Tag Archives: arms

Tupamaro: Urban Guerrillas

The award-winning film chronicles the life of Alberto “Chino” Carias, the infamous leader of a vigilante “colectivo” from the slums of Caracas, Venezuela.

Once accused of robbing banks and killing cops, Chino sheds his outlaw reputation and takes a post in Hugo Chavez’s government. But after Chavez dies, the country’s struggling economy collapses.

In the absence of true law and order, Chino clings to his contradictory roles as saint and executioner.

Produced by Peter Marshall Smith and Matt Weinglass

Port of Destiny: Peace

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won international praise and the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for ending a five-decade civil war that left some 260,000 people dead and 8 million displaced. His persistence transformed a country that was once the murder capital of the world into a global destination for investment and tourism.

Port of Destiny recounts the drama of Colombia’s path to peace. As Defense Minister, Santos waged war on the terrorist guerrilla movement FARC, hunting down its leaders and orchestrating high-wire hostage rescues. As President, he brokered peace—but paid a steep political price.

Featuring interviews with former United States President Bill Clinton and former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair, the film draws on unprecedented access to Santos, his family, and Colombian officials to tell the story of a man who risked his career and his legacy to bring peace to his people.

The Coming War on China

The Coming War on China, from award winning journalist John Pilger, reveals what the news doesn’t – that the world’s greatest military power, the United States, and the world’s second economic power, China, both nuclear-armed, may well be on the road to war. 

Nuclear war is not only imaginable, but planned. The greatest build-up of NATO military forces since the Second World War is under way on the western borders of Russia. On the other side of the world, the rise of China is viewed in Washington as a threat to American dominance. 

To counter this, President Obama announced a ‘pivot to Asia’, which meant that almost two-thirds of all US naval forces would be transferred to Asia and the Pacific, their weapons aimed at China. A policy which has been taken up by his successor Donald Trump, who during his election campaign said “We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country and that’s what they’re doing”.

Filmed on five possible front-lines across Asia and the Pacific over two years, the story is told in chapters that connect a secret and ‘forgotten’ past to the rapacious actions of great power today and to a resistance, of which little is known in the West.

91%: A Film About Guns in America

America’s 325 million residents own an estimated 347 million firearms. Not surprisingly, gun violence has become one of the most urgent public health issues facing Americans today.

In 91%, a cross-section of U.S. gun violence victims tell their heartbreaking stories of loss, pain, and a heroic search for hope in a nation stalled in a senseless gun control debate. Throughout these otherwise unrelated shootings, we find a common thread – the gunmen had all-too- easy access to the virtually untraceable, high-powered weaponry used in their attacks.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, a 2013 poll revealed that 91% of Americans support comprehensive background checks – a factor that could prevent thousands of similar gun violence tragedies nationwide. Yet, divisive political rhetoric and congressional gridlock continues to perpetuate a flawed system that hurts communities across the country.

Moving beyond the confusing gun control politics and avoiding any discussion about the often-unpredictable motivations of rampage killers, 91% shows that Americans almost unanimously support both 2nd amendment rights and common sense regulation. The film finds a shared language between citizens on both sides of the issue, encouraging them to move common sense policy forward by speaking up in a conversation typically dominated by firearm lobbyists and manufacturers.

By highlighting the impact of unregulated gun sales on schools, families, and communities across the country, 91% addresses the real problems and possible solutions to gun violence in America. It’s something we all agree about, we just don’t know it yet.