Must-Watch Films

Science for Peace Guelph - Films

The following is a list of the films that SforP Guelph both recommends and has access to, either now or sometime this year (some films have not yet been released). We own several of them, others are available from various SforP members and others are available through libraries. Most of these films will be screened at some point at the University of Guelph. We will point you in the direction of somewhere to obtain any of these films as long as the purpose is purely educational and it will be viewed privately in your own home. There will be no charge for home viewing but a small deposit may be required to ensure you return the material. Shipping costs apply in some cases. If you see a title that sounds interesting, please watch it with your friends or family. Email sforp@uoguelph.ca to ask about borrowing a film or to request that one be shown on campus.

The majority f the text below that describes the films is from the producers of the films and not written by SforP Guelph.

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The Take (2004, 85 min)

Official website: http://www.nfb.ca/thetake

Note: This film has not yet been released but will be coming to Guelph University in early 2005.

In the wake of Argentina’s spectacular economic collapse in 2001, Latin America’s most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act —the take —has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. Director/producer Avi Lewis (Counterspin) and writer/producer and renowned author Naomi Klein (No Logo) take viewers inside the lives of ordinary visionaries, as they reclaim their work, their dignity and their democracy.

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The End Of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream (2004, 80 min)

Website: http://www.endofsuburbia.com
Trailer: http://www.endofsuburbia.com/previews.htm

Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too the suburban way of life has become embedded in the American consciousness.Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream.

But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.

The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. What does Oil Peak mean for North America? As energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia?

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Liberty Bound (2004, 90 min)

Official website: http://www.libertybound.com

Liberty Bound takes an entertaining look at America’s ongoing struggle to keep a comfortable balance between democracy, capitalism, and fascism. This is a film about historic events that shape history. It is a film about courage and fear; ignorance and knowledge; propaganda and rhetoric.

Christine Rose sets out to answer these questions on her quest across America:

-What is fascism and why does that word increasingly appear in the alternative and foreign media when referencing the United States?
-Are we losing our civil liberties?
-Is our very constitution and Bill of Rights in jeopardy?
-Do Americans know what their government is doing?
-How much of the daily news is well-disguised propaganda?

Through original footage, archived footage, and interviews with people such as Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, and Michael Ruppert, Liberty Bound explores the state of the union and its ostensible move toward fascism. We talk with people who have been interrogated by the Secret Service and threatened with arrest for doing such benign things as sending an email, turning around during a Bush speech, and having a philosophical discussion on a train.

Christine also explores the unanswered questions surrounding the attacks of 9/11, and she takes a closer look at the timeline of that terrible day. She examines the US Government’s reasons for going to war with Afghanistan and Iraq. She also delves into the accusations that the Bush Administration knew about the 9/11 attacks and their warlike agenda is actually centered on oil.

Finally, she studies the elements of previous empires and fascist states as compared to recent occurrences in the United States: the loss of civil liberties, police brutality, homeland security, etc.

Liberty Bound leaves us with the question: “Is the United States bound for liberty – or does it just have liberty bound?

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The Origins of AIDS (2004, 60 min)

Official website: http://www.galafilm.com
CBC showed this film: http://www.cbc.ca/witness/originsofaids/film.html

The Origins of AIDS aired Wednesday, June 30, 2004 at 8 p.m. on CBC Television's WITNESS. The critically acclaimed documentary also won a Silver Hugo Award at the Chicago Television Festival and Best Director at the 2004 Hot Docs.

Did scientists inadvertently cause the AIDS epidemic? The Origins of Aids is a compelling exploration of a largely ignored theory of how AIDS was introduced to the human population. The deadliest disease known to mankind may have been the final legacy of colonialism.

More than 20 years after the AIDS epidemic started, we still do not know its origins. We know for sure that AIDS was born from contact between humans and chimpanzees infected by the Simian Immuno-deficiency Virus (SIV), a virus very similar to HIV (Human Immuno-deficiency Virus). But where, when and how did this devastating contact occur?

Many believe that the answer is hidden in the research undertaken by scientist Hilary Koprowski to find a cure to the polio epidemic. Between 1957 and 1960, Koprowski injected his experimental vaccine into almost one million Africans. To manufacture his vaccine, Koprowski had to use monkeys, and evidence shows that Koprowski used chimpanzees.

