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THE PRICE WE PAY Featured at VIFF

By Katherine Dodds On October 02, 2014 | 0 Comments

Harold Crooks' new film tackles economic injustice. A film for the 99%!

I’m really looking forward to seeing our friend Harold Crooks’ new film - The Price We Pay - which is coming to VIFF. The documentary offers a 90-minute look at corporate tax avoidance through the creation of offshore havens, and how many tech giants of the “cloud” economy seem to be eroding the very foundation of democracy.

It’s also up for an Impact Award, another initiative by our pals at Agentic Digital Media and Story Money Impact (Read about the Impact Awards below).

Harold co-wrote The Corporation’s narration and I’m excited to see him tackle such an important social justice topic as tax havens. Harold was also on the street in NYC during Occupy, and knows first-hand how strongly current the issue of economic justice is.

So far “The Price We Pay” has garnered big praise at its TIFF premiere with film critic Jason Gorber pronouncing it:

“one of the strongest docs of the year, one that's both timely and highly provocative.”

The Corporation filmmaker Mark Achbar agrees:

“If you've ever wondered why our social and cultural programs are starved for funds, why health care is being rationed, and why, as a society, we're becoming ever more miserly, here's a plausible explanation: The scale of tax evasion by the world's wealthy and the world's wealthiest corporations is simply staggering. Harold Crooks shows us the mechanisms and far-reaching consequences of this phenomenon in his fascinating new film, The Price We Pay. Entirely watchable. Essential viewing.”
~Mark Achbar

Among the tax justice activists featured in the film are familiar names such as John Christensen, Nick Shaxson, James Henry, Alain Deneault and Krishen Mehta, as well as Robin Hood Tax activist Dr. William Barclay of the Chicago Political Economy Group, former French banker Daniel Lebègue of Transparency International, as well as National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in America.

"Near miraculous, terrific bit of journalism, riveting"
- Jason Gorber, Nonfics.com

Recently quoted in Reel Screen, here’s some of what Harold had to say about the film:

“I had to keep my eye on so many issues: whether U.S. Congress or the British parliament, the new French president or Ireland would deal with the rising public pressure over these issues, over tax havens, about corporate tax avoidance – and wondering if there was going to be some legislation or some big breakthrough in the change of international tax rules that would date the film.”

“What happened was really quite the opposite. We couldn’t have predicted that at the very moment the film came out, that tax inversions would be front page – Burger King and Tim Hortons and Apple – so the timing of it turned out to be a stroke of great fortune for our film.”

The Price We Pay is produced by Nathalie Barton and InformAction Films with the collaboration of Ici Radio-Canada and Filmoption International.