Foreign Policy In Focus | Film Guide Series

AIDS

In December of 2000, UNAIDS estimated there were currently 36.1 million people living with AIDS. That number is growing. This pandemic is sweeping the third world at an alarming rate, leaving widows, orphans, and wrecked societies in its wake. Developed countries must come to their aid with fair drug treatment practices and funding for programs. AIDS must be combated both through prevention and treatment, to ensure that it does not spread further, and to ensure the survival of future generations.

Nkosi: A Voice of Africa's AIDS Orphans
2001/27 mins/Globalvision, Inc.
The touching story of an AIDS orphan who took it as his mission to let the world know about the plight of AIDS orphans all over Africa. With such a severe pandemic, Africa needs as much help as possible. This video shows how widespread the problem of AIDS orphans is, as well as what is being done to help.
http://www.globalvision.org/globalvision/

The Cost of Living
2000/25 mins/Television Trust for the Environment
AIDS is ravaging whole continents, yet those countries most in need cannot afford the anti-retroviral drugs that are routinely prescribed in the West. Why? Because they must import expensive drugs from manufacturers; they are not yet allowed to produce their own, generic brands for those in need. This production shows why South Africa and Thailand have applied for licenses to make such drugs, and why it is imperative that they receive them.
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/

Military

Topping $300 billion a year, the U.S. defense budget remains at 90% of the cold war average and dwarfs any other country's military spending. It is twice as large as the combined military budgets of the top ten nations defined as possible threats to U.S. security. The videos in this section examine the implications of this colossal military budget, including: the continued funding of cold war relics such as Star Wars, NATO, and the School of the Americas; the failures of the U.S. war on drugs; the continuing nuclear threat; Washington's refusal to sign international treaties to ban landmines and child soldiers; and U.S. domination of the international arms market.

Child Soldiers

U.S. Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
June 2000/10 mins/America's Defense Monitor
This video looks at both the worldwide use of children as armed combatants and the international treaty that bans the use of these child soldiers. Only the United States and Somalia are not full signatories to the treaty.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/

Landmines

In the Shadow of Landmines
1999/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
An American Vietnam veteran returns to Southeast Asia to examine the plight of fellow landmine victims and to assess the measures being taken to prevent future casualties.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1320

Military Aid and Training

Crossing the Line
1999/16 mins/Richter Productions/Maryknoll World Productions
Crossing the Line documents the annual protests at Fort Benning, Georgia, against the School of the Americas. It also brings up broader issues about the ethics of military aid, U.S. responsibility for human rights violations in Latin America, and the influence of the military-industrial complex.
http://www.soaw.org/Video/nov98.html

School of Assassins
1994/18 mins/Maryknoll World Productions
For half a century, the U.S. Army's School of the Americas (SOA), located since the 1980s at Fort Benning, Georgia, has trained Latin American military officers. Its graduates include dictators, coup orchestrators, and human rights abusers from Haiti, Argentina, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Peru, and Nicaragua. This 1995 Academy Award Nominee is narrated by Susan Sarandon and chronicles the growing opposition within the U.S. to using taxpayer funds for this "School of Assassins." (English and Spanish versions available)
http://www.maryknoll.org/MALL/VIDEO/vpeacejusticej.htm

School of the Americas: An Insider Speaks Out
1998/16mins/Maryknoll World Productions
Joseph Blair is a retired U.S. army major, a Latin American military specialist, and a former instructor at the School of the Americas (SOA). In this video, Blair condemns the atrocities committed by some SOA graduates and notes that violations of human rights have continued despite the introduction of new courses in the SOA's curriculum. He explains that a 4-hour "human rights" course he attended dealt with little more than the rights of prisoners under the Geneva Convention, and the course entitled "Democratic Sustainment" was attended by fewer than 30 students. Blair argues that the SOA cannot be adequately reformed and therefore should be shut down.
http://www.maryknoll.org/MALL/VIDEO/vpeacejusticej.htm

NATO Expansion

The Cost of NATO Expansion
1997/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
This video probes the reasons for NATO's expansion into Central and Eastern Europe. It notes that some of NATO's most outspoken proponents are large U.S. weapons manufacturers with considerable vested interest in promoting the alliance's expansion. The video questions whether NATO's F-16 fighter planes are the most effective way to stop human rights abuses or promote democracy. It explains that the U.S. is financing much of this expansion and will continue to do so, unless Washington convinces its Western European allies to help with "burden sharing."
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1108

Nuclear Dangers

Back from the Brink
2000/14 mins/America's Defense Monitor
This short but effective video examines whether the United States should take the initiative in de-alerting its nuclear arsenal, maintaining that if it does so other countries will follow suit.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1353

Living Under the Cloud: Chernobyl Today
1993/59 mins/Metcalf Productions/Bullfrog Films
Filmed in 1993, seven years after the reactor accident at Chernobyl, this film powerfully shows the devastation caused not only by the nuclear spillage but also by Russia's politically motivated cover-up. Living Under the Cloud includes haunting footage of young soldiers sent in on suicide missions and features interviews with the local villagers, whose children were growing increasingly sick from the radiation. The video questions whether there is such a thing as a "safe atom" and whether the many Chernobyl-type reactors in operation throughout Eastern Europe and Russia are simply accidents waiting to happen. (Includes sections in Russian, with English subtitles)
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/chern2.html