The scientific community is torn by dissension around this extraordinary controversy. As the scientific community's ethical responsibilities are called into question, the debate over the origins of AIDS rages on.

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The Corporation (2003, 145 min)

Official website: http://www.thecorporation.tv
Trailer: http://www.thecorporation.tv/trailer

One hundred and fifty years ago, the corporation was a relatively insignificant entity. Today, it is a vivid, dramatic and pervasive presence in all our lives. Like the Church, the Monarchy and the Communist Party in other times and places, the corporation is today’s dominant institution. But history humbles dominant institutions. All have been crushed, belittled or absorbed into some new order. The corporation is unlikely to be the first to defy history. In this complex and highly entertaining documentary, Mark Achbar, co-director of the influential and inventive MANUFACTURING CONSENT: NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE MEDIA, teams up with co-director Jennifer Abbott and writer Joel Bakan to examine the far-reaching repercussions of the corporation’s increasing preeminence. Based on Bakan’s book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, the film is a timely, critical inquiry that invites CEOs, whistle-blowers, brokers, gurus, spies, players, pawns and pundits on a graphic and engaging quest to reveal the 4corporation’s inner workings, curious history, controversial impacts and possible futures. Featuring illuminating interviews with Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Howard Zinn and many others, THE CORPORATION charts the spectacular rise of an institution aimed at achieving specific economic goals as it also recounts victories against this apparently invincible force.

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Canada: Yes or No? Towards Election 2004 (2003, 80 min)
Featuring Mel Hurtig

This video, which contains new information that has become available since Mel Hurtig's 2002 best-seller The Vanishing Country was published, documents the overwhelming amount of foreign ownership which has swamped Canada, and the remarkable economic damage done to Canada by the FTA and NAFTA. It also identifies "The Radical Right", a Canadian plutocracy which is lobbying to quickly move us towards even more American ownership, standards, policies, and values.

Watch this film for FREE online right now at: http://www.vivelecanada.ca/downloads/Canada-Yes-or-No.rm
More info: http://www.vivelecanada.ca/staticpages/index.php?page=20031214230943175

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War and Globalisation: The Truth Behind September 11 (2003, 120 min)

In this timely study, Michel Chossudovsky (professor of economics at the University of Ottawa) blows away the smokescreen, put up by the mainstream media, that 9-11 was an "intelligence failure". Through meticulous research, the author uncovers a military-intelligence ploy behind the September 11 attacks, and the coverup and complicity of key members of the Bush Administration.

According to Chossudovsky, the so-called "war on terrorism" is a complete fabrication based on the illusion that one man, Osama bin Laden, outwitted the $30 billion-a-year American intelligence apparatus.

The "war on terrorism" is a war of conquest. Globalisation is the final march to the "New World Order", dominated by Wall Street and the U.S. military-industrial complex.

September 11, 2001 was the moment the Bush Administration had been waiting for, the so-called "useful crisis" which provided a pretext for waging a war without borders.

The hidden agenda consists in extending the frontiers of the American Empire right around the world to facilitate complete U.S. corporate control outside the U.S. and a police state on the inside.

Chossudovsky peels back the layers of rhetoric to reveal a huge hoax — a complex web of deceit aimed at tricking the American people and the rest of the world into accepting a military solution which threatens the future of humanity.

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No Logo: Brands, Globalization, Resistance (2003, 40 min)

Official website + trailer: http://www.mediaed.org/videos/CommercialismPoliticsAndMedia/NoLogo
Also see: http://www.nologo.org
View a similar film online: http://members.tripod.com/the_english_dept/logo/nologofilm.htm

Using hundreds of media examples, No Logo shows how the commercial takeover of public space, destruction of consumer choice, and replacement of real jobs with temporary work (the dynamics of corporate globalization) impact everyone, everywhere. It also draws attention to the democratic resistance arising globally to challenge the hegemony of brands. Based on the book by Naomi Klein.

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Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003, 90 min)

Website: http://www.sonyclassics.com/fogofwar
Trailer: http://videodetective.com/home.asp?PublishedID=846203
Also see: http://www.errolmorris.com

It is the story of America as seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara. One of the most controversial and influential figures in world politics, he takes us on an insider's view of the seminal events of the 20th Century. Why was this past Century the most destructive and deadly in all of human history? Are we doomed to repeat our mistakes? Are we free to make choices, or are we at the mercy of inexorable historical forces and ideologies?

