ITVS Documentaries at IDFA 2012

A record 17 ITVS documentaries will screen at IDFA 2012 (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam), including 8 films from Why Poverty? 

Check out the IDFA films below and join us in congratulating all the filmmakers! Why Poverty? is a project from ITVS’s Global Perspectives Project in partnership with STEPS International 70 international broadcasters. The project has commissioned award-winning filmmakers to make eight documentaries, and new and emerging talents to make around 30 short films. The films tackle big issues and pose difficult questions, but they're also moving, subtle and thought-provoking stories. IDFA has declared Thursday, November 22^ndWhy Poverty? Day at the festival. 

Miss Nikki and the Tiger GirlsProducer: Juliet Lamont, Director: Jessica Douglas-Henry Miss Nikki and the Tiger Girls is an intimate portrait of a spirited young Australian band manager as she tries to empower Myanmar's first all-girl band to speak out in one of the world's most repressive regimes. 

ReporteroProducer/Director: Bernardo Ruiz A veteran reporter and photojournalist in the Mexican border city of Mexicali weaves in and out of the lives of the region's residents, often revisiting the themes in his reporter's notebook — immigration, corruption, and the rise in drug-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border.Fallen CityProducer: Lixin Fan Director: Qi ZhaoFallen City follows the survivors of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake as they embark on a journey in search of hope, meaning, and identity. In the Shadow of the SunProducer: Brian Hill Director: Harry Freeland Told over the course of four years, In The Shadow Of The Sun tells the intimate story of two very different members of a remote island’s albino community in Tanzania as a wave of brutal ritual killings targeting people with albinism sweeps their country. The House I Live InProducer/Director: Eugene Jarecki, Producer: Melanie Shopsin Filmed in more than twenty states, The House I Live In captures heart-wrenching stories from individuals at all levels of America?s War on Drugs. Outlawed in PakistanProducers/Directors: Habiba Nosheen, Hilke SchellmannOutlawed in Pakistan drops us the world of the deeply entrenched tradition of honor killings in Pakistan. The film follows a young girl who narrowly escaped rape, then death at the hands of men in her village, and supported by her family, now struggles to find justice for herself and other women.When Hari Got Married Producers/Directors: Ritu Sarin, Tenzing Sonam Hari is getting married to a girl he has never met. Hari has only ever had one glimpse of his future wife. Tradition dictates that Hari will see his bride only after the wedding. But Hari has found another way to get to know her: on the mobile phone. Where Heaven Meets Hell Producer/Director: Sasha Friedlander, Co-Director: Bao Nguyen In East Java, Indonesia lies Kawah Ijen, an active volcano that houses a grueling, labor-intensive sulfur mining operation. Before daybreak, five hundred independent miners begin to collect and haul loads of up to 200lbs. of pure sulfur. Poor Consuelo Conquers the WorldDirector: Peter Friedman, Producer: Paul Miller Poor Consuelo Conquers the World tells the story of popular soap operas and telenovelas that are being used to combat the effects of poverty around the world. Why Poverty? Documentaries Rafea: Solar MamaDirectors Jehane Noujaim and Mona Eldaief, Producer Mette Heide Rafea is an uneducated Bedouin mother from the Jordanian desert. She gets the chance to go to the Barefoot College, where middle-aged women from poor communities train to become solar engineers, and bring power to their communities. Park Ave: Money Power and the American DreamDirector: Alex Gibney, Producer: Blair Foster 740 Park Avenue, Manhattan, is one of the most exclusive addresses in the world, home to some of the richest Americans, the 1% of the 1%. Ten minutes to the north, across the Harlem River, is the other Park Avenue, in the South Bronx. Here, unemployment runs at 19% and half the population need food stamps. The American Dream of equal opportunities and hard work says you can be born in the Bronx and end up at 740.  But is that dream still true? Poor UsDirector: Ben Lewis, Producers Femke Wolting and Bruno Felix The history of poverty seen through a funny and sinister animated odyssey through time. Welcome to the WorldDirector: Brian Hill, Producer: Katie Bailiff A lyrical, exhilarating and sometimes unsettling look at childbirth around the globe. Through the stories of mothers and babies around the world, we look at how poverty affects childbirth, childhood - and everything beyond. Education, EducationDirector: Weijun Chen, Producer: Don Edkins How do you choose a college when you’re the first person in your family who can read? Or pay for it when 4 years of schooling costs sixty years of income? This is what it’s like to join the “ant-tribe”, the 2 million newly graduated Chinese who, every year, can’t find work. Stealing AfricaDirector: Christopher Guildbrandsen, Producer: Henrik Veileborg Rüschlikon is a village in Switzerland with a very low tax rate and very wealthy residents. But it receives more tax revenue than it can use. This is largely thanks to one resident - Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore.  Glencore's copper mines in Zambia are not generating a large bounty tax revenue for the Zambians. Zambia has the 3rd largest copper reserves in the world, but 60% of the population live on less than $1 a day and 80% are unemployed. Based on original research into public documents, the film describes the tax system employed by multinational companies in Africa. Give Us the MoneyDirector: Bosse Lindquist, Producer: David Herdies Bob Geldof and Bono have been the most prominent voices advocating on behalf of the poor. But have their concerts and campaigns really lifted millions out of poverty?  Geldof and Bono speak candidly about how to lobby effectively and how to play to politicians’ weaknesses for glitz and popularity.  Land RushDirectors Hugo Berkeley and Osvalde Lewat, Producer: Eli Cane In Mali, 75% of the population are farmers, but rich, land-hungry nations like China and Saudi Arabia are leasing Mali's land in order to turn large areas into agribusiness farms. Many Malian peasants do not welcome these efforts, seeing them as yet another manifestation of imperialism. To learn more about the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, please click here.