More VIFF

FILMS WORTH WATCHING by Robert Alstead

Celebrity tycoon Donald Trump lives up to his billing as a crass megalomaniac in You’ve Been Trumped. The documentary illustrates his bullyboy antics, as he bulldozes a sensitive coastal ecosystem in northeast Scotland to create a mega golf resort. The controversial project on Menie Estate, eight miles from Aberdeen, saw the Scottish government effectively write off a protected environmental gem to reap highly questionable economic benefits. In this sometimes heart-warming and amusing David and Goliath story, it is astounding how much the government, local police force and authorities appear to collude with Trump in his campaign to force out long-time residents. Director Anthony Baxter’s award-winning film appears to have already caused delays in the project. Sadly, much of the damage to the dunes appears to be complete. (Screens at VIFF October 4, 6, 9.)

Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up (5, 7, 11) asks how the US can justify draconian jail sentences for five Cubans arrested for spying in Miami 13-years-ago when they were trying to prevent terrorist acts occurring in Cuba. Ever since CIA-trained Cuban exiles failed to topple Castro’s revolutionary government in the Bay of Pigs 50 years ago, they have bombed soft targets in the US such as journalists and political leaders. In 1976, they bombed a Cubana plane killing all 78 people on board.

Through candid interviews with aged, but still unrepentant, key exiles, Saul Landau highlights the double-standards at the heart of US relations with Cuba that allowed this violent brand of US-sponsored terrorism to go unchecked.

Ten years ago, it was widely publicized that minerals such as coltan and cassiterite – used in electronics, particularly cell phones –were funding violent militias in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The industry agreed it should address the issue, however, as Danish director Frank Piasecki Poulsen discovers in Blood in the Mobile (1, 8, 13), action has not been forthcoming. Poulsen discovers this the hard way, hiking into the lawless and remote Bisie Mine in the Walikale region of the DR Congo to capture vivid footage of teenage boys hacking away down ramshackle shafts. There’s a strong sense of desperation and a fear of sudden violence in this part of the world, contrasted with the apparent insouciance of the phone company Nokia whose reps seem more concerned with tarnishing the corporation’s shiny image than discussing the issue. Blood in the Mobile is sponsored by Common Ground.

Finally, People of a Feather (3, 5, 9) provides a fascinating insight into the lives of the people in the remote Hudson Bay community of Sanikiluaq and their relationship with the eider ducks that have traditionally provided them with warm feathers. Joel Heath’s initial contact was as an ecologist investigating the death of the ducks en masse. Some seven years later, he has combined some stunning underwater footage of eider ducks diving to the seabed for food with time-lapse photography showing shifting patterns in the ice ecology, the harsh consequence (for the ducks) of a regional hydro development. A non-profit doc, made with the local community, this goes beyond natural history, with its hip-hop interlude and historical recreations.

VIFF continues until October 14.

Robert Alstead made the Vancouver documentary You Never Bike Alone.www.youneverbikealone.com. He writes at www.2020Vancouver.com.

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