From the firebombing of 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo in 1945 to the brink of nuclear catastrophe during the Cuban missile crisis to the
devastating effects of the Vietnam War, The Fog of War examines the psychology and reasoning of the government decision-makers who send men to war. How were decisions made and for what reason? What can we learn from these historical events?

As American forces occupy Iraq and the possibility of additional military conflict looms large, The Fog of War is essential viewing for anyone who wants to understand how the American government justifies the use of military force. Combining extraordinary archival footage, recreations, newly declassified White House recordings, and an original score by the Oscar nominated composer, Philip Glass, the film is a disquieting and powerful essay on war, rationality, and human nature.

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Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers (2003, 50 min)

Info & trailer (Quicktime): http://www.atmo.se/zino.aspx?articleID=382
Trailers (flash): http://www.atmo.se/zino.aspx?articleID=402

Consumer confidence has been low since September 11. A successful war against Iraq was supposed to be the only way to restore that confidence - and our happiness. But is shopping our salvation? Do we have a choice? Why is the lifestyle of consumerism a source of such rage today? How come the privilege of buying goods does not automatically lead to happiness? Why all this emptiness despite our wealth?

Surplus’ approach is to portray this issue from an emotional rather than a factual perspective: in the US, India, China, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, Canada and Cuba. George W Bush’s famous "shopping-speech" calling for a war against terrorism that deters the nation from the fear of consumption. Castro responding with hymns to the anti-consumerist, advertising-free island of
Cuba. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer preaching that the computer will give us peace on earth ‘bringing people together’ while Adbuster Kalle Lasn warns that advertising pollutes us mentally, that over-consumption is unsustainable and that we are running out of oil.

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Arsenal of Hypocrisy (2003, 60 min)

Official website: http://www.arsenalofhypocrisy.com

Bruce Gagnon, Noam Chomsky and Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell talk aboutthe dangers of moving the arms race into space. The one-hour productionfeatures archival footage, Pentagon documents, and outlines the U.S. planto "control and dominate" space and the Earth below. The video spells out thedangers of the Bush "Nuclear Systems Initiative" that will expand the use ofnuclear power in space by building Project Prometheus -- the nuclear rocket.

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Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War (2003, 60 min)

Official website: www.truthuncovered.com
Watch this for FREE online now: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6423.htm

This controversial and arresting film takes you behind the walls of government, as CIA, Pentagon and foreign service experts speak out, many for the first time, detailing the lies, misstatements and exaggerations that served as the reasons to fight a "preemptive" war that wasn't necessary. The war with Iraq brought about unparalleled resistance, both in the streets and in the chambers of government. This documentary offers an in-depth look at the unsettling distortion of intelligence and the "spin and hype" presented to the American people, the Congress and the press. Fighting wars to bring about regime change is in breach of international law. Yet, throughout the fall of 2002, and into the weeks preceding the war in Iraq, the Bush administration systematically distorted intelligence evidence and misled the public in order to turn opinion in favor of "regime change" in Iraq.

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Whose University Is It? (2003, 50 min)

When the boardroom takes on the brain trust and the students wind up in jail, you have to ask whose university is it? Using Trent as an example, this documentary poses that very question as it examines how the values of the free market are destroying our universities. Once a place of ideas they are now becoming businesses where visionaries are being replaced by administrators and students are being reduced to lowly consumers. Trent is not a very large school. It is not near to any major urban center. But what is happening there will have an impact on the future of all universities across the country. The movie documents the passionate struggle of a community determined to resist the corporatisation of their university campus.

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AfterMath: Unanswered Questions from 9/11 (2002, 35 min film + 90 min of extra material)

Official website + trailers: http://gnn.tv/after_math

In this investigative documentary, Former Inspector General of the Dept. of Transportation and attorney Mary Schiavo, UC Professor Emeritus Peter Dale Scott, author and professor Michel Chossudovsky, From the Wilderness' Mike Ruppert, and author Nafeez Ahmed, among others, raise critical, unresolved questions surrounding the tragedy of September 11. AfterMath investigates the troubling span of issues that have arisen since the attacks, including: the negligence of military officials in immediately reacting to the hijackings, proven links between the hijackers, Pakistani intelligence (ISI) and the CIA, the role of oil in the Eurasian conflict and, finally, the impact of post-911 legislation on American civil liberties.