Nuclear War Between India and Pakistan?
1998/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
Why have both India and Pakistan built and tested nuclear bombs? Is nuclear war in South Asia a serious possibility? This video looks at the causes for hostility between these two long-time adversaries, the reasons why they sought to join the nuclear power club, and what actions could be taken to prevent a war between them.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1214

Russia's Nuclear Crisis
1999/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
Why should the U.S. take an interest in Russia, now that it no longer presents the threat it did during the cold war? One reason, this video argues, is the precarious condition of the old Soviet nuclear stockpiles. However, despite some U.S. aid to help dismantle and safely store Russia's nuclear arsenal, relations between the U.S. and Russia have dangerously worsened. Russia's economic collapse and military deterioration have increased the possibility of a loss of control over nuclear weapons, while NATO expansion has provoked suspicion and distrust within Russia.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1228

Star Wars: New Hope or Phantom Menace?
2000/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
In the early 1980s, the Reagan administration set out to create a Strategic Defense Initiative, known as "Star Wars," to protect the United States from a ballistic missile attack. Over the next two decades, technical difficulties, international arms control agreements, and the end of the cold war rendered the scheme obsolete. Yet both the Democrats and Republicans continued to support building a missile defense system, and by 2000, some $60 billion had already been spent on research and development. This video examines the military objectives and political implications of continued construction of a "Star Wars" defense system, the project's ultimate cost, and the role played by the four major aeronautical and weapons manufacturers in lobbying for this project.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1330

U.S. Military & Covert Operations Overseas

The Battle of Chile (Parts I&II)
1975-76/205 mins/Patricio Guzmán/First Run/Icarus Films
The Battle of Chile is an epic chronicle of the bloody 1973 military coup in Chile in which General Augusto Pinochet ousted Sálvador Allende's democratically elected Popular Unity government. The film explores Allende's socialist vision and social experiment, which was enthusiastically supported by a majority of Chileans. During Pinochet's 17-year dictatorship, The Battle of Chile was banned in Chile but was shown around the world and received many awards. Time Out Film Guide calls it, "Not only the best film about Allende and the coup d'etat, but among the best documentary films ever made." (Black & white, in Spanish, with English subtitles)
http://www.frif.com/new98/boc.html

Chile, Obstinate Memory
1997/58 mins/Patricio Guzmán/First Run/Icarus Films
Returning to Chile for the first time since he shot The Battle of Chile which chronicles General Pinochet's bloody 1973 coup, filmmaker Patricio Guzmán tracks down some of the people who had appeared in it. Survivors reminisce as they watch the film that had been banned during Pinochet's 17-year dictatorship, recognizing lost comrades and recalling their courage, gaiety, and love of life. To observe their reactions, Guzmán also shows The Battle to young Chileans who grew up with little knowledge of the historical facts surrounding the overthrow of Sálvador Allende's democratically elected socialist government. With exquisite cinematography, Guzman's artistry thoughtfully explores the elusive themes of collective memory and personal loss. His award-winning work stands as a eulogy to a shattered dream of socialism and bears witness to the machinery that tried to destroy its memory. (In Spanish with English subtitles.)
http://www.frif.com/new97/chile__ob.html

El Salvador: Not for Sale!
1996/28 Minutes/CISPES
From 1980 to 1992, the United States gave El Salvador's right-wing military dictatorship $6 million in aid. Although this country's brutal civil war officially ended with the 1992 signing of peace accords, the agreement has done nothing to alleviate the social and economic problems caused by the legacy of the war and by more recent U.S.-endorsed policies of structural adjustment. This video shows how El Salvador's free trade zones have created jobs, whose appalling working conditions and low wages have not improved the well-being of Salvadorans. (Includes sections in Spanish, with English subtitles)
To order, email: cispesnatl@people-link.net or telephone: (212) 229-1290.

Hidden Wars of Desert Storm
2000/64 mins/Free-Will Productions
In 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, and the United States moved in. But was this attack a surprise? Did we use all methods of diplomacy before entering combat? In this video, you will find out a lot more about the Gulf War than you heard in the news a decade ago. Prominent personalities such as Desert Storm Commander General Norman Schwarzkopf, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and former UN Iraq Program Director Dennis Halliday all speak out about the hidden policies and politics behind the war, as well as modern issues such as sanctions and "Gulf War Syndrome" that are left as a result.
Email: freewillprod@prodigy.net

Is China a Military Threat?
2000/29 mins/Center for Defense Information
The United States has increasingly seen China as a military threat, especially in terms of nuclear power. How did this rivalry begin? Are we heading towards another cold war? Perhaps most importantly, this production shows why we need to turn China into an economic ally before our policies make it a military adversary.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1340/

The Panama Deception
1992/120 mins/Barbara Trent/Empowerment Project
The 1989 invasion of Panama was touted as a swift and successful military action to remove a "narcoterrorist," General Noriega, from power and to restore democracy to this strategically important country. But what was the real U.S. agenda? Winner of the 1993 Academy Award for best documentary, this film recounts the untold story of the invasion, the enormity of death and destruction, and the collaborative efforts by Washington and the mainstream media to suppress information about this foreign policy disaster. The documentary includes never-before-seen footage and brilliantly juxtaposes factual historical analysis with statements by both proponents and opponents. (Includes sections in Spanish, with English subtitles)
http://www.empowermentproject.org/panama.htm

Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq
2000/75 mins/John Pilger/Off the Telly (OTT)
When the U.S. imposed sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime in 1990, President George Bush told the American public, "Our quarrel is not with the people of Iraq." But a 1998 study by the United Nations found that the death rate of Iraqi children has doubled since the sanctions were imposed, while the wealthy and politically powerful continue to enjoy access to imported food and other supplies. With 4000 children dying every month as a result of severe shortages of food and medicines, the political rhetoric and rationale used to justify sanctions have proven false. In this harrowing, hard-hitting documentary, award-winning British filmmaker John Pilger depicts the immorality of the UN sanctions that are kept in place by the U.S. and Britain. Footage of children and adults dying in hospital rooms for lack of drugs--or even morphine to ease their pain--demonstrates the reality behind the program that is alleged to deny Iraq access to "weapons of mass destruction." Confronted with the Machiavellian illogical of his position, the head of the UN Sanctions Committee, Peter van Walsum, almost breaks under Pilger's questioning.
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ott/dyspayingtheprice.htm

Talking with Cuba
1998/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
Despite official hostility between the U.S. and Cuba, many Americans are making contact with their Cuban counterparts. Should such dialogue with Cuba be considered taboo? This video looks at the possibility of a more open relationship between Cuba and the United States and the advantages that this would bring for both sides. It argues that since the U.S. no longer considers Cuba a military threat, the time has come to reconsider the relationship.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1127

What I've Leaned About U.S. Foreign Policy
2002/ 2-hrs/ Frank Dorrel
In this video, ten segments from a range of documentary and media sources are brought together to unravel the atrocities committed upon the Third World by the U.S., via the CIA, the Pentagon, America's corporate culture, and the mainstream press. Frank Dorrel's montage takes an in-depth look at some of the most heinous crimes of U.S. foreign policy through the eyes of some of the most important and influential figures in contemporary history. Included in his video are speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Stockwell, the former CIA chief in Angola in the 1970's; clips from documentaries such as Bill Moyers' 1987 PBS documentary "The Secret Government," an overview of CIA covert ops, and "School of Assassins" a film on the SOA narrated by Susan Sarandon; and many more insightful segments on U.S. government conspiracies, from the Iran-Contras affair and sanctions in Iraq, to our invasion of Panama and the CIA's involvement in the deaths of some six million people in the Third World.
Available for $10.00 on www.addictedtowar.com

War on Drugs

America's War on Drugs
1997/28 mins/America's Defense Monitor
The U.S. spends about $20 billion a year on antinarcotics efforts. This video examines how America spends huge sums trying to stop the production of drugs in Latin America, while doing comparatively little to curb domestic demand through treatment and education. In spite of the heavy investment in crop eradication, interdiction, and counternarcotics military aid in "source" countries such as Colombia, more illegal drugs--of higher quality and at cheaper prices--are entering the U.S. today. In its effort to wage war on drugs, the U.S. subsidizes exports of weapons to Latin America, contributing to human rights abuses and the militarization of already-violent and unstable countries.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1038

Colombia in Crisis
1999/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
Colombia's civil war has decimated much of the economy, leaving many people little choice but to engage in growing and processing cocaine and, increasingly, heroin. All sides of the conflict--from the FARC and EZL guerrillas to the right-wing paramilitaries aligned with the army--are involved in the lucrative, illegal drug trade. The United States, instead of attacking the problem at its social and economic root, has embarked on a protracted military aid program in the hope that anti-insurgency training and weapons proliferation will resolve the situation.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1315

Drying the Waters: Colombia's Civil War
1999/52 mins/Jan Thielen/Latin America Productions
There is a saying in Spanish that in order to catch fish, you must first drain the water. This strategy lies at the heart of Colombia's dirty war, where the peasants are "the water" and the guerrillas are "the fish." Under the pretext of counternarcotics assistance, Congress and the Clinton administration are sending Colombia more than a billion dollars in emergency assistance, ostensibly to fight the drug war. However, there is growing concern that the aid will be used to help the Colombian military wage its counterinsurgency war against guerrilla forces that control large parts of the country. This documentary explores the history of both Colombia's civil war and the drug trade, providing a much-needed antidote to the "drug-centered" Colombia debate in the United States. It warns that just as, in the 1960s, anticommunism distorted America's perception in Vietnam, the so-called drug war is drawing the U.S. into its next quagmire. (Includes sections in Spanish, with English subtitles)
To order by email: thielen@internet.siscotel.com
http://www.ssdnet.com.ar/documentaries/docu.htm

Weapons Trade

Arms for the Poor
1998/25 mins/Maryknoll World Productions
Despite the end of the cold war, the quantity of weapons on the global market has grown at a staggering rate, and the United States has emerged as the world's leading arms exporter. This video chronicles the Clinton administration's decision to ease restrictions on U.S. arms sales, many of which go to governments with a history of human rights violations and often help to fuel civil wars.
http://www.maryknoll.org/MALL/VIDEO/vpeacejusticej.htm

