September 09, 2009

Films

We have a great collection of political films, if you would like to borrow them please get in touch at hobart@socialist-alliance.org or just drop in the Activist Centre at 225 Murray St, Hobart.

The 11th hour - Narrated by Leo Dicaprio. A look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems. (2007 , 95 mins)

Alywarr Walk Off Protest vs Northern Territory Intervention - ARTV produced doco about the NT intervention. (2010)

An Inconvenient truth - Al Gore's doco about climate change. (2006, 100 mins)

Australia's Interventions: it's own backyard.- Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference. Featuring speeches by Tim Anderson, Clinton Fernandas, Tiomas Freitas, and Jon Lamb. (2005, 60 mins)

Avatar - James Cameron blockbuster about a fictional planet that is under threat by a mining company. (2009, 171 mins)

Battle in Seattle - Excellent fictional portrayal of activists as they arrive in Seattle en masse to protest a meeting of the World Trade Organization. Riots and chaos ensue as demonstrators successfully stop the WTO meetings. (2007, 99 mins)

Blowin' in the wind - Film by David Bradbury. Examines the issue of depleted uranium in Iraq and the secret treaty that allows the US military to train and test its weaponry on Australian soil. (2005, 62 mins)

Bowling for Columbine - Filmmaker Michael Moore explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence. (2002, 120 mins)

Breaking the Silence - Film by John Pilger. The documentary investigates George W Bush's "war on terror". In "liberated" Afghanistan, America has its military base and pipeline access, while the people have the warlords who are, says one women, "in many ways worse than the Taliban". (2003, 50 min)

Carbon Connection, The - Two communities affected by one new global market – the trade in carbon dioxide. In Scotland a town has been polluted by oil and chemical companies since the 1940s. In Brazil local people's water and land is being swallowed up by destructive monoculture eucalyptus tree plantations. Both communities now share a new threat. (2008, 41 min)

Che: Part 1 - Starring Benico del Toro as Che. Directed by Steven Soderburgh. Follows on from the Motorcycles Diaries, and shows how Che and a band of Castro-led Cuban exiles mobilize an army to topple the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista. (2009, 134 mins)

Cheat Neutral - Short spooof on carbon trading. (2007, 13 mins)

Climate of Hope - Climate change, nuclear power and the energy revolution. (2007, 23 mins)

Cold Hard Truth, The - Doco about genocide in Sri Lanka against the Tamils. Very disturbing footage of war. (2009, short films)

Colin Fox - Filmed speech given by Colin Fox from the Scottish Socialist Party when he came to Australia. (2003)

Constructing fear - About the Australian Building and Construction Commission, and the campaign for workers rights in the building industry. (2009, 37 mins)

Corporation, The - Doco that shows how corporations act like psychopaths. (2003, 145 mins)

Crude: The incredible journey of oil - ABC TV Doco. Crude spans 160 million years of the Earth's history to reveal the story of oil; from its birth deep in the dinosaur-inhabited past, to its ascendancy as the indispensable ingredient of modern life. (2007, 90 mins)

De Nadie (No One) - The story of a Central American immigrant's difficult journey to the United States in search for a better life. (2005, 80 mins)

Doctor, depleted uranium and the dying children, The - Exposes the use and impact of radioactive weapons during the current war against Iraq. (2004, 53 mins)

Doctors of Tomorrow, The - A documentary on the Timor Leste - Cuba health cooperation. See interviews with some of the 850 East Timorese students studying medicine with the Cubans. (2008, 39 mins)

End of the Line - Examines the impact of overfishing on our oceans. (2009, 85 mins)

Food Inc - Examines the food industry in the US, how corporations are putting people's health at risk through the pursuit of profit. Also shows the price that animals and the industry workers pay for it. (2008, 94 min)

Fidel and Che - Fictionalised account of the relationship between Fidel and Che throughout their lives. (2002, 204 mins)

Five factories - Worker's control in Venezuela. Examines how factories are being run under workers control. (2006, 81 mins)

Franklin River Blockade films, The - Produced by the Wilderness Society. Two short films explaining the Franklin River campaign. (2006, 30 mins)

Global Haywire - By cartoonist Bruce Petty. Includes interviews with Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal, George Monbiot, Arundhati Roy and Rober Fisk. (2007, 105 mins)

Ground Truth, The The filmmaker's subjects are patriotic young Americans - ordinary men and women who heeded the call for military service in Iraq - as they experience recruitment and training, combat, homecoming, and the struggle to reintegrate with families and communities. (2006, 72 mins)

Hard Rain, A - Film by David Bradbury. Traversing five countries – China, France, UK, Japan and Australia, a Hard Rain takes a closer look at the global nuclear industry in its entirety – from the mining of uranium through to the nuclear power plant to the radioactive waste and weapons manufacturing. (2007, 77 mins)

How the West was lost - On 1 May 1946, 800 Aboriginal station workers walked off sheep stations in the north-west of Western Australia, marking the beginning of a carefully organised strike that was to last for at least three years." (1987, 72 mins)

International A film with Pete Seeger. (22 mins)

Intervention Filmed in Katherine, N.T. (2010, 52 min).