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The Carlyle Connection (2003, 60 min)

Film info: http://portal.omroep.nl/nossites?nav=annyHsHjCqBtEyGzGeC

A revealing documentary about the international world of private equity banking The Carlyle Group, one of the largest investment banks in the world, is based in Washington and has accumulated its capital mainly by investments in the defence industry. On their list of employees are people like Lou Gerstner (former chairman of IBM), George Bush Sr., James Baker III, John Major (former British Prime Minister) and Fidel Ramos (former Prime Minister of the Philipines).

The Carlyle Group invests in areas that are closely tied to government policy: aero space and defense, telecom, real estate, health care and the banking business. With 16 billion dollar under management they have the reputation of being the best-connected company in the world. Their list of private investors include George Soros, the Saudi Royal Family and the Bin Laden Family.

How does the Carlyle Group operate, who are the people behind the Carlyle Group and how much power does Carlyle have? This film explores the fine line between the conflict of interests and a new global way of doing business.

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Invisible War: Depleted Uranium and the Politics of Radiation (2002, 65 min)

Trailer: http://webhome.primus.ca/gwishart/invisible.ram

An excellent report on the attempts to expose the destructive effects of Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons which were heavily used for the first time in the 1991 Gulf War and later in Bosnia, Serbia, and Kosovo. The video features testimonies from Gulf War veterans detailing their ailments. Although there were less than 200 casualties from warfare, 250,000 veterans out of 700,000 have developed medical problems since 1991. There are presentations by science researchers about the toxic DU features, and how exposure to them are associated with increased levels of cancer and birth deformities. Explains that DU is a radioactive weapon with a shelf life of 4 1/2 billion years that continues to injure civilians who touch the remaining charred tanks and bullets. Claims that private US clean-up crews are secretly removing destroyed tanks in Kuwait, and it took 3 years to remove 24 tanks. Many contaminated tanks still remain littering the roads. Claims that research has been continually thwarted by US agencies and the Pentagon whose representatives claim repeatedly in the video that DU is safe. Points out that there have been Congressional hearings, Congressional orders for military research (1993) that never materialized, a conference in Baghdad (1998) with international scientific participation, a UN Commission that was unable to access requested US reports, and many investigation attempts, but there are still no conclusive published reports on DU. Includes footage of planes, explosions, wreckage, and agonizing photos of deformed babies. The information and production are excellent.

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The Weather Underground (2002, 90 min)

Official website: http://www.upstatefilms.org/weather/main.html

In October 1969 hundreds of young people, clad in football helmets and wielding lead pipes, marched through an upscale Chicago shopping district, pummeling parked cars and smashing shop windows in their path.

This was the first demonstration of the Weather Underground's "Days of Rage." Outraged by the Vietnam War and racism in America, the organization waged a low-level war against the U.S. government through much of the 1970s, bombing the Capitol building, breaking Timothy Leary out of prison, and evading one of the largest FBI manhunts in history.

The Weather Underground is a feature-length documentary that explores the rise and fall of this radical movement, as former members speak candidly about the idealistic passion that drove them to "bring the war home" and the trajectory that placed them on the FBI's most wanted list. ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE • BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

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Helen Caldicott: The New Nuclear Danger (2002, 40 min)

Helen Caldicott on Democracy Now talking about her book: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/0256245
Audio: http://stream.realimpact.net/rihurl.ram?file=webactive/demnow//dn20020418.ra&start=46:12.1

Helen Caldicott (a Nobel Peace Prize nominee) gives a passionate lecture on her book (The New Nuclear Danger: George W Bush's Military Industrial Complex) detailing some aspects of the current nuclear danger generated by the “nuclear cowboys” in the Bush administration, the power of the Pentagon, Lockheed Martin, and the Heritage Foundation “that runs the country”. She discusses the half-trillion spent on “death”, Star Wars and the plans for the US militarization of space with orbiting hydrogen bombs, and how scientists are testing plutonium underneath the desert. She discusses 9/11, “where were the courts?”. and our attack on Afganistan as “cyberspace genocide” to test our new weapons which she details. She is convinced Bush will use bombs in Iraq and that Israel lies in waiting with its 200 nuclear weapons. She gives a brief history how no one took control of the development of nuclear weapons, and in 1995, because of a mistake in Norway, we were 10 seconds away from nuclear war. She is appalled that the US does not offer free health and education. She hopes the people will lead a new revolution to end the nuclear age. Information is good and the production is excellent. (Helen Caldicott was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Guelph, among many others).

