Tag Archives: future

Burning From the Inside

German and Greek nationalists have paradoxically joined forces, and grown in numbers promoting a fascist agenda while on both sides, antifascists have risen to challenge them amidst a backdrop of global recession, finger-pointing and scapegoating. 

Burning from the Inside charts the rise of the Greek Nazis ‘Golden Dawn’ – the ‘monstrous’ child of the crisis – the changes they brought to Greek society after their entry to parliament, their collaboration with German Neo-Nazis in the formation of ‘Black International’, and their fall two years later with the murder of the anti-fascist Pavlos Fissas.

Through the trajectory of the party, we question the political and social structures of Greek leadership that fomented the rise of fascism and corruption, as well as the dis-function of Capitalism and Democracy in the country that gave birth to it. We also look at the role of Germany as the ‘queen of Europe’ and the extent to which she is responsible for developments in southern European countries.

While the rise of far right may seem unthinkable, dramatic scenes of racially motivated blood shed on the streets of Athens, police brutality linked to membership of far-right organisations and institutional racism in Greece tell a different story. Meanwhile, in Germany a more subtle, insidious message reaches the public with headlines blaming ‘lazy Greeks’ and other minorities within the country. Burning from the Inside is a visceral indictment of a deadly minority on the fringes of Europe that we ignore at our peril.

Princes of the Yen

Princes of the Yen reveals how post-war Japanese society was transformed to suit the agenda of powerful interest groups, and how citizens were kept entirely in the dark about this. History is now repeating itself around the world.

Based on a book by Professor Richard Werner, a visiting researcher at the Bank of Japan during the 90s crash, during which the stock market dropped by 80% and house prices by up to 84%. The film uncovers how the Bank of Japan pumped up and then crashed the Japanese economy, with an aim of inducing change. Today, what happened in Japan 25 years ago is repeating itself in Europe, with an aim of centralizing power in the Eurozone.

The film shows why it is important for central banks to be accountable and transparent. It also explains how International Financial Organizations such as the IMF seek to impose conditions on countries that are mainly of benefit to dominant Western interests. For anyone interested in understanding recent developments and the significance of the establishment of institutions such as the AIIB and the BRICS led New Development Bank, Princes of the Yen provides the background.

Princes of the Yen reveals with clarity the control levers that underpin the dominant ideology of the 21st Century. Piece by piece, reality is deconstructed to reveal the world as it is, not as those in power would like us to believe that it is.

“Because only power that is hidden is power that endures.”

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

An Invisible Threat

We cannot see the waves, we cannot hear them, we cannot touch them, but they are all around us, invading the air, irradiating our body and the environment.

An Invisible Threat looks at the relationship between microwave technology and health, investigating the conflicts of interest among industry representatives, politicians, scientists and consumers that leave us unprotected to the effects of radiation.

Wireless networks irradiate microwaves indiscriminately across cities, villages and the countryside of all developed countries. This increasing exposure disturbs the biological processes that are essential for the healthy growth of human beings, animals and plants – it especially affects children and teenagers.

The reasonable doubt that has arisen from independent scientific reports regarding the harmful effects of these technologies has led the Council of Europe to recommend its members countries apply the Precautionary Principle. In June 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a body of the World Health Organization (WHO), admitted for the first time that microwaves produced by mobile phones could be “possible carcinogens”.

Our investigation delves  into three groups: the telecommunications industry (mobile telephone companies, MMF); official organisations (WHO, IARC, ICNIRP) and official scientific reports (BioInitiative, Interphone, CEFALO).

In parallel, An Invisible Threat takes in the daily life of Minerva Palomar, a woman affected by the electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome and the obstacles she needs to overcome in order to lead a normal life.

An Invisible Threat has a clear international focus, dealing with a social issue of global importance. Microwave effects are currently being analysed and debated in almost all developed countries. The question is, are we prepared for the answers.

 

 

America’s Surveillance State

We live in the United States of Surveillance – with cameras positioned on every street corner and much more invisible spying online and on the phone. Anyone paying attention knows that privacy is dead. All of this is not happening by accident – well funded powerful agencies and companies are engaged in the business of keeping tabs on what we do, what we say, and what we think.

To many in the world today, the face of America also has a big nose for sniffing and sifting mountains of data – phone calls, emails and texts. And with many mouths silenced by paranoia to keep what they decide is secret, secret.  America has become a Surveillance-Industrial State where everyone’s business has become its business, and where one huge US intelligence Agency has been given the sanction and unlimited amounts of money to spy on the whole world.

Mass Surveillance is the focus of this new 6 part investigative documentary series examining who is watching whom and why.

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.

Who Rules America?

Who Rules America? takes a comprehensive look into the governing system of the United States of America and reveals the behind-the-scene powers that rule the nation. There are two Americas; one in which people have freedom in choosing their leaders within the framework of the constitution living in the land of the free, and another, wherein all is dedicated to the ruling 1%  and within which a  hidden network of power governs including the media, Wall Street , the Military and Corporations.

This new expose from Danny Schechter (In Debt We Trust, WMD: Weapons on Mass Deception) lifts the lid on the true decision makers behind the worlds self-proclaimed democratic  role model.


Zeitgeist: The Series

The Zeitgeist documentaries are an international sensation, with over 1,000 theatrical screenings in 60 countries and 30 languages, viewed by millions on the internet and even spawning a movement.  For the first time they are now available to broadcast audiences and other license opportunities, as individual films or as an eleven part series.

