4 p.m. – I.O.U.S.A.
Several sources claim that the dollar is in steep decline, and not even Obama’s inauguration can stop the downward spiral. You have heard of the credit crisis in the USA and the consequences for the rest of the world. The bank crisis is shaking the financial world to the ground. If you want to know everything there is to know about the financial and economic crisis, then check out I.O.U.S.A.!
This documentary focuses on the national debt of the US from the early days to the present, explains in great detail of what this debt consists and how and why it got there. It also suggests what the leaders of this nation (and its inhabitants) could do in the long and short term to remedy this huge problem, and what the repercussions could be for the global economy. Because the economic situation in the US is everybody’s business.
2008 – US – directed by Patrick Creadon – 85’
6 p.m. THE END OF POVERTY? (THINK AGAIN)
The end of poverty is a French documentary that tries to find an answer to the question why poverty exists in the world. The makers wonder whether poverty is a twist of fate or a natural phenomenon, as some say. In the process they show that one of the things maintaining poverty is a certain capitalist logic, as it emerges that the ‘South’ seems to be sponsoring the ‘North’, and not the other way round.
The film shows that a pattern can be discerned in global poverty, one that has been maintained by exploitation and exhaustion of the third world since colonial times. The film touches on colonialism, slavery, neo-colonialism, ‘free’ trade versus protectionist economic strategies, cultural imperialism, national debt, large landownership, exploitation of land and natural riches, etc. One of the most remarkable conclusions of the film is the suggestion that something can be done about this global problem, because, paradoxically, there is enough of everything on this planet for everyone…
2008 – US – directed by Philippe Diaz – 106’
with: Clifford Cobb, Susan George, Edgardo Lander, Chalmers Johnson, Alvaro Garcia Linera, John Perkins, Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, Eric Toussaint et al.
8 p.m. TBC
www.iousathemovie.com
www.theendofpoverty.com
in association with the Ghent Film Festival
