EPIIC Global Inequities Film Series

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Trade Off
January 29

Trade Off tells the story of the five days in Seattle that shook the world- November 29- December 3, 1999- when the World Trade Organization's first meeting on U.S. soil was met with protests from tens of thousands of people. Violent media images of "The Battle in Seattle" captured international headlines but did not answer key questions about the war that was at stake.

Shot entirely on location, this overview of the protests moves through rallies, marches, street actions, and press conferences providing a voyeuristic exploration of this important week of protest and the people's movement that continues to build across the United States and around the world.

This event featured an open dialog with Michael Prokosch, Globalization Program Coordinator for United for a Fair Economy and Daniel T. Griswold, Associate Director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies, Cato Institute. His articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal and the Journal of Commerce.



 

Wall Street
February 5

Wall Street, directed by Oliver Stone featuring Michael Douglas, in his Academy Award-Winning role as Gordon Gekko, Charlie Sheen, and Martin Sheen, is about a young hotshot who's going nowhere in a N.Y. brokerage firm who manages to buttonhole the highest roller on Wall Street and win his confidence--but he sells his soul, so to speak, in return for admittance to that high-powered world of wheeling and dealing. Modern-day morality tale by cowriter-director Stone (whose father was a broker, and to whom the film is dedicated) is short on subtlety but completely absorbing, especially in the wake of the real-life "insider trading" scandal of 1986.
--Leonard Maltin

This event featured a discussion with Tufts Economics Department Faculty Dan Richards and David Yu.





 

Focus on South Africa
February 12

EPIIC presented two films looking at South Africa as it continues to struggle with the legacy of inequity from apartheid. . .with commentary and a discussion led by Professor Jeanne Penvenne of the Tufts University History Department.

Globalization and Africa: Which Side Are We On?
A guerilla-cinema-style compilation of clips, constantly evolving and presented interactively by the filmmaker. With clips of local struggles in the townships of South Africa and material from the Durban Anti-Racism Conference in September 2001 and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2001, the film raises questions about the impact of globalization on ordinary South Africans. It also looks at the stance taken by ANC politicians --increasingly a part of those elite global institutions targeted by anti-globalization activists.

Hear Thabo Mbeki on the anti globalization protestors, George Soros on global economic injustice and Louis Michel (Belgium's foreign minister and chair of the EU Presidency) on colonialism's brighter side! Plus, see Soweto activist Trevor Ngwane taking on Soros (in Davos) across a satellite link from the World Social Forum on Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Apartheid's Children
Follow award-winning filmmaker and correspondent Mick Davie, whose passion drives him to seek out generations at a crossroad--people at home and abroad that face war, discrimination, poverty and exploitation while struggling for a better life. In this episode, Davie travels to Johannesburg, South Africa to meet with Nelson Mandela and the young South Africans who dream of following in his footsteps.

Bread and Roses
February 19

British filmmaker Ken Loach offers an inspired expose of oppression with a sincere snapshot of family drama and individual strength.

In contemporary Los Angeles, Maya (Pilar Padilla) has just arrived from Mexico to stay with her sister. Maya secures a janitorial job at a downtown high rise and is primed for the American dream. But in this image-making capital, Maya's opportunity is someone else's opportunism.

Then she meets Sam (Adrien Brody) -- a young, idealistic lawyer with a passion for workers' rights who enlightens Maya and her co-workers about their exploitation.

Soon passionate discussions of unions and wages lead to violent demonstrations as Maya, Sam and a disgruntled crew of janitors put up the fight of their lives.

Loach's skillful touch with dramatic realism and political commentary comes alive as the cast delivers breathtaking performances, and Bread and Roses puts a distinctly human face on a profoundly serious problem.