August 9th, 2012
Back in 2010 we released documentary Bananas!* in the UK and Ireland to great success. The film shed new light on the global politics of food, recounting the lawsuit that 12 Nicaraguan plantation workers successfully brought against the fruit giant Dole Food Company. Now comes Big Boys Gone Bananas!*, a personal story about what happened to director Fredrik Gertten when the film got released, a tale of corporate bullying and media spin - from DOLE attacking the producers with a defamation lawsuit, utilizing scare tactics, to media-control and PR-spin.
Big Boys Gone Bananas!* is hitting UK and Irish cinemas on September 21st and Fredrik Gertten will be coming over to the UK for the release. Dochouse will be hosting a special preview Q&A screening with Fredrik, Sven Hughes and Charmian Gooch, chaired by Jen Robinson on Tuesday 18th September at 6.30pm at the Prince Charles Cinema in London. Book tickets here
Cambridge Picturehouse will also be hosting a preview and Q&A with Fredrik on the 19th September as part of the Cambridge Film Festival
Jen Robinson is Director of Legal Advocacy at the Bertha Foundation. She is a media and human rights lawyer who has previously advised clients such as WikiLeaks, NYTimes, Bloomberg, Associated Press, CNN, Human Rights Watch and Global Witness. Her work advising NGOs demonstrates the chilling impact of powerful individuals and corporations threatening libel suits.
Sven Hughes is a strategic communications advisor and founder of the world’s first dedicated verbalisation agency. His current and former clients include Prime Ministers, CEOs, militaries and royal households. He is also a multi award-winning copywriter, feature film screenwriter and director. He lectures regularly on the future of strategic communications to international business and military audiences. Sven argues for increased legislation within the commercial stratcoms industry.
Charmian Gooch is the co-founder and co-director of Global Witness, which addresses the links between natural resource exploitation and the funding of conflict and corruption. She jointly led Global Witness’ first campaign which investigated the trade in timber between the Khmer Rouge and Thai logging companies and their political and military backers. Charmian developed Global Witness’ second groundbreaking campaign, combating blood diamonds, which she launched in 1998 following detailed research and investigations. Global Witness was nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for its work on conflict diamonds. In 2005 Charmian was awarded the Gleitsman Foundation International Activist Award, and in 2007 Global Witness received the Center for Global Development / Foreign Policy Magazine Commitment to Development Ideas in Action Award. Charmian is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader Alumni Group.
Keep up to date with more Big Boys Gone Bananas!* updates on the film's Facebook and Twitter pages
