Following
The Corporation's successful run at the Sundance Festival, where it won the Documentary Audience Award for World Cinema, Big Picture Media Corporation has signed a U.S. distribution deal with
Zeitgeist Flms.
Co-Director/producer Mark Achbar (who co-directed
The Corporation with Jennifer Abbott and co-created it with writer Joel Bakan) couldn't be more pleased with the response the film has generated. "From the feedback we had after our sell-out screening at the
World Social Forum in Mumbai, India, to this amazing reception at Sundance, not to mention the truly incredible numbers so far with our
Canadian launch -- it's clear that this film is resonating with audiences around the world. People care deeply about the issues that the film addresses."
Achbar is equally excited about the deal just signed with Zeitgeist Films. Reflecting on the success of his previous film
Manufacturing Consent, (co-directed with Peter Wintonick) which Zeitgeist has been distributing in the U.S. for the past 11 years, Achbar commented, "I couldn't be happier about working with Zeitgeist again. They are the obvious choice -- smart, honest, and highly focused. Together we are going to get
The Corporation out to American audiences in a very broad demographic."
This feature documentary -- based on the forthcoming book
The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power (Simon & Schuster) by Joel Bakan -- takes a look at the very nature of the corporation. Considered a "person" under the law, filmmakers Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan ask, "What kind of person is [a corporation]?" And they conclude that it meets all the diagnostic criteria of a
psychopath.
The Corporation questions the sanity of granting so much power to institutions with the legal obligation to serve the bottom line and no need to account for "human" values. The film uses dramatic case studies to explore the impact the corporation has on the environment, media, democracy, children, our health and even our genes -- and what people are doing in response.
# posted by Webmaster @ 2/02/2004 04:14:00 PM
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