Zeitgeist: The Movie is a treatment on Mythology and Belief in society today, presenting uncommon perspectives of common cultural issues.

Part One presents historical data relating to the astronomical/astrological origins of the Judeo-Christian theology (which can be extended to Islam as well), along with the understanding that these respective stories, beliefs & traditions are really an adaptation-extension of prior Pagan beliefs.

Part Two presents a controversial view of the events of Sept. 11th 2001. It describes how the event has been transformed into a sacred, near religious act and to challenge the orthodox view, regardless of the quality of the contrary arguments, is considered blasphemy and rejected.

Part Three presents a shotgun tour through the subjects of Central Banking, War Pretexts, Banking Panics, the Military Industrial Complex, Media Culture and ultimately the mental neurosis and deadly addiction known as “Power.”

The central theme is how society is often misled when it comes to certain pivotal historical events, what those events serve in function, along with how the overall social conditioning patterns we see today function to create values and perspectives which support and perpetuate the static, established order/power structure, as opposed to fluid social change and productive evolution for the betterment of the society as a whole.

Zeitgeist: Addendum was born out of public interest in possible solutions to the cultural issues presented in Zeitgeist: The Movie.

Building upon the topics of social distortion and corruption, Addendum moves to also present possible solutions. Featured in the work is former “Economic Hit-man” and New York Times bestselling author, John Perkins, along with The Venus Project, an organization for social redesign created by Social Engineer and Industrial Designer Jacque Fresco.

Part One (four in the series) explains the process of Money Creation and Expansion through the Fractional Reserve System. It explains how Debt and Bankruptcy are not mere byproducts of our current system, but rather are underlying realities of our existence with periodic failures guaranteed.

Part Two (five in the series) exposes various levels of international corruption via the financial/corporate system, including the manipulation of public leaders to further the interests of corporate institutions.

Part Three (six in the series) changes gears and depicts a possible solution to the growing social problems in the world today by the introduction of a new social concept known as a “Resource-Based Economy”.

Part Four (seven in the series) gives a philosophical perspective in the hope to inspire change in the viewer and enable action to affect society for the better.

Zeitgeist: Moving Forward focuses on the very fabric of the social order: Monetary-Market Economics.

The majority of the world today have come to see basic flaws in the economic system we share. Large scale debt defaults, inflation, industrial pollution, resource depletion, rising cancer rates and other signposts have emerged to bring the concern into the realm of “public health”.

The tendency is to demand reform in one area or another, avoiding the possibility that perhaps the entire system is intrinsically flawed at the foundational level.

Part One (eight in the series) presents a treatment on “Human Nature”, with the argument that society is out of line with what Science has taught us about positive human development, enabling distortions of health and behavior that could be thwarted if the social system was changed.

Part Two (nine in the series) details the central inherent flaws of the Monetary-Market System of economic conduct and how this system is destroying ourselves and the planet in a very direct way.

Part Three (ten in the series) begins a thought exercise where the Earth and Natural Law is considered a starting point for human decision-making rather than politics, with the subject explored from all sides.

Part Four (eleven in the series) ends with a prediction of what is to come as the society becomes more destabilized due to our outdated traditional practices.

 

download PDF onesheet – ‘The Movie’>
download PDF onesheet – ‘Addendum’>
download PDF onesheet – ‘Moving Forward’>
download PDF onesheet – ‘The Series’>

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Awards:

WINNER: Award of Excellence; LA Movie Awards, USA. Best Visual Effects; LA Movie Awards, USA. Best Documentary; Image Gazer, USA. Honourable Mention; Indie Gathering, USA. USA. First Documentary, LA Arthouse, USA. Best Cinematography, LA Arthouse, USA. Best Documentary, LA Arthouse, USA. Best Political Documentary, Action on Film, USA.

Official Selections:

Marbella International Film Festival, SPAIN. Salt lake City, USA. White Sands International Film Festival, USA.

Carbon Nation

Carbon Nation is an optimistic, solutions-based, non-preachy, non-partisan, big tent film that shows tackling climate change boosts the economy, increases national & energy security and promotes health & a clean environment.

Public opinion is sliding the wrong way – far fewer people are concerned about climate change than even a year ago.

Carbon Nation was made to give an entertaining, informed and pragmatic primer about why it’s incredibly smart to be a part of the new, low-carbon economy. Even if you doubt the severity of the impact of climate change or just don’t buy it at all, this is a compelling and relevant film that illustrates how solutions to climate change also address other social, economic and national security issues.

We meet a host of entertaining and endearing characters along the way, including entrepreneurs, visionaries, scientists and the everyday man, all making a difference and working towards solving climate change. We already have the technology to combat most of the worst-case scenarios of climate change, and it makes business sense too.

Carbon Nation’s pioneering optimism and pragmatism are appealing across the political spectrum, and while other good films have been about problems, blame and guilt, Carbon Nation is a film that celebrates solutions, inspiration and action.

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.

China: The Rebirth of an Empire

China’s unprecedented growth has placed it on the verge of overtaking the United States as the world’s preeminent power. But what type of power will China become? In today’s interconnected and globalized world, the answer effects each and every one of us.

In Pakistan and Afghanistan, China’s humanitarian activities and investment in infrastructure have won it the hearts and minds of the people. Yet in Tibet and Xinjiang, China is reviled as an imperialistic abuser of human rights. Will China use its strength to dominate its neighbors and become a 21st century empire, or will China’s youth lead the country towards democracy?

Whether it’s a peaceful rise or potential threat, China’s 21st century emergence as a great world power will change the lives of everyone.

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.