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Toxic Sludge Is Good For You (2002, 45 min)

Official website + trailer: http://www.mediaed.org/videos/CommercialismPoliticsAndMedia/ToxicSludge

While advertising is the visible component of the corporate system, perhaps even more important and pervasive is its invisible partner, the public relations industry. This video illuminates this hidden sphere of our culture and examines the way in which the management of 'the public mind' has become central to how our democracy is controlled by political and economic elites. It illustrates how much of what we think of as independent, unbiased news and information has its origins in the boardrooms of public relations companies. The video analyzes the tools public relations professionals use to shift our perceptions including a look at the coordinated PR campaign to slip genetically engineered food past public scrutiny.

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Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002, 50 min)

Official website: http://unprecedented.org
Watch film for FREE online here: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5278.htm

Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election is the riveting story about the battle for the Presidency in Florida and the undermining of democracy in America. Filmmakers Richard Ray Pérez and Joan Sekler examine modern America's most controversial political contest: the election of George W. Bush. What emerges is a disturbing picture of an election marred by suspicious irregularities, electoral injustices, and sinister voter purges in a state governed by the winning candidate's brother. George W. Bush stole the presidency of the United States… and got away with it. " …the movie highlights those on the front lines —from the African-Americans who were turned away from the polling booths for assorted reasons. In one memorable scene the filmmakers freeze-frame a 'protest' against the ballot recount, identifying participants as staff members of Republican elected officials." --Elaine Dutka, Los Angeles Times

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Distorted Morality: America's War on Terror? (2002, 115 min)
Starring Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky: Distorted Morality - America's War on Terror? features scholar

Noam Chomsky presenting his thesis before an audience at Harvard University on

February 6, 2002. He provides logical support for his argument against the

U.S. government's proposed war on terror. Using thoughtful analysis and cited
sources, Chomsky reveals instances where the U.S. government has favored
terrorism in order to achieve its own means. Following the speech, he engages

in an hour-long Q & A session in which he defends his position.


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Hidden Wars of Desert Storm Video (2002, 65 min)

Official website: http://www.hiddenwars.com

A fast- paced documentary presenting a strong point of view. The first part concentrates primarily on the history of US relations with Iraq from post World War 11 through the Gulf War in 1991, although there is only slight mention of the Iran-Iraq War, how the US hid the fact of its giving arms to Iran, and how agricultural money given to Iraq was used for arms. The history focuses on the US attempt to control the Middle East oil fields after World War 11, and in response to both Iran’s and Iraq’s subsequent move to nationalize their resources, the US took political action to keep control, including backing a coup bringing Hussein to power in 1968, and supporting him until l972 when he nationalized the oil fields. From then on Saddam was demonized allowing the US to gain influence in the Middle East. The Gulf war promoted enormous US arms sales, and a US military base in Saudi Arabia by lying about Iraq threats to the Saudi borders. The US kept Hussein in power by not supporting his opposition groups. Saddam is a convenient “devil” because we can then justify US presence in Middle East countries that do not welcome us. Iraqis are the losers. The video points to the devastating effects of the embargo with many photos of dying children in hospitals that have inadequate medical supplies. The video ends with focus on DU, depleted uranium, used in the Gulf War, and its ongoing destructive effects on both US veterans and Iraqi civilians. The Pentagon was unwilling to warn the troops to take necessary precautions, it denies that the veterans have associated problems, and it attempts to suppress research on the subject. The video recommends the UN create an oversight panel to deal with violations of international law. The production is excellent with footage and interviews with prominent personalities, Schwarzkopf, Ramsey Clark, and Scott Ritter. (SforP actually only has the uncut source material - 6 hours - at this time but we are trying to get the edited version)

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The Great Deception: The War on Terrorism - An Alternative View (2002, 40 min)

Media critic Barrie Zwicker, the host of VisionTV Insight: Mediafile, is one of the few North American journalists to offer an alternative viewpoint on the Sept. 11 tragedy. In this provocative six-part series of Mediafile commentaries, he challenges the official explanation for the attacks and considers the troubling implications of America’s new war.