The Human Cost of U.S. Arms Sales
1998/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
Investigating the nefarious link between the overseas weapons trade and human rights abuses, this video reveals how U.S. weapons have been used to commit atrocities in Turkey, East Timor, Colombia, Haiti, and Iraq.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1209

Marketing Tomorrow's Weapons
1997/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
Why does Congress repeatedly vote billions of dollars for "defense" projects that even the Pentagon says it doesn't need? This powerful video examines the thin line between national defense needs and weapons manufacturers' greed. It analyzes the slick advertising campaigns of major aircraft and arms producers, documents their deep-pocket financing of political campaigns, and exposes their formidable stable of well-paid congressional lobbyists.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1103

Global Economy

From child labor to sweatshops, from crippling structural adjustment policies to towering foreign debts, from NAFTA to the IMF, World Bank, and WTO, multinational corporations and their institutional collaborators are defining the terms of the globalized economy. But what benefits are brought to developing countries by free trade? For whom are the regulations of international borders nonexistent, for whom is capital mobile? These videos explore the consequences of free trade policies, survey the histories of international financial institutions, and chronicle the growing resistance to corporate-driven economic globalization.

Children's Rights

Children of Shatila
1998/50 mins/MaiMasri/Arab Film Distribution
The 1982 Sabra-Shatila massacre of more than 500 refugees brought international attention to the Shatila refugee camp near Beirut. This camp is home to some 15,000 displaced Palestinians and Lebanese; its original occupants were Palestinians driven into exile when the Israeli state was founded in 1948. The video tells the story of how the children of Shatila attempt to come to terms with the realities of being refugees in a camp that has endured the horrors of massacre, starvation, and now widespread poverty and unemployment. Against the backdrop of the camp's collective tragedies, filmmaker Mai Masri focuses on the personal stories of two Palestinian children, and articulates the aspirations of a younger generation. (Includes sections in Arabic, with English subtitles)
http://www.arabfilm.com/films/lebanon/children_shatila/children_shatila.htm

Innocents Lost
1997/98 mins/Brian Woods & Kate Blewett/True Vision
Innocents Lost, produced for British TV Channel Four, traverses the globe investigating harrowing cases of child abuse and exploitation. In stark contrast to the articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, it shows children--ranging from the former Soviet Union to Africa, from Latin America to the Middle East, and from Southeast Asia to the European Union--suffering at the hands of a cruel, exploitative, and neglectful adult world. It details the life of Guatemalan street children, who are pursued and tortured by the police, suffer permanent brain damage from sniffing glue, and may die from starvation. It shows young girls in Ghana, sentenced to a lifetime of sexual servitude to priests who seek to appease the gods for crimes committed by their fathers. And it exposes how, in Greece and Bulgaria, children born with defects are rejected at birth because of family pride and are hidden away, strapped to their beds for a lifetime devoid of stimulation. (Includes sections with English subtitles)
http://www.casa-alianza.org/EN/lmn/docs/19971203.00054.htm
http://www.truevisionproductions.com (site under construction)

Somebody's Children
1996/Kevin Harris/Cinema Guild
South Africa has about 30,000 street children, the majority residing in Johannesburg. Subject to the hazards of glue and physical abuse, the only refuge available to many children are self-help centers like the "Streetwise" program. Those in charge of the programs stress the importance of reintegrating the children into society and developing skills that enable them to earn a living in a country overwhelmed by unemployment.
http://www.cinemaguild.com/docs/new.html

Free Trade

The Emperor's New Clothes
1995/53 mins/Magnus Isaacsson/Bullfrog Films
This video, by a prominent Canadian filmmaker, investigates the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by connecting factory closures in Canada with the emergence of sweatshops in Mexico. A group of disgruntled Canadians travel south to see who has "stolen" their jobs, only to find that conditions in the maquilas in Mexico's free trade zone are appalling--despite the promises of NAFTA. Imbued with a new sense of international solidarity, the Canadian workers return home and re-open a paper plant on the premises of the old one. (Includes sections in Spanish, with English subtitles)
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/emper.html

Global Village, Global Pillage
1999/26 mins/Jeremy Brecher/Preamble Center
Today, 51 of the world's 100 largest economies are corporations; only 49 are countries. Increasingly, the rules of the global economy are drawn up by international institutions that have little public accountability. This video shows how ordinary people around the world are taking on the global economy. It features sweatshop activist Charles Kernaghan, AFL-CIO labor economist Thea Lee, human rights advocate and Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, and "a cast of billions!"
http://www.villageorpillage.org/order.html

Maquila: A Tale of Two Mexicos
2000/55 mins/Saul Landau and Sonia Angulo/Cinema Guild
A post-NAFTA world of unrestrained economic global liberalization offers tough choices to contemporary Mexican peasants. This film tells of the confrontation in Chiapas between the Mexican army and poor farmers trying to cling to their land and Mayan culture. Some of these besieged peasants, like millions of other poor Mexicans, have migrated to Juarez, Tijuana, and other northern border cities to take low paying jobs in foreign-owned factories. In Juarez, they encounter more than poor working conditions--environmental pollution, a high cost of living, horrifying rapes and murders of young women maquila workers, and the loss of cultural roots, family, and community. This innovative documentary by award-winning filmmaker Saul Landau allows its subjects to speak for themselves, with little narration. (In Spanish, with English subtitles)
To order call: Cinema Guild, (800) 723-5522.
http://www.cinemaguild.com/docs/new.html

