 |
|
||||||||
| NEW RELEASE | “WE DON’T PLAY GOLF HERE -- and other stories of globalization” "A clear eyed, unexpected and important book look at our Mexican nieghbor." – Gore Vidal Reviewed by Christina Waters Playing a Theater Near You March 14 at 7 PM April 15 at 7:00 pm This film breaks new ground in political filmmaking. Using Mexico as an example of what much of the Third World has experienced, the filmmakers show how foreign investment in export factories distort both the culture and environment. Its exquisite photography, elegant editing, and original music probe the essence of the new economic disorder. To stop construction of a corporate golf course -- “globalization” -- and 1,500 vacation chalets, the people of Tepoztlan confronted federal troops. As it has done in countless other villages throughout the world where people still speak indigenous languages (Nahual), corporate culture invaded. The “investors” constructed not just factories and shopping malls, but in this Morelos village, proposed to replace soccer with the corporate “sport” of golf, which included building 1500 vacation chalets and a country club. The newly elected Tepoztlan mayor sneered: “We don’t play that sport here,” because, he explained, maintenance of a large golf course “would sap badly needed farming water; pesticides and chemical fertilizer to maintain the grass would pollute the town’s aquifers.” In another story, two “ecological peasants” describe how Mexican army personnel tortured them because they tried to stop Boise Cascade from clear cutting forests in Guerrero. Tijuana residents describe how the US owner of a battery recycling plant allowed dangerous chemicals to seep into their neighborhood. It poisoned our children, the local mayor charged. Local, state and federal authorities refused to stop the contamination process. Then, neighbors stormed the factory and forced its owner to flee. The film includes cinematic essays on progress, by native people as liabilities as told by SubComandante Marcos, and sociologist Victor Quintana offers a comparison between golf as the sport of the rich and few as opposed to soccer as the sport of the poor and many. Musicians Greg Landau, Omar Sosa and Francisco Herrera combined to offer “Se Vende” and “La Pelotita Blanca,” dazzling compositions whose lyrics and sound express the agonies and humor the modern predicament. This 33 minute filmic essay is ideal for high school classes and university professors that want to add an audio visual dimension to their teachings on globalization. The film is directed by Institute for Policy Studies fellow Saul Landau – winner of Emmy, George Polk, Letelier-Moffitt and First Amendment awards, in addition to many film festival prizes, and co-produced by Saul Landau and George McAlmon. Camera – Sonia Angulo; Editing –Tomas Hernandez. Available through Round World Media. roundworldmedia@gmail.com
|
|
Films
listed below available through Cinema Guild Syria:
Between Iraq and a Hard Place (February 2004) Maquila:
A Tale of Two Mexicos (1999) The
Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in Chiapas (1996) Films available through Cinema Guild
The Uncompromising Revolution (1988) There's something oddly fascinating about THE UNCOMPROMISING REVOLUTION, that looks at current-day, 30 years after Fidel Castro's nationalist revolution. It shows the people, landscapes, large and small themes, to show the texture of Cuba after three decades of revolution. Weaving together archive footage, occasional flashbacks from earlier Landau pictures, recent personal interviews with Castro and scores of on-the-street and on-location interviews with women, professionals and workers. Landau tries to capture filmically what political scientists have tried to do empirically, that is, to understand Cuba 30 years after the revolution. Unlike his earlier films about Cuba, this one shatters any romantic notions about revolution. Cuba is more like a normal country. Although most people seem thoroughly convinced that the Cuban style of socialism if preferable to any other form of government, it is not any more with the enthusiasm of the years shortly after the revolution. A 102 years-old woman recalls the days of the Spaniards and the arrival of the Americans in 1898. The black and white images of history, marines charging San Juan hill, occupying the island, gambling and having fun in the casino's - make clear why Cubans remember their history and why the Americans and the rest of the world seem to have forgotten it. Films available through Cinema Guild Counterpoint: This film describes the fight of the Sandinistas against Somoza on the end of the 70s. There is an interesting interview with the Sandinista ambassador to Washington. He gives his perspective on the US intervention and the Nicaraguan experience. Target Nicaragua. Inside a Covert War (1983) Landau filming with Wexler in Nicaragua. The US-instigated war against Nicaragua is, of course, no secret anymore, nor is