Poring over a wealth of published material, Zwicker finds much that has gone unexamined – from the apparent breakdown of American air defenses on Sept. 11, to the longstanding ties between U.S. intelligence and Osama bin Laden. He also takes a hard look at the actions of President George W. Bush in the midst of the crisis. And he ventures to ask what role U.S. oil interests may have played in these events.

Zwicker’s carefully researched analysis has prompted more e-mails, letters and phone calls than any single program in the VisionTV’s history. Ultimately, it compels the viewer to ponder the unanswered question: Whose interests are really served by the “war on terrorism”?

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Power And Terror: Noam Chomsky In Our Times (2002, 70 min)

Official website + trailer: http://www.powerandterror.com

Power and Terror presents the latest in Noam Chomsky's thinking, through a lengthy interview and a series of public talks that he gave in New York and California during the spring of 2002. As he has done countless times since September 11, he places the terrorist attacks in the context of American foreign intervention throughout the postwar decades - in Vietnam, Central America, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Beginning with the fundamental principle that the exercise of violence against civilian populations is terror, regardless of whether the perpetrator is a well-organized band of Muslim extremists or a powerful state, Chomsky - in stark and uncompromising terms - challenges the United States to apply to its own actions the moral standards it demands of others. What emerges from the footage is a compelling portrait of the activist intellectual, who has been called the "rebel without a pause" by Bono, lead singer of the band U2. His is arguably the most important voice of dissent in the United States today.

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Gaza Strip (2002, 75 min)

Website: http://www.littleredbutton.com/gaza
Slideshow: (click on first image) http://www.littleredbutton.com/gaza/index2.html
Film info: http://www.globalvisionsfestival.com/2002/gaza_strip.php

Gaza Strip is a heart wrenching portrayal of a population under siege. American director James Longley took his camera to the Gaza Strip in early 2001 to record a side of the Israeli/Palestinian struggle he felt was not being represented in the US media. His principal subject is a 13-year-old newsboy, Mohammed Hejazi, who is the main support of his family and whose main recreation is playing chicken with Israeli tanks—a game at which a number of his friends have already been killed.

The film is filmed almost entirely in a verite style, presented without narration and with little explanation, focusing on ordinary Palestinians rather than politicians and pundits. More observation than political argument, Gaza Strip offers a bleak look inside the stark realities of Palestinian life and death under Israeli military occupation from the perspective of the Arab on the street.

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Drug Deals: The Brave New World Of Prescription Drugs (2001, 50 min)

Official website: http://www.onf.ca/drugdeals

Drug Deals provides an in-depth investigation into the impact that industrial funding may be having on the goals and ethics of medicine. A bereaved father's search for answers leads us into the "brave new world of prescription drugs". On March 19, 2000 a 15-year-old high school student named Vanessa Young collapsed of cardiac arrest in her father's study. The next day she was pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed that there was nothing wrong with Vanessa's heart and that the only drug in her system was the exact prescribed dose of a heartburn medication called Cisapride. One week after Vanessa's death, the FDA withdrew Cisapride from the market citing a "rare but serious" risk of life threatening heart disorders.

Drug Deals examines the degree to which universities, hospitals, doctors, researchers and health protection agencies all find themselves increasingly influenced by the power and money behind the pharmaceutical industry. And it follows the families and their tragic struggle to make sense of a system, which sometimes seems to be putting dollars before lives.

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Fidel: The Untold Story (2001, 90 min)

The new documentary film by Estela Bravo, Fidel, offers a unique opportunity to view the man through exclusive interviews with Castro himself, historians, public figures and close friends, with footage from the Cuban State archives. Alice Walker, Harry Belafonte, and Sydney Pollack discuss the personality of the man. Former and current US government figures including Arthur Schlesinger, Ramsey Clark, Wayne Smith, Congressman Charles Rangel and a former CIA agent offer political and historical perspectives on Castro and the long-standing US embargo against Cuba. Family members and close friends, including Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, offer a window into the personal life of Fidel. Bravo's camera captures him swimming with bodyguards, visiting his childhood home and school, joking with Nelson Mandela, Ted Turner and Muhammad Ali, meeting Elian Gonzalez, and celebrating his birthday with members of the Buena Vista Social Club.

