LOS ANGELES, CA– In February, the World Bank issued this stunning report: the spreading global economic crisis is set to trap up to 53 million more people in poverty in developing countries bringing the total of those living on less than $2 a day to over 1.5 billion. This dynamic, where the rich are bailed out - or carried by - the poor is the focal point of a new documentary film directed by Philippe Diaz, which has been impressing critics and economic justice activists worldwide and will be released in US theatres nationwide. The documentary will open in Los Angeles on November 25 (at Laemmle’s Monica 4Plex & Culver Plaza Theatre) after grossing $12,500 over three days in New York at the City Cinemas Village East.
Award-winning actor and activist, Martin Sheen, provides the narration for THE END OF POVERTY? that connects the dots from colonialism to modern times in an indictment of the creation of the free market system - the system now blamed for the worst global recession in decades.
After premiering at Critics’ Week during the Cannes Film Festival and subsequently invited to over twenty-five international film festivals, the film will open in New York City on November 13, 2009, and in Los Angeles on November 25, 2009 with a platform release to include runs in Portland (OR), San Francisco (CA), Seattle (WA), Austin (TX), and Denver (CO) with additional markets to follow including Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Atlanta.
“There has been a lot of dialogue in the last few years about ‘the end of poverty’ with technology or micro-financing positioned as the new ‘solution,’” says filmmaker Diaz. “For example, economists such as Jeffrey Sachs cheerfully suggest that poverty can be ended with increased transfers of capital and technology (such as improved mosquito nets), the film shows why that kind of thinking is simplistic at best, harmful at worst. More foreign aid does nothing to rectify the cumulative problems from centuries of exploitation."
Filmed in the slums of Africa to the barrios of Latin America, THE END OF POVERTY? explores how the true causes of poverty stem from actions taken during and since colonial times to perpetuate exploitation: first by forcing people from their land and their access to natural resources, then through unfair trade, debt repayment and unjust taxes on labor and consumption. This system was carefully built and maintained by free market policies, resource monopolies and structural adjustment programs by the World Bank, the IMF and other international financial institutions.
The documentary features: Nobel prize winners in economics Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz; expert authors Susan George (“Another World Is Possible If”), Eric Toussaint (“The World Bank: A Never Ending Coup d’Etat”), John Perkins (“Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”), Chalmers Johnson (“Nemesis: The Last Days of the America Republic”), Brookings Institute fellow and author, William Easterly (“White Man’s Burden”); government ministers such as Bolivia’s Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, and leaders of social movements in Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Kenya and Tanzania.
The film has been embraced by activists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide for its ‘direct talk’ about the role of debt, free trade, and neo-liberal policies and poverty. Groups including: Action Aid Greece, Amnesty UK, ATTAC (Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions to Aid Citizens), CADTM (Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt), Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), InterAction, Jubilee Debt Campaign, Jubilee USA, Jubilee Australia, Make Poverty History, Share the World’s Resources (STWR), Tax Justice Network, Transnational Institute, and the UN Millennium Campaign have screened the films as part of their anti-poverty campaigns in the past year.
Synopsis: Narrated by Martin Sheen, The End of Poverty? is a daring, thought-provoking and very timely documentary by award-winning filmmaker, Philippe Diaz, revealing that poverty is not an accident. It began with military conquest, slavery and colonization that resulted in the seizure of land, minerals and forced labor. Today, global poverty has reached new levels because of unfair debt, trade and tax policies -- in other words, wealthy countries exploiting the weaknesses of poor, developing countries such that today 20% of the planet's population uses 80% of its resources and consumes 30% more than the planet can regenerate. (Produced & distributed by Cinema Libre Studio with the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, 104mins, 2008, USA, documentary in English, Spanish, and French with English Subtitles. Learn more at www.theendofpoverty.com)
View trailer at website or online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRZnEBFYNS0
Theatrical roll-out includes the following theatres/cities: Opened 11/13 in NEW YORK (City Cinemas Village East Cinema ); Starts Wednesday 11/25 in LOS ANGELES (Laemmle’s Monica 4 Plex & Culver Plaza Theatres); Widens 12/4 to PORTLAND, OR (Living Room Theaters), SAN FRANCISCO (4 Star Theatre), SEATTLE, WA (Regal Meridian 16); and on 12/8 to AUSTIN, TX (Regal Arbor Cinema) and Denver, CO (Regal Arbor Cinema at Great Hills)
About Cinema Libre Studio:
Cinema Libre Studio has been a leader in the distribution social issue films that tackle timely issues. The company is a haven for independent filmmakers offering one-stop shopping for production and distribution. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company is best known for distributing social-issue documentaries that include: Outfoxed, Uncovered, WMD: Weapon’s of Mass Deception, Darfur Diaries, The Future of Food, A River of Waste, Desert Bayou and The Beautiful Truth. The company has recently released the films of French auteur Jean-Jacques Beineix and has partnered with Iranian director, Masoud Jafari Jozani, to bring the first film crew to shoot in US since the Iranian revolution. For more information, please visit www.cinemalibrestudio.com.
