142m; U.S.
Director: Gary Ross
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland
Synopsis: In a dystopic future North America called Panem, the wealthy elite who live in the central city (known as the Capitol) exploit the impoverished workers of the rest of the country who are divided into twelve districts. The Capitol employs a range of social controls, including the Hunger Games, an annual event where two children from each district are thrown into an arena and fight until only one is left alive.
Into these games is thrust Katniss Everdeen, the daughter of a coal miner, who must use her wits and skills to survive while trying to maintain her humanity, even as her examples of resistance and solidarity begin to inspire some of the districts towards rebellion.
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Director: Katharine Round
Synopsis: Based on the best-selling book The Spirit Level, this film shows why a more equal society is better for all of us, including the rich. Yet still this gap is at its highest level for 30 years. It’s time for action, and a documentary is the most powerful way we can raise awareness and mobilise people.
Contact: http://thespiritleveldocumentary.com/
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75m; U.S.
Director: Frances Cause and Donald Goldmacher
Synopsis: HEIST: Who Stole the American Dream? is stunning audiences across the globe, as it exposes the real truth behind the worldwide economic collapse, tracing its origins to a 1971 secret memo entitled Attack on American Free Enterprise. Written over 40 years ago by the future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, at the behest of the US Chamber of Commerce, the 6-page memo, a free-market utopian treatise, called for a money fueled big business makeover of government through corporate control of the media, academia, the pulpit, arts and sciences and destruction of organized labor and consumer protection groups.
Sound familiar? Today’s crisis and heart stopping headlines can be directly traced to Powell’s real “end game” which was business control of law and politics. Powell’s fingerprints are all over Citizens United, the fateful Supreme Court decision which gave corporations and the super rich unlimited ability to shape our elections with virtually unrestricted donations. HEIST’s step by step detail exposes the systemic implementation of Powell’s memo by BOTH U.S. political parties over the last forty years culminating in the deregulation of industry, outsourcing of jobs and regressive taxation. All of which led us to the global financial crisis of 2008 and the continued dismantling of the American middle class.
Today, politics is the playground of the rich and powerful, with no thought given to the hopes and dreams of ordinary Americans. No other film goes as deeply as HEIST in explaining the greatest heist of our time. Moving beyond the white noise of today’s polarizing media, HEIST provides viewers with a clear, concise and fact-based explanation of how we got into this mess, and what we need to do to restore our representative democracy.
Contact: http://www.heist-themovie.com/index.html
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86m; U.S.
Director: Susan Saldoff
Synopsis: Seinfeld mocked it. Letterman ranked it in his top ten list. And more than fifteen years later, its infamy continues. Everyone knows the McDonald’s coffee case. It has been routinely cited as an example of how citizens have taken advantage of America’s legal system, but is that a fair rendition of the facts?Hot Coffee reveals what really happened to Stella Liebeck, the Albuquerque woman who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonald’s, while exploring how and why the case garnered so much media attention, who funded the effort and to what end. After seeing this film, you will decide who really profited from spilling hot coffee.
Contact: http://www.hotcoffeethemovie.com/default.asp
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Director: Robert Greenwald
Synopsis: Koch Brothers Exposed is a hard-hitting investigation of the 1% at its very worst. This full-length documentary film on Charles and David Koch—two of the world’s richest and most powerful men—is the latest from acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: the High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed, Rethink Afghanistan). The billionaire brothers bankroll a vast network of organizations that work to undermine the interests of the 99% on issues ranging from Social Security to the environment to civil rights. This film uncovers the Kochs’ corruption—and points the way to how Americans can reclaim their democracy.
Contact: http://www.kochbrothersexposed.com/
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77m; U.S.
Director: Anne Lewis & Mimi Pickering
Distributed by California Newsreel and Appalshop
Synopsis: “Anne Braden: Southern Patriot (1924-2006)” is a first person feature documentary completed May 1, 2012. Braden rejected her segregationist, privileged past to become one of the civil rights movement’s staunchest white allies. In 1954 she was charged with sedition by McCarthy-style politicians who played on fears of communism to preserve southern segregation. In 1963 she became one of only five white southerners whose contributions to the movement were commended by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his famed “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” A relentless labor and political organizer, she fought for transformation and liberation throughout her life. - http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/06/15/18715481.php
22m; U.S.
Director: Michael T. Miller and Maura Ugarte
Synopsis: When it comes to politics, retired coal miner Sebert Pertee sees one big problem: the rich keep getting richer while working people lose ground. As he canvasses for pro-union candidates in 2008, he finds his community more focused on the race of the Democratic presidential nominee than on their own interests.
In McDowell County, West Virginia, long a union and Democratic Party stronghold, the battle for white working-class voters is taking an ugly turn. As politicians and pundits fan the racial flames, Sebert finds that race-baiting has long been a tried and true tactic to divide the miners. He’s determined to change the conversation, even if it rankles his neighbors. Race-baiting and union values collide in this short film, as Sebert struggles to take the fight to the real enemy.
Contact: http://dividethemovie.com/?page_id=2
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85m; Colombia/Canada
Director: Carmen Garcia & Germán Gutiérrez
Synopsis: Colombia is the trade union murder capital of the world. Since 2002, more than 470 workers’ leaders have been brutally killed, usually by paramilitaries hired by private companies intent on crushing the unions. Among these unscrupulous corporate brands is the poster boy for American business: Coca-Cola. Talk to Martin Gil: His brother Isidro was killed at point-blank range while working at the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Carepa, because he was part of a union bargaining unit. Like most violent crimes committed against Colombian union leaders, Gil’s murder went unpunished. However, U.S. lawyers Daniel Kovalik and Terry Collingsworth, as well as activist Ray Rogers, stepped in and launched an ambitious crusade against the behemoth Coca-Cola. In an incredible three-year saga, filmmakers German Gutierrez and Carmen Garcia follow these heroes in a legal game of cat and mouse. From Bogota to New York, Guatemala to Atlanta, Washington to Canada, The Coca-Cola Case maintains the suspense of a hard-fought struggle. The lawyers filed several cases at the U.S. federal court against Cola-Cola for murder, abduction and torture committed in Colombia and Guatemala. Thanks to activist Ray Rogers, they also attacked the brand image of the Atlanta-based giant, with the devastating Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, causing dozens of U.S. colleges and universities to remove Coke products from campuses.
Contact: http://www.thecoca-colacase.org/