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Truth and Lies of 9-11 (2001, 140 min)

Ever since the horrifying deaths of thousands on September 11, in the attacks on the World Trade towers and the Pentagon, disturbing questions have been raised about the possible involvement of some parts of the U.S. security apparatus or Administration. These questions have been supported by extensive circumstantial evidence and are currenly being investigated by several U.S. Congressional Committees. Furthermore, the U.S. media have reported on the well known relationship which exists between President George W. Bush, the Carlyle Group, several oil companies and the Bin Laden Family. As yet, there is not conclusive proof either of the correctness or error of such allegations with respect to potential U.S. involement in the events of September 11, 2001. The film records a lecture Michel Ruppert gave in Portland State University on November 28, 2001. It goes over much of the evidence and the known relationships between some of the principle figures using verifiable sources for his statements.

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The Hidden Story: Confronting Columbia's Dirty War (2001, 30 min)

The media has had a powerful influence in shaping Colombia's international image. However, camouflaged by its fascination with drug violence are human rights violations the media has largely ignored. The Hidden story analyses the roots of the conflict, the role of the US-sponsored Plan Colombia as well as Canada's connection to the crisis.

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The Genetic Takeover Or Mutant Food (2000, 50 min)

Have we become unwitting guinea pigs for multinationals who blithely disregard millions of years of evolution? Genetically modified plants have become part of our daily diet and are already found in 75% of processed foods. This revolution has occurred without consumer awareness or knowledge of potential risks to our health and to the environment, despite vigorous condemnation from many scientists and farmers of the absence of independent, adequate testing. In response to consumer demands, many European and Asian countries have instituted mandatory labelling of genetically modified foods, but North America has been slow to react.

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The Secret History Of WWII Science (2000, 22 min)

During World War II, Canada and the National Research Council played an important, but secretive role in the war effort, putting the sciences of life into the service of death. Frederick Banting was entrusted with biomedical research and directed labs whose activities even today send chills up our spines. The Banting and Best Institute inherited several helpful military research projects: High altitude problems with aviators, and seasickness with mariners. But Canada became the Allied stronghold in the development of chemical and bacterial weapons. Under the utmost secrecy, testing on mustard gas exposure was carried out on animals and on human guinea pigs. The isolated, abandoned immigrant quarantine station at Grosse Île became the biological war station of the Allies, where anthrax was mass produced.

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Wall Street's War for Drug Money (2000, 100 minutes)

After two years Mike's first professional quality video is a live lecture for

the USC School of International Relations on 12/08/00. This is a quantum leap

in FTW's information and understanding about how drug money permeates Wall
Street and why a Colombian Vietnam is both inevitable and essential to stave

off a huge economic crash. "If you get nothing else, get this. It will change
your life and it may save lives." Mike Ruppert
http://www.fromthewilderness.com

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The Awful Truth - The Complete First Season (2000, 6 hours)

Check out http://michaelmoore.com

From the acclaimed filmmaker who brought you Roger & Me comes the most daring documentary show to hit the American Public since Moore’s TV Nation. Michael Moore, hailed by the New York Times as a modern-day Mark Twain, is at it again with the show that was shut down by the mayor of NYC, got Moore sued by a wealthy industrialist, and landed his Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken in Disney World’s very own jail. Shot in his signature guerilla video style, each half hour episode is filled with scathingly funny observations that bridge comedy and controversy and places Moore in the middle of today’s hot topics.

This is the complete first season of Michael Moore's cable TV show called The Aweful Truth. There are twelve 30-minute episodes per season and we have both seasons.

