Darwin's Nightmare
If Darwin only knew how out of whack the world could get... a must-see for ecologist, biologists and social Darwinists!
Woods Hole (Massachusetts)
Friday November 21, 2008
Screening begins 19h00
Venue: Woods Hole Firehouse (Water St.)
Hubert Sauper/France/Austria/Belgium / 2004 / 107 min/ English/some subtitles
Some time in the 1960s, in the heart of Africa, a new animal was introduced into Lake Victoria as a little scientific experiment. The Nile Perch, a voracious predator, extinguished almost the entire stock of the native fish species. However, this new gigantic fish multiplied incredibly fast, and its white fillets are today exported all around the world. Huge hulking ex-Soviet cargo planes come daily to collect the latest catch in exchange for their southbound cargo: Kalashnikovs and ammunitions for the uncounted wars in the dark center of the African continent.
This booming multinational industry of fish and weapons has created an ungodly globalized alliance on the shores of the world’s biggest tropical lake: an army of local fishermen, World Bank agents, homeless children, African ministers, EU-commissioners, Tanzanian prostitutes and Russian pilots. DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE brings us in close for an intimate and at times uncomfortable look at this world, and in doing so this film deftly unpacks the puzzle of globalization in a visually stunning and raw portrait of life on this planet.
Academy Award Nominee 2005 Best Documentary
Mostra de Venice Venice Days 2004 World Premiere
Montreal New Cinema 2004 Winner NFB Documentary Award
Viennale 2004 Winner Vienna Film Prize 2004
Copenhagen Dox 2004 Winner Best Film
European Film Awards 2004 Winner Best Documentary
Belfort 2005 Audience award best Documentary
Angers, France European First Film Festival Premiers Plans 2005 Grand Jury Prize
Silverdocs in US 2005 Grand prize Sterling Award
European First Film Festival Premiers Plans 2005 Grand Jury Prize
Paris festival de l’environnement 2005 Grand prix
Chicago Doc Festival 2005 Best Film
Thessaloniki Doc FF 2005 Audience Award
Oslo Eurodoc 2005 Norway Distribution Award
Mexico Cine Contemporain 2005 Best Documentary
Docaviv in Israel Grand Prix Best Film 2005
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