I’m sure most of you are already familiar with this short animation movie, but in case you are not, don’t miss The Story of Stuff. It says it all: a perfect analysis of consumerism.

www.storyofstuff.com

I have just read a wonderful book called King Leopold’s Ghost on the history of the Congo. In the late 19^th century, King Leopold of Belgium seized a huge territory in Africa and declared it his country’s colony. For more than 20 years, he raped the African continent for its ivory and rubber through slave labour. While making huge profits and decimating half the population of the Congo, King Leopold was admired in Europe as a philanthropic monarch investing in public works to benefit the Africans.

More than a hundred years later, the methods of deceit used by King Leopold are still the same: the control of the press and public opinion. Today some corporates use the smokescreen of “renewable green energies” to strip bare the remaining rainforests of the world. We are all fooled while the cynics continue what is of interest to them: making profits.

King Leopold’s Ghost – Adam Hochschild

I hate seeing myself on film, but I do give interviews to spread the word on what is happening in Indonesia. Here’s the latest one I gave while at the Amazonas Film Festival.

http://www.allocine.fr

Sorry for those of you who don’t understand French!

Some of my friends found some very cool reviews about Green on the web.

Written in English or in French, they are all very encouraging and give me the energy to keep spreading the word! I’m also very pleased to see that many people are writing to all their contacts asking them to watch “Green”.

Thanks a lot for that!

I’ll be back from Brazil next week and keep you update about the next step for me and for “Green”.

Keep spreading the word and sharing the film, thanks a lot!

Another award for “Green” at the Amazonas Film Festival:  the Jury Price for the documentary category.

It was one of those weird festivals where the croud awaits the local soap stars present at the festival for every evening screening at the Manaus Theatre in the heart of the city.  The red carpet, the fancy dresses, the photographers, the people cheering, the private cocktails, the expensive receptions, the 5 star hotel, etc…  while most of the films are about all the horrors around the world: wars, extinction, poverty, genocides and the rest.

It felt a bit like the scene on the Titanic where the band goes on playing as the ship slowly sinks….

Three festivals are screening “Green” this month. Two are in Spain, the Ecozine festival in Zaragosa on Nov 14th and the Festival de Cine IberoAmericano de Huelva on the 16th Nov. The 3rd festival is the Amazonas Film Festival in Manaus Brazil where the film was shown on the 9th Nov.

The Amazonas Film Festival is a very “glamour” festival with red carpet, local and international “stars” and a top model for the awards ceremony to be held on 12th Nov. This is all a bit too much for me, but the stars attract the press and there’s a buzz around “Green”, so I’m taking advantage of their presence to promote the film as much as possible.

I came accross this nice review on “Green” from The Australien Orangutan Project. I love the two last paragraphs:

“The story thread follows the fate of a female Orangutan who has been captured and brought in because her forest home has been decimated. She is one of the lucky ones – most are slaughtered without mercy when caught. Her fate though, is not a happy one, as her trauma at the hands of man is too great. Your heart will break with resounding pity, but it is even more sobering to know that she is only one of hundreds every week who will suffer a similar fate.

Make sure everyone you know watches this documentary. We owe it to our friends, the gentle Orangutan, we owe it to our planet, and we owe it to ourselves so that we can learn from it.”

To see the whole article: www.orangutan.org.au/690.html