there much confusion now about the exceptionally dirty and vicious nature of the contra-campaign, although public knowledge about these issues seem to be fading. The reality of the destruction of Nicaraguan society emerges vividly when one actually sees the faces of the victims and hears the explanations of the mercenaries. The film traces the line of responsibility, from the arms dealers who profited from their deals with the contras, to the people in the smart suits in the Pentagon, CIA and the White House. Again it is Haskwell Wexler who is doing the superb photography. In 1983, there was still hope of countering the hit-and-run Low Intensity War. The then consul general of Nicaragua in the USA, said on seeing the film: The US can only win this war if it turns my country into a mass graveyard. In the end that's exactly what happened. Quest for Power (1983) Sketches of the American New Right. Writer, producer, director For Dutch, Swedish and Finnish television with Frank Diamand Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang (1980) Paul Jacobs A poignant and potent political documentary that exposes the government's suppression of the health hazards of low-level radiation. Paul Jacobs is himself a victim of lung cancer, that would kill him before this picture was finished and which his doctors believe he contracted while he was investigating nuclear policies in 1957. He interviews civilians and soldiers, survivors of nuclear experiments in the 50s and 60s, testing the effects of radiation. By the time this film was made, a lot of them had died from the radiation. The footage of an atomic test explosion in Nevada is still of nightmarish beaty. There are also interviews with people who live near and work in several government facilities around the nation, as well as with government scientists, some of whom were fired when their research indicated the dangers of low-level radiation. This film won the 1980 EMMY Award for best TV program, the George F. Polk Award for investigative journalism on TV, the Hugh Hefner First Amendment Award for journalism, and the Mannheim Film Festival first critics' prize. Films available through Cinema Guild Steppin' (1980) At the end of the 70s there was a vigorous fight for socialism in Jamaica. In this film Landau made a portrait of Michael Manley on his tour in Jamaica, during election time. The
CIA Case Officer (1978)
An in-depth character portrair of a former CIA official, John Stockwell,
who served the CIA for 12 years, mostly in Africa and Vietnam. Soon
after his last assignment as chief of the Angolan Task Force during
1975 and early 1976, he resigned from the CIA. Stockwell talks with
candor and introspection about his career and the disillusionment,
which let to his decision to leave the CIA. He reveals heretofore
unknown information about CIA practices and policies. This documentary
raises questions about conscience, morality and intelligence gathering. Land of My Birth (1976) The campaign film for Michael Manley in Jamaica Writer, producer, director Photographer: Haskell Wexler. Zombies in a House of Madness (1975) A four minute poem. Michael Beasley, a jail house poet, reads his poetry, illustrated by the footage taken inside the San Francisco jail, in 1972. Song for Dead Warriors (1974) Examines the reasons for the Wounded Knee occupation in the spring of 1973 by Oglala Sioux Indians and members of the American Indian Movement (AIM). The film captures the conflict between AIM, the Sioux militants, the government's Bureau of Indian Affairs and those allied with the US government. Winner of the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Who Shot Alexander Hamilton (1974) An unusual portrait of the Watergate Congress at work. Watergate has a special place in contemporary history. It emphasizes the media's glorious role, thanks to heroic efforts to two Washington Post journalists, attacking the government and bringing down a President of the US. During the Watergate hearings a lot of dirt was uncovered, the burglary into the Watergate building was only small potatoes. Cuba and Fidel (1974) Writer, producer, director A 24 minute tour of Cuba with Fidel, for high schools. Castro, Cuba and the US (1974) Director With Dan Rather for CBS Who Shot Alexander Hamilton (1974) Writer, producer, director A film on Congress Films available through Cinema Guild Robert Wall: Ex-FBI Agent (1972) This documentary was made together with Paul Jacobs. They had worked together to make a television program about two FBI agents provocateurs whose job it was to seduce leftist groups into violent activities. But under pressure of the TV network and a libel/slander/subversion charge of the FBI signed by J. Edgar Hoover, the film was censured. Then came the story with the former FBI Special Agent Robert Wall. The film was shot in only two days, the first together with his wife and family and the next day in Washington DC, where he had spied on people and institutions. In cold