October 07, 2008
BATTLE IN SEATTLE IN CANADIAN THEATRES SOON!
By
Katherine Dodds
Watching the new feature film of Battle in Seattle brought me right back there, I could almost smell the tear gas. The feature film depicting the real events in Seattle in 1999 comes out on Friday October 17 in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Check out the trailer. Battle in Seattle dramatizes real events with some high profile actors, but all the footage that isn't acted is actual footage from the WTO protest, collected from the many film crews that were there including the makers of The Corporation. It was the early days and Mark Achbar had three different camera crews running around Seattle.
So that feeling I had of déjà vu while watching the film, may have actually been because I was there, literally, in one of those crews, since some of Mark’s 30 hours of footage was licensed by the makers of Battle In Seattle. We had “official” press status so were able to catch the action inside as well as the action on the streets.
The events surrounding the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999 were history in the making. It was the birth of IndyMedia and the beginning of the “spy vs spy” battle that has gone on since then. It was the first protest of my life (and I’ve been to more then a few) where everyone became the media. It was also an example of how grassroots organizing on line could really mobilize people.
The film dramatizes the story of some of the key players in the organization of the event, and bases their stories on real events. It’s pretty cool to see how the actors seamlessly merge with what is pure documentation of what went on.
I’m going to blog more about this film and about the issues in the next couple of weeks. As Canada and the US prepare for elections amidst the global financial meltdown, it’s a good time to think more about what the protest was really all about.
For more about the film and to see the trailer visit the official website.
battleinseattlemovie.com
To connect to activism and issues around the issues of the WTO visit whocontrolstheworld.com
Tag(s):
Alternative Economics,
Hello Cool World,
Marketing,
Film Launch
Recent Blogs by Katherine Dodds:
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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.
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