Performing the Border
1999/42 mins/Ursula Biemann/Women Make Movies (WMM)
Swiss filmmaker Ursula Biemann documents the economic and social changes that are occurring along the Mexican border with the United States by focusing on the exploitation of and violence against women in the border city of Juarez. Through interviews with women factory workers, prostitutes, activists, and journalists, this documentary explores the links between the "sexualization" of the border region and the forces of economic globalization that are buffeting Mexico. (Includes sections in Spanish, with English subtitles)
http://www.wmm.com/advscripts/ctmnfrm.asp

A Place Called Chiapas
1998/93 mins/Nettie Wild/Zeitgeist Films
Passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the last straw for the disaffected campesinos in the Mexican province of Chiapas. In January 1994, the Zapatista Liberation Army, led by the charismatic guerrilla-poet Subcomandante Marcos, erupted in response to worsening conditions for the peasants of Chiapas, with many Mayan Indians taking to the hills to join the struggle. Following the uprising, Mexican government troops moved in, trying to regain control. Their presence has militarized the region, endangering the lives of the peasants and their negotiators alike. This extraordinarily film, which won the 1999 Genie Award for best Canadian documentary, examines the origins, methods, and leaders of the Zapatista movement and the reactions of Chiapas's economically powerful mestizo elite. (Includes sections in Spanish, with English subtitles)
http://www.zeitgeistfilm.com/current/chiapas/chiapas.html

The Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in Chiapas
1997/60 mins/Saul Landau and Meredith Burch/Cinema Guild
This award-winning documentary by IPS fellow Saul Landau interweaves Mayan and Mexican history with the contemporary struggle of the Zapatista Liberation Army in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Through the voices of the movement's leaders, supporters, and negotiators--including subcomandantes Marcos and Elise and Bishop Samuel Ruiz, (dubbed "The Red Bishop")--this film chronicles the major events since the Zapatista uprising began on January 1, 1994. It also traces the history of how, beginning in the 1980s, Zapatista guerrillas organized in the mountains of Chiapas, consolidating their ideology and physical strength in preparation for their New Years' Day uprising that shook the world. This peasant uprising has challenged both the Mexican government's revocation of indigenous communal land rights and its joining the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Following the movement with footage from the initial San Cristobal attack to the arrival of government troops in Chiapas and an international convention held in the heart of the jungle, this dramatic and at times humorous documentary traces the growth of a tiny regional movement into an internationally influential struggle for economic, political, and social rights. (English subtitles for Spanish interviews)
To order call: Cinema Guild, (800) 723-5522.
http://www.cinemaguild.com/docs/new.html

Trinkets and Beads
1996/52 mins/Christopher Walker/First Run/Icarus Films
This award-winning documentary traces the struggle of a remote Amazonian people, the Huaorani, to preserve their environment and culture in the face of incursions by oil companies and evangelical missionaries. The story begins in 1957, with the Huaorani massacre of five American missionaries, and continues through the evangelization of part of the tribe, the pollution of Huaorani lands by Texaco and Shell, and the manipulation and bribing of Huaorani leaders by the Texas-based oil company, MAXUS. Filmed over two years, Trinkets and Beads reveals the heartbreaking and thrilling story of the battle waged by a small band of forest dwellers to preserve their way of life. (Includes sections with English subtitles)
http://www.frif.com/cat97/t-z/trinkets.html

Globalization and Women

Made in India
1998/52 mins/Patricia Plattner/Women Make Movies
Depicting a country fraught with unemployment, poverty, and the perils of liberalizing markets, this video tells the story of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), an Indian project helping poor women organize a trade union, a bank, and social welfare services. This pioneering project, defying India's male-dominated and economically rigid society, has grown into an internationally acclaimed model for rural development and women's empowerment. Plattner's powerful documentary interviews SEWA founder, Ela Bhat, and follows the development of the organization and the women who have joined it. (Includes interviews with English subtitles)
http://www.wmm.com/advscripts/ctmnfrm.asp

Globalization, U.S. Policy and Human Rights

Globalization and Human Rights
1998/60 mins/Rory O'Connor and Danny Schechter/PBS Frontline
A well-rounded examination of globalization, this video by award-winning producers Rory O'Connor and Danny Schechter presents differing perspectives on the relation between free trade and human rights standards and regulations. Among those interviewed are international banker and philanthropist George Soros, U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Ralph Nader. The documentary contrasts the language of international corporate policies with the reality of human rights abuses caused by corporate practices.
http://www.pbs.org/globalization/home.html

Cuba at the Crossroads
1996/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
The growing tourist industry in Cuba has led to an influx of hard currency and has created a situation where a taxi driver can earn many times more than a doctor, teacher, or other professional. In its rhetoric, Washington calls for peaceful democratic change in Cuba. But in reality, by tightening the economic squeeze and supporting political dissidents, the U.S. foments hardships and instability that could lead to violence on the island. The economic and social changes taking place as Cuba adjusts to the post-Soviet era are framed against a historical background of ongoing confrontation with the United States.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/932