professional language Robert Wall describes how he surveilled Stokeley Carmichael, tried to break unity in peace march demonstrator groups by writing letters of infiltrating. La Lucha Continua (1972) A trip through the society of prisoners and jailers, transvestites, murderers, drunks and sadists. Film in the San Francisco County Jail over a 3-month period. This film portrays not only the faces and movements inside of a modern jail, but the society that evolves, one in which guards and jailers alike participate. Although there are candid scenes and frank interviews, many of the political statements made by the inmates sound forced. The soundtrack, completely recorded inside the jail itself, contains the most exciting dialogue and music ever produced by a prison documentary crew. First prizes on Ann Arbor and Berlin Film Festivals. The Jail (1972) Writer, producer, director Broadcast on WNET, (plus three educational films on Men and Women in the Correctional Facilities) for Harvard University Won first prize at Berlin and Ann Arbor Que Hacer (1971) A spy story-musical feature film that brilliantly weaves documentary coverage of the Allende election and turmoil afterwards, with a fast-moving story of political intrigue. A young woman Peace Corps worker becomes involved with a mysterious American 'businessman' and subsequently joins with Chilean revolutionaries. This Brechtian treatment of the Allende election and the imperial politics that intervenes in the Chilean affairs, features the songs and acting of Country Joe McDonald as well as President Allende himself. It was filmed on location during the historic elections of 1970. QUE HACER is still, after 28 years, a deliciously playful film, with a lot of cinematographic tricks and ingenous cutting, reminiscent of Godard's A BOUT DE SOUFFLE. Awards at Cannes, Venice and Mannheim. Conversation with Allende (1971) This interview was conducted shortly after the shooting of QUE HACER was finished and just after Allende won the Chilean elections of 1970, the first socialist president to be elected in a Latin American country. Throughout history no ruling class ever gives up its powers and privileges without a fight. But when the people know their goals they will defend them, defend their own power by any means necessary. Just three years later, General Pinochet overthrew the Allende government, with help from their powerful neighbor to the north. The people of Chile never stood a chance. Films available through Cinema Guild Brazil: Report on Torture (1971) Writer, producer, director Photographer: Haskell Wexler Fidel (1969) This documentary is a personal profile of Fidel Castro and a view of the developments since the revolution 10 years before. There is a lot of images of Fidel: listening to complaints, arguing, laughing and philosophizing. As he is traveling the countryside in a jeep with the filmcrew, he is trying to explain the Cuban revolutionary experience. There is beautiful footage of the Bay of Pigs invasion, and of Fidel and Che Guevara in the mountains. Also there are interviews with political prisoners. "The great quality of this remarkable film is that it is educational in the best possible sense. It gives you a feeling for what revolution - any revolution - is actually about, what it means in all its implications and how it affects the lives of the people. The task in making this film seems in retrospect to have been enormous and it is a tribute to the makers that they produced such an exciting and illuminating work. I found it completely absorbing from the start to finish. A tapistry for history" - Ralph Gleason, Rolling Stone Films available through Cinema Guild From Protest to Resistance (1968) This film captures the rapid changes in the students' movement that brought forth the pacifist antiwar movement, the free speech movement and the black power struggle. The film is full of street action, dialogues with draft dodgers in Canada, and antiwar activists in various milieus and activities. Horrific scenes of demonstrators lined up facing counter lines of police, youths overturning police cars and police charging, clubs flailing at demonstrators' heads. It's still fascinating to see and hear Stokeley Carmichael speaching, even after 30 years. Report from Cuba (1967), for PBS. Writer, producer, director Losing
just the same (1966) Landau's very first documentary is set
in a black ghetto, Oakland, San Francisco. It is the story of a
single black mother and her 10 children. The main character of the
film is 17-year-old Robert, just dropped out of school. When the
San Francisco riots break out, Robert joins the rioters. This trancelike
interval in the story conveys his hopes and aspirations, but also
the enormous walls that keep him captured. When the riots had burned
themselves out by the fall of 1966, the sober reality of ghetto
life forces itself on Robert and his family. What will be his destiny?
|
Bio |Books | Movies | Air | Articles | slandau@icg.org |