Iron Wall, The - Doco about the establishment of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, featuring interviews with noted peace activists and political analysts, both Israeli and Palestinian, including Jeff Halper, Akiva Eldar and Hind Khoury (2006, 57 mins)

No Volveran (No going back) - Doco about Venezuela's revolution. Journey deep into the barrios, out to the factories and into the heart of the revolution to find out why there is a movement to transform society. (2007, 84 mins)

Not in my name: Why war? - Film about the invasion of Iraq. (2004, 50 mins)

Now the people have awoken - Film about Venezuela's revolution. (2008, 55 mins)

Occupation of Cockatoo Island, The - On May 10, 1989 the Cockatoo Island Dockyard shop committee, representing 13 unions, announced the occupation of the island in response to a decision by the Hawke Labor government to sell off the site. The dispute would last for 14 weeks. (1989, 60 mins)

One tree Project, The - Examines how many different pieces of craft can be made out of one giant tree marked for woodchipping. (2005, 24 mins)

Out of Balance: Exxon Mobil’s impact on climate change - Presents some inconvenient truths about Exxon Mobil and its effect on climate change. Spotlighting the company's efforts to fund skewed media campaigns and support global-warming skeptics. (2007, 65 mins)

Palestine: People and the Land - People and The Land airdrops viewers into the universe of an occupied people, unreeling images of a new form of apartheid based on ethnicity. Challenging U.S. foreign policy and the conventions of the documentary form itself, People and The Land examines the concrete realities of Israel's conduct in the West Bank and Gaza, the level of U.S. support for that conduct through foreign aid, and the human cost of that aid in Palestine and the U.S. (1997, 55 mins)

Palestine: Still the issue. Film by John Pilger. A documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that have lasted for more than 50 years. Contains some interviews with the children in this conflict. (2002, 53 mins)

Paradise Now - Excellent film. Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Deals with the issue of what leads people to become a suicide bomber. (2005, 90 mins)

Peter Camejo - Two talks given by US socialist Peter Camejo at the 1991 Socialist Scholars conference. One talk is on politics in the USA and the other is on the environmental crisis. (1991, 59 mins)

Power of Community: How Cuba survived peak Oil - Cuba was left without imported oil when the Soviet Union collapsed. This doco shows how they changed their food and transport systems to cope, turning to permaculture.(2006, 53 mins)

Rebuilding the anti-war movement ARTV filmed at the Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference. Featuring Stan Goff, Taylan Bilgic, Pip Hinmin, Mike Treen, Ahmed Shawki. (2005, 60 mins)

Rethink Afghanistan - Rethink Afghanistan is a ground-breaking, full-length documentary focusing on the key issues surrounding this war. (2009)

Revolution Will not be Televised, The - 5 stars. Doco filmed in Venezuela during the 2002 coup against President Chavez. Footage taken inside the presidential palace and firsthand account of how the coup was defeated by the people. Crucial viewing to understand a turning point in the Venezuelan revolution. (2003, 74 mins)

Sex, drugs and lies Cambodian sex workers fight for their rights (2004, 48 mins)

Sir! No Sir! Film about Vietnam war resisters. This feature-length documentary focuses on the efforts by troops in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War to oppose the war effort by peaceful demonstration and subversion. (2005, 85 mins)

Sisters on the Planet - Oxfam short doco about women dealing with climate change around the world. Profiles six women from different cultures. (2010, 15 mins)

Soy Cuba (I am Cuba) - Fantastic Russian made film set in Cuba, about Cuba before and after the revolution. English subtitles. Amazing cinematography. (1964, movie-length)

Stealing a Nation - By John Pilger. In the 1960s and 70s, British governments, conspiring with American officials, tricked into leaving, then expelled the entire population of the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean. The aim was to give the principal island of this Crown Colony, Diego Garcia, to the Americans who wanted it as a major military base. (2004, 56 mins)

Suenos postergados (Postponed dreams) - The story of Columbia's peasant union FENSUAGRO (2002, 15 mins).