IMF and World Bank Structural Adjustment Policies

America's Impact on Russia
1998/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
This video investigates the increasingly negative attitudes of Russians toward America and asks why this is the case. Many Russians blame the U.S. for the economic downfall that came in the wake of brutal "shock therapy" economic reforms designed to open the Commonwealth of Independent States to the free market as rapidly as possible. This informative documentary includes interviews with members of the Russian parliament, American experts, and journalists and authors, who share their insights about the current mood in Russia.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1141

Banking on Disaster
1990/78 mins/Bullfrog Films
In the 1980s, settlers arrived in the province of Rondonia, Brazil in vast numbers, facilitated by the new "penetration road" financed by the World Bank. This video depicts the tragic story of those "colonists" who failed to get much yield from their crops and abandoned their land, leaving enormous swaths of forest destroyed. The consequences for the environment have been disastrous, spawning dust storms and contributing to global warming. (Includes sections in Portuguese, with English subtitles)
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/bank.html

Banking on Life and Debt
1995/30 mins/Richter Productions/Maryknoll World Productions
Banking on Life and Debt, narrated by actor Martin Sheen, presents a highly informative analysis of the origins and development of the Bretton Woods "twins", the IMF and the World Bank. It examines the ways in which these international financial institutions (IFIs) have usurped control of economic and political decision making in Ghana, Brazil, and the Philippines, and it analyzes the disastrous effects of their structural adjustment policies. Even UNICEF holds many IFIs' policies responsible for the deaths of millions of children.
http://www.maryknoll.org/MALL/VIDEO/vpeacejusticej.htm

Breaking the Bank
2000/74 mins/Big Noise Films/Whispered Media
This independent video of the April 2000 protests against the World Bank and IMF in Washington, DC portrays an inspiring celebration of a new generation of activism. Made by eight production groups and scores of volunteer videographers, this documentary is filled with dramatic footage from the streets of Washington. The video goes beyond the slogans to look at issues sparking the protests, including international militarism, ecologically destructive development projects, and poverty caused by IMF and World Bank policies.
http://www.whisperedmedia.org/btheb.html

Cancel the Debt Now!
1999/24 mins/Jubilee 2000/USA
What is the origin of Third World debt? Is it irresponsible to wipe the financial slate clean for people in the poorest countries? This video, narrated by actress Julie Harris and produced by the Jubilee 2000 Campaign, which is demanding debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries, explores how aggressive lending policies in the 1970s helped create the Third World debt and how, beginning in the 1980s, heavy-handed and misguided World Bank and IMF structural adjustment policies exacerbated poverty. The video explains how the multilateral institutions not only weaken national economies but also undermine governments in developing countries.
http://www.j2000usa.org/order/order.html

Deadly Embrace: Nicaragua, the World Bank and the IMF
1999/27mins/Elizabeth Canner and Ashley Eames/Compas de La Primavera
Why does Nicaragua have one of the highest foreign debts in the world? At $3000 to $4000 per capita, this debt has spawned the country's worst economic crisis. With powerful cinematography, Deadly Embrace explores how the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have contributed to Nicaragua's crisis. (Includes sections in Spanish, with English subtitles)
For more information about the video and activist study guide, see: http://www.freespeech.org/lizcanner
To order by email, contact: lizcanner@hotmail.com
To order by phone, contact Ash Eames at (603) 764-9948.

Two Trevors go to Washington
2000/20mins/Ben Cashdan
Two South Africans with very different economic views meet at the IMF/World Bank meetings and protests in April 2000. One Trevor is an official inside the IMF and World Bank. The other is a government official from Johannesburg who has joined the protests in the streets. Through the eyes of these two Trevors, both elected officials of the South African government, we see the debate over "structural adjustment programs" of the IMF and World Bank at an international level. The film then goes on to show the devastating social and economic effects of these policies in South Africa. It is not hard to see why the people are beginning to rise up to protest against these international institutions.
http://www.go.to/two.trevors/

Sweatshops

Gap and Nike: No Sweat?
2000/39 mins/BBC's Panorama
Nike and Gap both have strict codes of conduct for manufacturing: they claim that they do not use sweatshops or child labor. They also say they routinely "monitor" their factories, to make sure their codes are followed. But when the BBC's Panorama team visits Cambodia, they find severe breeches of these codes within days. By talking with workers and using hidden cameras, they show how one factory, used by both Gap and Nike, has sweatshop conditions and employs children. All the workers interviewed work seven days a week, often up to 16 hours a day. Children as young as 12 are employed. After these findings, Panorama goes back to speak with Gap and Nike, to hear what they have to say. They also show how U.S. companies can use sweatshops and still put "Made in the U.S.A. on the label. An eye-opening view of labor conditions in the third world and unfair industry practices.
http://store.globalexchange.org/tapes.html

