6 Years since The Corporation (A film by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan) Hit Theaters! Retrospective & Book Launch tonight in Vancouver for Nettie Wild's films.
Tomorrow, January 16 marks 6 years since The Corporation launched in Canadian Theatres. That day it also screened at The World Social Forum in Mumbai, and at the Sundance Festival in Salt Lake City. As the decade turned, The Corp found itself in two "top ten" lists for the decade -- Eugene Hernandez of Indie Wire, lists is as on of the top 10 docs of the decade and Peter Hall of Hollywood.com puts in his top 10 of underrated movies of the '00's.
One of the things I have always noted is the staying power of this film. It remains the reason people find us as it's popularity is not waning.
Nettie Wild, another Canadian filmmaker friend of ours, maker of Bevel Up is celebrating a book launch for "Wild at Heart: The Films of Nettie Wild" along with a retrospective of her films at Paciific Cinemateque in Vancouver tonight. (See below for a list of all her films and the schedule)
Nettie recalls the opening of The Corporation six years ago: "I remember watching The Corporation at The Ridge theatre in Vancouver. During the intermission, a clutch of teenage girls in the row in front of me passed on the popcorn line and instead remained glued to their seats deeply engrossed in a debate about the power of corporations. Thanks to The Corporation's cinematic story telling, I was watching the penny drop on the next generation."
I asked Nettie why she though her films, and certain social issue docs like The Corporation had such an impact, years later.
"Social issue docs follow the high-stakes human dramas of our times. This is what I hope inspires audiences long after the film has been released. As film makers we want to get our audiences to the point where they are leaning into the screen, and the complexities of the story and asking: 'What would I do in this situation?' That's our job as storytellers."
I'm looking forward to reading the story of Nettie's storytelling, and will be heading to Bevel Up tonight. One of the reasons that HelloCoolWorld is working on outreach for Bevel Up, is because we see how, like The Corporation, the film connects with communities that want to make a difference. They both look at the root causes of harm, and model, in practical way how to chip away at the systems that entrench harm. In an issue of 'News of the Cool" from last year, we linked the idea of 'harm reduction" Bevel Up style (the name itself refers to the way to inject with a needle to cause the least harm, with the 'bevel up'), and our Campaign 4 Corporate Harm Reduction. Ultimately, connecting communities to action is how we make a difference within the seemingly monolithic systems that surround us.
Our ongoing work with the street nurse team, featured in Bevel Up, has been informed by what we learned by launching The Corporation. What is unique about this project, is that the BC Centre For Disease Control, and the BC Nurses Union who helped fund the interactive DVD and doc, have a build in infrastructure to use theses resources -- the reason they made it in the first place -- to do work to reduce harm, inform, advocate, educate not only health care professionals, but the public and those connecting the issue of addiction and drug use to homelessness and other social problems and solutions. (Check out Sarah's blog!)
People like Mark, Jennifer and Joel -- makers of The Corporation, and, of course, Nettie -- tell us the stories that make us feel human. The people featured in their stories help us spread the word.
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WILD AT HEART: THE FILMS OF NETTIE WILD: JANUARY 15 - 17
PACIFIC CINEMATEQUE- 1131 HOWE STREET --VANCOUVER BC
Nettie will be in attendance at all films. More info.
Wild’s work and interests span the globe and also encompass issues of regional interest to the broader Western Canadian/British Columbian community. From the Zapatista revolution in Mexico to a Native standoff in BC to street nurses working with addicts in Vancouver, Wild plunges into the heart of politically volatile events and emerges with a portrait of their core issues. Both FIX and A Place Called Chiapas won Genies for Best Canadian Feature Documentary and all of her films have been widely distributed in cinemas across North America. ??Notable amongst the many honours that she has received for her body of work, in addition to her two Genie Awards, are major retrospectives at the Hot Docs festival and the Ontario Cinematheque. And recently, the Vancouver Film Critics Circle announced that Wild will be a winner of this year's Achievement Award for Contribution to the British Columbia Film Industry.
— SCREENINGS —
Friday, January 15:
Bevel Up 7pm
Blockade 9pm
Saturday, January 16:
A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution 7pm
Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