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What I've Learned About U.S. Foreign Policy - a compilation by Frank Dorrel (2000, 120 min)
Subtitled: CIA Covert Operations and US military Interventions Since WWII: The War Against the Third World

Official website: http://www.addictedtowar.com/dorrel.html

A compilation of excerpts from 10 different professional documentaries, edited by Frank Dorrel.
1. Public speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. (3 min) for civil rights and against the US war in Vietnam.
2. Interview with John Stockwell, former CIA Station Chief (6 min), who gives a short history of CIA covert operations and estimates that over 6 million people have died in CIA covert actions.
3. "The Secret Government" (22 min) by Bill Moyers (aired on PBS in 1987). Moyers interviews many different people involved with the CIA and other government agencies providing an overview of the CIA history.
4. "Coverup: Behind the Iran-Contra Affair" (23 min) directed by Barbara Trent (about Pentagon, arms sale, drugs trafficking).
5. "School of Assassins" (13 min) narrated by Susan Sarandon and features Father Roy Bourgeois, talking about School of America (Fort Benning, Georgia, USA) and its graduates.
6. "Genocide by Sanctions" (13 min) produced by Gloria La Riva, features former Attorney General of the United States, Ramsey Clark, as he goes to Iraq.
7. "Genocides in Indonesia and East Timor" (4 min) by Amy Goodman, journalist and host of "Democracy Now" on Pacifica's WBAI FM Radio in New York. She is talking about two genocides Indonesia has committed. First against it's own people in 1965, then against the people of East Timor in 1975. Both of these mass slaughters were sanctioned by the United States government and aided by the CIA.
8. "The Panama Deception" (20 min) directed by Barbara Trent. How the US attacked Panama and killed 3 or 4 thousand people in an invasion that the rest of the world was against.

9. Public speech of Ramsey Clark (7 min), former Attorney General of the United States (1998, Los Angeles, evening "Save the Iraqi Children"), the sorry truth about US foreign policy.
10. "The healing of Brian Wilson" (10 min), the Vietnam veteran, who Wages Peace against US foreign policies.

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Falun Gong: The Real Story (1999, 30 min)

Website: http://www.falundafa.org

A brief presentation of the Chinese spiritual movement founded in l992 by Li Hongzhi based on Buddist and Taoist principles. China reversed its tolerant attitude in 1999 after 10,000 non-violent protesters assembled in Beijing and received world publicity. The practice was banned, books burned, practitioners detained, jailed and tortured. The video includes speeches of Li Hongzhi who resides in the US, testimonies of those who claim improved health from the practice, and people exercising throughout the world. The video suggests that China feels threatened by the millions attracted to Falun Gong.

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Coverup - Behind the Iran-Contra Affair (1988, 90 min)

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The Iran-Contra scandal was not an aberration - it was part of a pattern of abuses of power by a
shadow government willing to subvert domestic and international law to ensure the United States' continued global dominance. Coverup is an investigative documentary about world-wide covert activities backed by the U.S. Government. . .activities that were not revealed by the Iran-Contra Hearings of the U.S. Congress. It wades in where the official hearings were afraid to tread, revealing a tangled web of political leaders, international drug smugglers, weapons dealers, hostages, assassinations, the C.I.A. and the effect of covert U.S. foreign policy on people thoughout the world. More: http://www.webslingerz.com/eclauset/mediasouth/project/cu/

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Advertising & the End of the World (1998, 50 min)

Official website + trailer: http://www.mediaed.org/videos/CommercialismPoliticsAndMedia/Advertising_EndOfWorld

This film is about how advertising is driving the coming environmental crisis by pushing us constantly towards consumer goods to satisfy our needs for love, friendship and autonomy. What it will take for us to leave a world fit for human habitation for future generations. Advertising & the End of the World features an illustrated presentation by Sut Jhally of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Focusing directly on the world of commercial images, he asks some basic questions about the cultural messages emanating from this market-based view of the world: Do our present arrangements deliver what they claim-- happiness and satisfaction? Can we think about our collective as well as our private interests? And, can we think long-term as well as short-term? Drawing from the broad arena of commercial imagery, and utilizing sophisticated graphics, Advertising & the End of the World addresses the issues these questions raise, encouraging viewers to reflect on their own participation in the culture of consumption. Making the connection between society's high-consumption lifestyle and the coming environmental crisis, Jhally forces us to evaluate the physical and material costs of the consumer society and how long we can maintain our present level of production.

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Metal Of Dishonor: Depleted Uranium, the Pentagon's Secret Weapon (1998, 50 min) *****