Made in Thailand
1993/33 mins/Eve-Laure Moros and Linzy Emery/Women Makes Movies
In 1993, there was a fire at the Kader Toy Factory in an industrial area of Bangkok. Instead of evacuating the factory, the guards locked the doors, causing the deaths of over a hundred women workers. The guards said later that management had told them to bolt the doors in order to prevent workers from stealing any of the toys. Despite subsequent pledges by the Kader company, no improvements in working conditions have been made. Such accidents have helped to create a growing solidarity movement amongst women factory workers to fight for better conditions and more regulation of multinational corporations that have, in recent years, set up plants in Thailand in order to take advantage of the cheap labor costs. (Includes sections with English subtitles)
http://www.wmm.com/advscripts/ctmnfrm.asp

Sewing Our Future
1993/30 mins/Rhian Miller and Patrice O'Neill/The Working Group
Why has the U.S. government used taxpayers' money to help American companies move overseas? How has this affected American factory workers? This video compares working conditions in El Salvador and the U.S. and argues that U.S. government policies should protect--not export--American workers' jobs. Reflecting the views of the U.S. garment workers unions, this documentary questions the one-sidedness of free trade agreements and gives constructive suggestions for future labor organizing. (Includes sections in Spanish, with English subtitles)
Contact to order via email: wedothework@igc.org or rmiller@theworkinggroup.org

Sweating for a T-shirt
1998/23 mins/Global Exchange
Do you know where your clothes are made? Do you bother to look at the label when you buy merchandise at a store? This video shows the journey of one UCLA student to Honduras, where she soon learns exactly where her college clothing is being made, and the conditions that prevail among the sweatshops. She speaks with local workers and human rights activists, who tell of the unhealthy conditions and unfair labor practices the workers live with. These workers earn only $3.50 a day in countries where the basic cost of living is $8 a day. At the end, we see Brown students who have just forced their administration to adopt fair labor standards for the production of clothing bearing their university logo. A great video to show students that something can and must be done.
http://store.globalexchange.org/tapes.html

World Trade Organization (WTO)

WTO: In Whose Hands?
2000/20 mins/United Methodist Women/Service Center
Produced by the Women's Division of the United Methodist Church, this video examines
--from a feminist and humanist perspective--the inequalities caused by WTO policies. It proposes that women around the world must not only protest the inequalities to which they bear witness but must also learn the fundamentals of economics in order to help their local communities fight the devastating effects of "free" trade. For more information about the video and study guide, see: http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wto.html and http://www.gbgm-umc.org/umw/service.html

Environment

In the late 20th century, the international community enacted a series of groundbreaking environmental treaties aimed at curbing catastrophic problems such as global warming, the destruction of the ozone layer, and the production of chemical and biological weapons. Yet reliance on finite resources; use of hazardous materials; contamination of the world's land, water, and air; and overconsumption of fish, timber, and other "renewables" continue largely unchecked. Major conflicts in the 21st century are likely to center around the environment. These videos look at some of the more pressing environmental problems and examine the links between the destruction of the Earth's resources and the increasing competition and conflicts between and within countries.

Big Spuds, Little Spuds
1999/52 mins/Bullfrog Films
From Peru to Idaho, climatic change and monoculture have conspired to wreak unpredictable damage to one of the world's staple crops, the potato. Historically, Andean farmers raised more than 5000 varieties of potatoes and practiced crop rotation. But during the U.S.-promoted "Green Revolution" in the 1960s, these farmers were urged to switch to a handful of new, high yielding varieties that required massive amounts of chemicals and water and proved vulnerable to disease, pests, and weather. In 1997, the El Nino weather phenomenon had a devastating impact on the potato crops in both Peru and Idaho. This film contrasts traditional farming methods in the Andes with industrial methods used in Idaho and, increasingly, in Peru. Big Spuds, Little Spuds reveals that there is an emerging pride on the part of Peruvian farmers returning to old varieties and old methods in an effort to preserve genetic diversity and food security.
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/big.html

Borderline Cases
1997/65 mins/Lynn Corcora/Bullfrog Films
Environmental law in Mexico is relatively new. For the ecology of the U.S. border region it may have come too late, as factories just south of the border have been discharging unregulated toxic waste into the air and the watertable for 25 years. Even since environmental laws were passed, little has been done to ensure that the "2000-mile long toxic waste dump" does not worsen. A quarter-century of neglect and a mere five years of environmental activism forecast an uncertain future for Mexico's environment. However, the problem of pollution and waste disposal is not just of concern to Mexicans, as residents of nearby Brownsville, Texas have discovered. (Includes sections in Spanish, with English subtitles)
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/bc.html

The Environmental Impact of War
1999/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
The environment is not often thought of as a casualty of war, but the Vietnam, Persian Gulf, and Yugoslavian wars all left grim legacies of ecological contamination. The Environmental Impact of War shows that environmental contamination carries human costs: e.g., depleted uranium used in Desert Storm and in Yugoslavia threatens to slowly kill survivors of those wars. The defoliation of the Vietnamese jungle in the 1960s and 1970s degraded the soil and has caused flooding. The 1977 Environment Modification Convention, establishing an international protocol to protect the environment during wartime, was ratified by the U.S. in 1979, but as the film explains, the Pentagon has already violated it in the Gulf War, Yugoslavia, and elsewhere.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1251