Surplus: Terrorised into being consumers -Explores the destructive nature of consumer culture.Interviews Fidel Castro and people from Adbusters. (2003, 52 mins)

Taliban Country - Away from the glare of the media, in the most re­mote and dan­ger­ous parts of Afghanistan, US marines are on a mis­sion to hunt down the Tal­iban. But in many places their security sweeps are proving counter­productive. More and more villagers are alleging they have been abused by marines. This week's documentary is a disturbing exposé of American actions in Afghanistan. (2004, 45 mins)

Tasmanian's Clean Green Future, too precious to pulp? - Produced by the Wilderness Society. About the risks of the Gunns Tamar Valley pulp mill. (2007, 18 mins)

The new map of New Zealand politics - ARTV program. (2005, 60 mins)

The politics of Indigenous resistance in Australia - Asia Pacific International Solidarity conference. Speeches from Ray Jackson, Sam Watson and Robbie Thorpe. (2005, 60 mins)

The Take - Excellent doco by Naomi Klein about the co-operative movement in Argentina. Examines workers who took over their factories during the economic crisis and ran them as co-operatives. (2004 , 1 hr 27 mins)

Truth, Lies and Intelligence - This film chronicles the inside journey from September 11 to the bombing of Baghdad. After scores of interviews with senior intelligence analysts, Iraqi refugees, Arab leaders, insurgent bombers and ordinary citizens there can be only one conclusion, that the invasion, conquest and occupation of Iraq was a war based on a litany of lies. Contains interview with Andrew Wilkie. (2005, 70 mins)

Turtles can fly - Excellent film. Near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of an American invasion, refugee children like 13-year-old Kak (Ebrahim), gauge and await their fate. (2004, 95 min)

Two Visions - Tasmania Together 2020 Vision. Made in Tasmania, captures the clash of two competing visions and the impacts on Tasmania. (2005, 47 mins)

Upper Florentine Valley - Photos of the Upper Florentine Valley. (2006)

Venezuela Contains two films. 1. The Bolivarian Revolution: Enter the Oil Workers which tells the story of how the workers saved PDVSA, and are now organising to "put the oil industry at the service of humanity". 2. Venezuela: A 21st Revolution a documentary made in April 2003 with participants in the Venezuelan revolution. (2004, 34 + 60 mins)

Venezuela Bolivariana - People and the struggle in the 4th world war. (2005, 76 mins)

Victimisation of Women, The - A talk by Michael Parenti. (1 hr 32 mins)

War on Democracy, The - Great film by John Pilger. Looks at Venezuela and how US imperialism has shaped Latin America over the past 50 years. Great interview with Chavez. (2007, 96 mins)

We (Arundhati Roy) - This film visualizes the words of Arundhati Roy, specifically her famous Come September speech, where she spoke on such things as the war on terror, corporate globalization, justice and the growing civil unrest. Inspirational and moving. (2006, 64 mins)

What a way to go. Life at the end of the empire -"A middle class white guy comes to grips with Peak Oil, Climate Change, Mass Extinction, Population Overshoot and the demise of the American Lifestyle." (2007, 123 mins)

Where in the world is Osama Bin Laden? - Morgan Spurlock decides to track down the world's most wanted and dangerous terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, and sets out to travel to Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan. His fears, generated due to biased media coverage that Muslims and Arabs are hostile, are laid to rest when he does encounter friendly, and quite refreshingly well educated, hospitable, politically matured men and women, who are well aware of America's faulty 'foreign policy', and do not subscribe to Jihad nor to the Taliban nor Osama's terror-tactics. (2008, 90 mins)

Who killed the Electric Car? - Doco about the electric car in America and how it was prevented from being mass produced by big car companies. (2006, 92 mins)

World according to Bush, The - The 1000 days of George W. Bush's presidency from the 9/11 attacks to the Iraqi quagmire. How a bunch of people influenced by neo-cons hawks took control of the US foreign policy. (2004, 90 mins)

World at a Crossroads: Fighting for Socialism in the 21st Century. - Complete speeches from this conference on 5 discs. Capitalism's Crisis and our solutions. Obama, US Imperialism and the War on Terror. Confronting the Climate Change crisis. Latin America, revolt, revolution and socialism. Neoliberalism and resistance in the global South. (2009, 90 mins each disc)


Yes Men - Anti-corporate activists travel from conference to conference, impersonating member of the World Trade Organization. (2003, 80 min)


Yes Men Fix the World - Second film of The Yes Men, they get up to more pranks, this time with an environmental focus. (2009, 87 min)