Eyes Wide Open Film Series, Part II

The USC4P&J documentary films series, Eyes Wide Open, continues with a second series of films every other Thursday starting October 13, 2005 through next summer.

Films will be screened at Linux Club (Ostiense near the ex Mercati generali - see map) starting at 8pm with a discussion to follow.

There is no charge for the screenings though donations to help cover costs of DVDs and shipping are greatly appreciated. Linux Club requires an annual membership card at 5 Euro / year (valid through December 31, 2005).

Space is limited - arrive early in order to guarantee a seat.  

The program for the series through December 15 is as follows:

Oct 13 - Hidden Wars of Desert Storm
August 2nd, 1990, Saddam Hussein launched his troops against Kuwait. But was this invasion a surprise in the first place? Was there any threat from the part of Iraq against Saudi Arabia? What was the purpose of the embargo over Iraq if not to weaken Saddam Hussein? What is true behind this mysterious "Gulf War Syndrome" affecting hundreds of veterans and local populations? A two-year investigation, "Hidden Wars of Desert Storm" brings answers to these questions, basing itself on never before seen documents and interviews of such prominent personalities Norman Schwarzkopf, Ramsey Clark, Denis Halliday, Scott Ritter and many others.

Special Guest: Ornella Sangiovanni of Un ponte per... (A bridge to...), the humanitarian organization working in Iraq since 1991.

Directors: Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohy
Run time: 64 minutes
Web site: Hidden Wars

Curious about how it went? Read Kathy's account.

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Oct 27 - The Corporation
Explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Footage from pop culture, advertising, TV news, and corporate propaganda, illuminates the corporation's grip on our lives. Taking its legal status as a "person" to its logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person is it?" Provoking, witty, sweepingly informative, The Corporation includes forty interviews with corporate insiders and critics - including Milton Friedman, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and Michael Moore - plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.
Produced by: Mark Achbar, Jennefer Abbot and Joel Bakan
Run time: 145 minutes
Web site: The Corporation

Curious about how it went? Read Ryan's account.

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Nov 10 - Invisible Ballots: A Temptation for Electronic Vote Fraud
An in-depth exposé of all-electronic computerized voting. Underneath the radar of public scrutiny, election officials and voting machine manufacturers are putting into service tens of thousands of touch screen voting machines that cannot be relied upon for accuracy or security from tampering. Elections already using these machines are often plagued by "glitches" and “technical problems” that only technicians working for the manufacturers can solve. Voting is swiftly coming under the control of private corporations using secret software with little or no independent oversight. These companies and the people who run them are rife with corruption and insider alliances. Mysterious election upsets are increasing, and verified recounts are impossible. Invisible Ballots is essential viewing for all voting Americans.
Director/Producer: Coalition for Visible Ballots
Run time: 90 minutes
Web site: Invisible Ballots

Curious about how it went? Read Stephanie's account.

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Nov 17 - Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Filmmaker Robert Greenwald, of "Outfoxed" fame, takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight goliath. From a family business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on family values. Current and former employees, managers and executives will divulge the corporation’s inner-workings. WAL-MART is based on individual human beings, all over the world, at all levels of society, telling their story in very personal terms.
Director: Robert Greenwald
Run time: 90 minutes
Web site: Wal-Mart Movie

Note: Wal-Mart and the film have been in the news lately!

Curious about how it went? Read Kathy's account.

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Dec 1 -Plan Colombia: Cashing-In on the Drug War Failure
20 years of US "war-on-drugs" in Colombia paid for by U.S. tax-payers. Still, more and more drugs and narco-dollars are entering the US every year. Is it a failure or a smokescreen by Washington to secure Colombia's oil & natural resources instead? Now that the U.S. State Department officially shifted its priority in Colombia from "counter-narcotics" to "counter-insurgency" conveniently dubbed "anti-terrorism", what is left today of the alleged anti-drug purpose of the U.S. "Plan Colombia"? While cocaine trafficking and money-laundering are skyrocketing to unseen proportions, is the current U.S. "oil" administration even concerned with fighting drugs in Colombia, another top oil supplier to the U.S., when its U.S.-friendly regime is being threatened by powerful leftist guerrilla groups?
Directors: Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohy
Run time: 57 minutes
Web site: Plan Colombia

Curious about how it went? Read Stephanie's account.

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Dec 15 - The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror
After assessing today's dwindling oil reserves and skyrocketing use of oil for fuels, plastics and chemicals, "The Oil Factor" questions the motives for the U.S. wars in the Middle-East and Central Asia where 3/4 of the world's oil and natural gas is located. Interviews gathered throughout the Middle-East, Europe and the United States, including a Bechtel executive in Baghdad, also expose who is cashing in on the tens of billions of dollars requested from congress by the current administration of G. W. Bush.
Directors: Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohy
Run time: 57 minutes
Web site: The Oil Factor

Curious about how it went? Read Stephanie's account.

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Download a PDF flyer for the film series.

After the holiday break the series picks up again with films including:

• Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land
• The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
• 500 years later
• Life and Debt
• The Take
• What I've Learned About US Foreign Policy: The War Against The Third World
• Haiti: The Untold Story
• Hidden in Plain Sight

Special thanks to the filmmakers and producers as well as Linux Club for their support.

For information on past screenings, see:

Eyes Wide Open, Part I
Eyes Wide Open, Part II
Eyes Wide Open, Part III
Eyes Wide Open, Part IV
Eyes Wide Open, Part V
Eyes Wide Open, Part VI
Eyes Wide Open, Part VII
Eyes Wide Open, Part VIII
Eyes Wide Open, Part IX
Eyes Wide Open, Part X
Eyes Wide Open, Part XI
Eyes Wide Open, Part XII
Eyes Wide Open, Part XIII
Eyes Wide Open, Part XIV

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