Global Envision Film List

Global Envision, in partnership with The Film Connection, highlights important feature films, documentaries and shorts on the themes of globalization.

Mercy Corps has undertaken several initiatives to educate people about global issues. One of the ways in which Mercy Corps is reaching out is through film. The Film Connection is a national public online film library with hundreds of documentaries and socially conscious films from around the world. The Film Connection promotes civic awareness, global engagement and positive social change by making its library of films available to the public.

Film is a powerful catalyst for conversation, and conversation is the first step toward building a better world. Through the combination of The Film Connection's diverse movie library and Mercy Corps' innovative humanitarian assistance, concerned citizens can learn about the world they live in and act on critical global issues.

Click on the icon to learn more about the Film Connection and to browse the film library.

Click on one of the categories below to jump to a listing of films on that topic.

Films on Outsourcing

Films on Global Economy and Trade

Films on Multinational Corporations

Films on Transnational Organizations

Films on Health

Films on the Environment

Films on Culture and Society

Films on Outsourcing

American Jobs (2004)

Director: Greg Spotts (62 mins)

The result of 80 hours of interviews, American Jobs explores the impact of low-wage foreign competition on America\'s workers, families and communities. From the textile mills of North Carolina to the software hub of Seattle, displaced workers share their stories and their concern for America\'s future.

Check out American Jobs at The Film Connection.

To read a Global Envision article about American Jobs, see American Jobs - A Review.

Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night (2005)

Director: Sonali Gulati (27 mins)

In the insightful documentary Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night, filmmaker Sonali Gulati explores complex issues of globalization, capitalism and identity through a witty and personal account of her journey into India\'s call centers. Gulati, herself an Indian immigrant living in the US, explores the fascinating ramifications of outsourcing telephone service jobs to India—including how native telemarketers take on Western names and accents to take calls from the US, UK and Australia.

To read a Global Envision article outsourcing jobs to India, see Outsourcing: Who Gains?

Films on Global Economy and Trade

Blood Diamond (2006)

Director: Edward Zwick (143 mins)

In Blood Diamond Leonardo DiCaprio plays a white African soldier-turned-diamond smuggler who gets wind of a large raw jewel found by a native fisherman, Solomon Vandy, who recently escaped from enslavement by a brutal rebel leader. DiCaprio\'s character, Danny Archer, offers Vandy a deal - he\'ll help Vandy find his family if Vandy will share the diamond with him. Drawn into this web of exploitation is a journalist who agrees to help if Archer will tell her the details of how conflict diamonds make their way into the hands of corporations who sell them to the Western world.

Check out Blood Diamond at The Film Connection.

To read a Global Envision article about Blood Diamond, see The New Film Blood Diamond Entertains and Educates.

The Devil's Footpath (2004)

Director: Ivan O'Mahoney (60 mins)

In the BBC-produced documentary, The Devil's Footpath, Kenyan journalist and law student June Arunga shows the world not only that Africa is a continent in need, but also that Africans themselves have the resourcefulness to confront their own hardships.

To read a Global Envision article about The Devil's Footpath, see An Interview With June Arunga.

Mardi Gras: Made in China (2005)

Director: David Redmon (72 mins)

The award winning documentary, Mardi Gras: Made in China, swiftly follows the path of Mardi Gras beads from the naked streets of New Orleans during Carnival, where revelers party 24/7, to the disciplined factories in Fuzhou, China, where teenage laborers live and thread beads 24/7. Told with humor and curiosity, Mardi Gras: Made in China provides a global connection by introducing workers and revelers to each other through a disposable commodity: Mardi Gras beads.

To read a Global Envision article about Mardi Gras: Made in China, see An Interview with the Filmaker of Mardi Gras: Made in China.

Syriana (2005)

Director: Stephen Gaghan (128 mins)

Big oil means big money. Very big money. And that fact unleashes corruption that stretches from Houston to Washington to the Middle East and ensnares industrialists, princes, spies, politicos, oilfield laborers and terrorists in a deadly, deceptive web of move and countermove. George Clooney (Academy Award and Golden Globe winner as Best Supporting Actor), Matt Damon and Jeffrey Wright lead a stellar cast in a lightening-paced, whip-smart thriller written and directed by Traffic Academy Award winner Stephen Gaghan. From its first scene, Syriana grips your mind and nerves with an intensity that doesn't let go for an instant.

