowded with talk of a new world war, narrated by generals and filmed from the noses of bombs, the human face of war is rarely seen. The Fourth World War weaves together the images and voices of the war on the ground – from the front lines of struggles in Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Palestine, Korea, „the North“ from Seattle to Genova, and the „War on Terror“ in New York and Iraq.
In 2004, amongst the scenic beauty of the Chilean Andes, the construction of the third-largest dam in the world was completed. It was built by the multinational company Endesa, which is one of the largest private firms operating in Latin America. "The construction of this dam was a test for our government regarding democracy and the ability to take care of the rights of its people," says a renowned Chilean lawyer in the film. In this test the Chilean government definitely failed. The vast territory surrounding the electrical power plant, which had been inhabited for as long as anyone can remember by the Pehuenche-Mapuche Indians, was flooded by the Endesa firm without the slightest hesitation. The people, who in the past had successfully defended their land against the Incas and later the Spanish conquerors, finally had it taken by the firm, which is the fourth largest producer of harmful emissions in Europe, and which through their influence with the Chilean media was able to manipulate public opinion. The documentary film captures in detail the controversial methods of the leadership of the Endesa firm during the construction of the dam as well as providing background showing striking footage of the landscape alongside the hopeless efforts of the original inhabitants of the land to search for justice.
esteban@andoliadoproducciones.org