An Environmental-Industrial Complex?
2000/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
The United States continues to spend vast sums on building new high-tech weapons and maintaining cold war relics, in part because military industries provide jobs in key congressional districts. Yet, as this video shows, there is a growing consensus that public funds would be better spent on finding solutions to global environmental problems. Even at home, environmental problems--from nuclear waste to water contamination--need urgent attention and require government investment.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1327

The Greening of Cuba
1996/38 mins/Jaime Kibben/Food First
In the early 1990s, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of its subsidized trade and generous aid to Cuba, combined with the decades-old U.S. blockade, threw Fidel Castro's government into its worst economic crisis ever. Dubbed the "special period," this time of unprecedented economic hardship and rising political tensions did have a silver lining: it forced Cubans to seek self-sufficiency by returning to farming methods of older generations. Without imported spare parts, oil, fertilizers, seeds, or pesticides, "modern farming" quickly became impossible. Through the voices of the island's campesinos, researchers, and organic gardeners, this video shows how Cubans have successfully converted to natural farming techniques and have built, in the process, a healthier way of life.
http://216.178.158.37/pubs/other/index.html

Rising Waters: Global Warming and the Fate of the Pacific Islands
2000/56 mins/Andrea Torrice/Bullfrog Films
The islands of the South Pacific are home to 7 billion people, exotic tropical fish, and many unique ecosystems, including coral reefs. However, over the last few years, these low-lying islands have begun to disappear, as increased global warming causes a rise in both water temperatures and sea levels. The tiny island of Bikeman, part of the Kiribas Federation, was the first to be submerged. Other islands in the Kiribas are threatened, as are the Marshall and the Samoan islands. This outstanding documentary examines how a hundred years of greenhouse gas emissions are now wreaking havoc on our oceans. It depicts the efforts made by people in Fiji and the Marshall Islands to safeguard their land. They confront the fossil fuel lobby, which is fighting both in the U.S. and in international forums to block measures necessary to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/rw.html

Silent Sentinels
1999/57 mins/Richard Smith/Bullfrog Films
1998 was designated "International Year of the Oceans." It turned out to be the year that coral reefs--the jewels of the ocean--began to die. This film, produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, documents the unprecedented mass bleaching of coral reefs now occurring in the world's tropical oceans. It shows how slight rises in sea temperatures have severely damaged hundreds of miles of coral coastline. This bleaching is widely viewed as unequivocal proof that global warming has begun and that its impact will be greater than had been previously predicted. Rafe Pomerance, a key U.S. global warming negotiator, has called Silent Sentinels "the most important movie on global warming to date."
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/ssppso.html

Taxi to Timbuktu
1994/51 mins/Christopher Walker/First Run/Icarus Films
As the desert encroaches on their homeland at an alarming rate, increasing numbers of young men from the West African country of Mali are forced to leave their arid, sand swept villages on the edge of the Sahel to search for work in New York, Paris and Tokyo. Centered around Alpha, a Malian taxi driver in New York, this award-winning documentary puts a human face on often-faceless foreign urban workers. It traces how Malian immigrant communities band together to retain their cultural identity and raise money to send back home to their villages. (Includes sections with English subtitles)
http://www.frif.com/cat97/t-z/taxi_to_.html

Trinkets and Beads
1996/52 mins/Christopher Walker/First Run/Icarus Films
This award-winning documentary traces the struggle of a remote Amazonian people, the Huaorani, to preserve their environment and culture in the face of incursions by oil companies and evangelical missionaries. The story begins in 1957, with the Huaorani massacre of five American missionaries, and continues through the evangelization of part of the tribe, the pollution of Huaorani lands by Texaco and Shell, and the manipulation and bribing of Huaorani leaders by the Texas-based oil company, MAXUS. Filmed over two years, Trinkets and Beads reveals the heartbreaking and thrilling story of the battle waged by a small band of forest dwellers to preserve their way of life. (Includes sections with English subtitles)
http://www.frif.com/cat97/t-z/trinkets.html

Turning Down the Heat: The New Energy Revolution
1999/46 mins/Jim Hamm Productions
Global warming is no longer a debatable issue: the world must stop using fossil fuels that destroy the environment. This film looks at new sources of energy that are already being effectively used around the world, from Holland to Japan, to India and beyond. This film shows the many energy alternatives out there, and how they could quickly pay for themselves, saving governments money and rescuing our environment. All that is needed is the political will.
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/

Voices From The Fields
1997/45 mins/Selena Jaramillo and Ulla Nilsen/Cinema Guild
This video describes how changes in agricultural production are driving many Mexican peasants to the cities or to the United States in search of work. The introduction of tractors, credit, and cattle are only some of the "modernizations" that are eroding traditional campesino economic activities, while increasing use of chemicals, insecticides, and fertilizers are harming both humans and the environment. Voices from the Fields showcases a new method of farming--agroecology--that attempts to find a balance between nature and production. (In Spanish with English subtitles)
To order, call: Cinema Guild, (800) 723-5522.
http://www.cinemaguild.com/docs/new.html

Water, Land, People and Conflict
1998/29 mins/America's Defense Monitor
The causes and types of global conflict are changing, and "environmental security" may increasingly become the rationale for international intervention. This video explores the links between resource scarcity, environmental degradation, population pressures, and modern conflicts.
http://www.cdi.org/adm/1143/

Films by Subject