Check out Syriana at The Film Connection.

To read a Global Envision article about the oil industry, see International Oil Markets and the Global Economy.

Films on Multinational Corporations

The Constant Gardener (2005)

Director: Fernando Meirelles (129 mins)

From the best-selling spy novel by John le Carre comes this edge-on-your-seat story of murder, deception and revenge. A diplomat on the hunt for his wife's murderer uncovers a treacherous conspiracy that will destroy millions of innocent people-unless he can reveal its sinister roots. The Constant Gardener is a heart-stopping thriller that will leave you breathless.

Check out The Constant Gardener at The Film Connection.

To read a Global Envision article about AIDS in Africa, see Southern Africa - One Million People Need AIDS Treatment.

The Corporation (2004)

Directors: Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott (145 mins)

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.

Check out The Corporation at The Film Connection.

To read a Global Envision article about an alternate view of multinational corporations, see Multinational Corporations: A Key to Global Poverty Reduction - Part I.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)

Director: Alex Gibney (110 mins)

Based on the best-selling book by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room details the shocking inside story of one of history\'s greatest business scandals. Unimaginable personal excesses, and an utter moral vacuum that posed as corporate philosophy, led to top executives of America\'s seventh largest corporation walking away with over one billion dollars while investors and employees lost everything. Narrated by Peter Coyote, this expose features insider accounts and incendiary corporate audio and videotapes that will have viewers\' blood boiling.

Check out Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room at The Film Connection.

To read a Global Envision article about corporate responsability, see Multinational Corporations: A Key to Global Poverty Reduction - Part II.

Films on Transnational Organizations

Bamako (2006)

Director: Abderrahmane Sissako (115 mins)

Set in the Courtyard of a mud walled house in Bamako, the capital city of Mali, the intimate personal story of an African couple on the verge of breaking up is told alongside very public political proceedings. In Bamako African civil society is taking action against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) whom they directly blame for Africa\'s woes.

To read a Global Envision article about Bamako, see New Film Focuses on Life and Debt in Africa.

The Girl in the Cafe (2005)

Director: David Yates (95 mins)

From award-winning screenwriter Richard Curtis comes The Girl in the Cafe, a funny, touching love story with a powerful humanitarian message. Mild-mannered Lawrence is a dedicated civil servant who doesn\'t have much going on in his life except for his job. But that changes when he meets Gina, a mysterious, attractive woman whom he impulsively invites to the G8 conference in Iceland, a very important event for the world - and for Lawrence\'s career. As the conference on world poverty progresses, Gina makes her displeasure with the policies of the G8 conference leaders well-known, much to Lawrence\'s chagrin. Together, this unlikely couple might just change history...or at least his employment status.

Check out The Girl in the Cafe at The Film Connection.

Life & Debt (2001)

Director: Stephanie Black (86 mins)

This scathing film is an unapologetic look at the \"new world order\" from the point of view of Jamaican workers and farmers, as well as government and policy officials. Featuring a dynamic reggae soundtrack and a searing voice over based on text by Jamaica Kincaid, as well as interviews with former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manleey, Deputy Director of the IMF Stanley Fisher and President of Haiti Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Life & Debt portrays the relationship between Jamaican poverty and the practices of international lending agencies while driving home the devastating consequences of globalization.

Check out Life & Debt at The Film Connection.

Films on Health

Big Bucks, Big Pharma: Marketing Disease and Pushing Drugs (2006)

Director: Ronit Ridberg (45 mins)

Big Bucks, Big Pharma pulls back the curtain on the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to expose the insidious ways that illness is used, manipulated, and in some instances created, for capital gain. Focusing on the industry\'s marketing practices, media scholars and health professionals help viewers understand the ways in which direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising glamorizes and normalizes the use of prescription medication, and works in tandem with promotion to doctors. Combined, these industry practices shape how both patients and doctors understand and relate to disease and treatment. Ultimately, Big Bucks, Big Pharma challenges us to ask important questions about the consequences of relying on a for-profit industry for our health and well-being.

