‘The Images of Globalization’

‘Images of Globalization’, a film festival with award winning documentaries will be held at the BMICH Cinema Hall on February 15, 16, 18, 19 and 20.

The festival is a part of a series of events that has been organized by ‘Red Chilli Collective’ with the intention of taking the public on a journey through the different facets of globalization.

The world renowned documentary films such as ‘The Take’ ‘The Corporation’, ‘The Yes Men’, ‘Thirst’, ‘Surplus’, 'Darwin's Nightmare’ and and 'Life and Debt’ will be screened accordingly with two shows per day at 4.00 pm and 6.00 pm. ‘'The Take' is the winner of Grand Jury Prize of the Los Angeles International Film Festival 2004 and also won the award for the Best Documentary at the Cleveland International Film Festival. Till 2001 Argentina was considered one of the best success stories of market liberalization by the IMF. With the dramatic economic collapse in 2001 Latin America's most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. Directed by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan, 'The Corporation' looks at the rise of the corporate body as having the legal status of a "person" -- albeit with no conscience -- and its collective psychopathic raping of the planets' people and resources due to a greed-based bottom-line motivation. The film also touches on more recent trends within the corporate world to awaken morally and infuse ethics into the equation, to halt and then reverse the past damages that have been inflicted. 'The Yes Men' was awarded the Best Documentary at the US Comedy Arts Festival.

By adopting an innovative approach of resisting market liberalization Andy and Mike develop a website similar to the site of the World Trade Organisation. Some visitors don't notice the site is a fake, and send speaking invitations meant for the real WTO.
A character-driven documentary with no narration, 'Thirst' reveals how the debate over water rights between communities and corporations can serve as a catalyst for explosive and steadfast resistance to globalization.

'Surplus' (Terrorized Into Being Consumers) is a 2003 Swedish documentary film on consumerism and anti-consumerism, created by director Erik Gandini and editor Johan Söderberg.

It opens with footage of the protests at the 27th G8 summit in Genoa and centers on the views of anarcho-primitivist John Zerzan. Zerzan has written several books and numerous articles questioning various aspects of civilization taken for granted - such as time, progress, culture, technology, even language.

'Darwin's Nightmare' is a 2004 film written and directed by Hubert Sauper. It was nominated for Best Documentary Film at the 78th Academy Awards.

The film starts with a Soviet made Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane's landing in an airfield in Tanzania, near Lake Victoria. The plane came from Europe and came to ship processed meat of Nile Perch back to Europe.

'Life and Debt' is a 2001 documentary film directed by Stephanie Black. It examines the economic and social situation in Jamaica, and specifically the impact thereon of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank's globalization policies. Its starting point is the award-winning non-fiction text A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid.

In addition to the film festival, an exhibition of art and book exhibition is now being progress at the National Art Gallery.

The art exhibition comprises a collection of artworks done by Jagath Weerasinghe, Anoli Perera, Prasanna Ranabahu, Pradeep Chandrasiri, Pala Pothupitiya, Arjuna Gunaratne, Janananda Laksiri, Tisath Thoradeniya, Anura Krishantha, Torin Chandrasekera, Pradeep Thalawatte and Aruna Withanachchi under the direction of the curator Professor Jagath Weerasinghe.