RX for Survival: A Global Health Challenge (2005)

Directors: Mike Beckham and Richard Dale (336 mins)

Filmed in over twenty countries and narrated by actor Brad Pitt, Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge looks closely at the most critical health threats facing the world today. This six-part documentary series presents the compelling stories and real-life drama of those who are proving that solutions are indeed possible - and that lives can be saved right now, the world over.

Check out RX for Survival at The Film Connection.

Films on The Envrionment

Blue Vinyl (2002)

Directors: Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold (98 mins)

A Toxic Comedy Look at Vinyl, The World's Second Largest Selling Plastic. With humor, hope and a piece of vinyl siding firmly in hand, Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand and co-director Daniel B. Gold travel from Helfand's hometown to America's vinyl manufacturing capital and beyond in search of answers about the nature of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The result is a humorous but sobering and uniquely personal exploration of the relationship between consumers and industry in the feature-length documentary Blue Vinyl.

Check out Blue Vinyl at The Film Connection.

Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006)

Director: Chris Paine (93 mins)

It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So why did General Motors crush its fleet of EV1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert? Who Killed the Electric Car? chronicles the life and mysterious death of the GM EV1, examining its cultural and economic ripple effects and how they reverberated through the halls of government and big business.

Check out Who Killed the Electric Car? at The Film Connection.

Films on Culture and Society

Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids (2004)

Directors: Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski (83 mins)

A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born Into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in Calcutta\'s red light district, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Spurred by the kids\' fascination with her camera, Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer living in the brothels and documenting life there, decides to teach them photography. As they begin to look at and record their world through new eyes, the kids, who society refused to recognize, awaken for the first time to their own talents and sense of worth. The film captures the way in which beauty can be found in even the seemingly bleakest and most hopeless of places, and how art and education can empower children to transform their lives.

Check out Born into Brothels at The Film Connection.

To read a Global Envision article about Kids With Cameras, see The Work of the Global Fund for Children.

Goodbye Lenin! (2003)

Director: Wolfgang Becker (121 mins)

October, 1989 was a bad time to fall into a coma if you lived in East Germany--and this is precisely what happened to Alex's proudly socialist mother. Alex has a big problem on his hands when she suddenly awakens eight months later. Her heart is so weak that any shock might kill her. And what could be more shocking than the fall of the Berlin Wall and the triumph of capitalism in her beloved East Germany? To save his mother, Alex transforms the family apartment into an island of the past, a kind of socialist-era museum where his mother is lovingly duped into believing that nothing has changed. In Goodbye Lenin!, what begins as a little white lie turns into a major scam as Alex's sister and selected neighbors are recruited to maintain the elaborate ruse-- and keep her believing that Lenin really did win after all!

National Geographic: Guns, Germs, and Steel (2005)

Directors: Tim Lambert and Cassian Harrison (165 mins)

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning best seller by Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel explores the fascinating connections between geography, technology, and global human development. Hosted by the author himself, this extraordinary series spans 13,000 years of struggle and conquest. From the early social and agricultural innovations in \"Out of Eden\", to the role of weapons and disease in \"Conquest\", to the modern interplay of geography and resources in \"Into the Tropics\" it\'s a gripping, sometimes controversial detective story revealing how human history may have been shaped by our access to Guns, Germs, and Steel.

Check out Guns, Germs, and Steel at The Film Connection.

Inventos: Hip Hop Cubano (2005)

Director: Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi (50 mins)

An independent film that provides a unique insight into the realities and politics of contemporary Cuba. Experience this as Inventos follows some of the pioneers of this musical movement to their homes, the stage and as they travel abroad for the first time. Inventos embodies the true spirit of Hip Hop, which is to build something that is powerful and useful out of what is seemingly impossible.

Check out Inventos at The Film Connection.

Film Resources

Books on Film

Wilhelm, Elliot. VideoHound\'s World Cinema : The Adventurer\'s Guide to Movie Watching. Visible Ink Press, 1998.

Zianello, Tom. The Cinema of Globalization. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007.