Films

Gattacicova have produced the following feature-length documentaries:

Our Oil and Other Tales // February 2005

Dir. E. Andreoli, G. Muzio, S. Muzio and M. Pugh
Dur. 83 mins
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English

A two-month journey across Venezuela, from Lake Maracaibo to the Orinoco Delta. The people of the oil fields and the mining centres talk of their close encounter with these exploitations.

For the first time, in the “revolutionary” Venezuela, a documentary delves deep in the problematic of oil and coal, from the angle of the life experience of communities, oil workers, indigenous people.

The film takes a look at world  politics on oil and other extractive activities, jointly with the themes of sovereignty and self-determination of a people engaged in a real process of change. 

Bolivia is Not for Sale // January 2004

Dir. E. Andreoli, G. Muzio and M. Pugh
Dur. 63 mins
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English

The Bolivian people, robbed of their resources, mantain their dignity. The police mutiny in February 2003 responded to the latest abuse: the imposition of the ultimate regressive income taxation on the destitutes to fulfil IMF conditionalities. After the cold blooded killing of thirty people, the popular revolt forced the governemnt to back down and withdraw the fiscal package. The intention of the final sell off of Bolivia’s natural resources to transnational corporations and the fierce resistance of the poor.

How Bush Won the Elections…in Ecuador // July 2003

Dir. E. Andreoli, G. Muzio and M. Pugh
Dur. 65 mins
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English

Variety Review 12 December 2003:

“Three maverick docu helmers with deep commitments to social justice in South America set out to expose U.S. shenanigans in “How Bush Won the Election (in Ecuador).” Despite minimal financial resources, they make a persuasive case through well-chosen interviews with government officials, economists, writers and activists. Multiple subtitled versions will make it easy for fests to drop this into their programs, with probable TV exposure abroad, but U.S. tube play will depend on finding left-leaning channels.

President Lucio Gutierrez of Ecuador swept into power in 2002 with promises of reform. With the country carrying more than $14 billion worth of external debt and a staggering 70% of Ecuadorians living below the poverty line, Gutierrez’s decision to bow to U.S. banking interests and International Monetary Fund strictures guaranteed a continuation of crippling debt payments and no relief to the masses, who feel betrayed by his about-face.

Added to the financial woes is the controversial Plan Columbia, a U.S. initiative to rid the region of cocaine and marijuana farms using the herbicide Glifosato. High-ranking staff at the U.S. embassy in Quito scoff at the notion that the chemical could be toxic to humans, but conversations with farmers and medical professionals dramatically suggest otherwise.

Pic’s greatest flaw is a reliance on TV broadcasts shot directly from the tube screen, which makes for fuzzy viewing. Otherwise, this is a judicious, well-documented examination of U.S. policy and its effects, which doesn’t allow its righteous anger to get in the way of its focus.” Jay Weissberg

Another World is Possible in Venezuela // November 2002

Dir. E. Andreoli, G. Muzio and M. Pugh
Dur. 87 mins
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English, Italian, French and Portuguese

London TIME OUT Review and Critic’s Choice 23 April 2003:

“This lucid and wide ranging doc shot in 10 days last October (but speaking with an authority and access far greater then the time frame might suggest) is intended as a tribute to the political consciousness and determination of the people of Venezuela. The Latin American nation with the world’s 5th largest oil reserves is currently facing a situation that feels like a re-run of Chile a generation earlier, with the US implicated in an anti-reformist campaign against the elected government of president Chavez. Talking to activists, community organisations and observers across the country, the film makers impressively demonstrate how to fill the gaps left by the mainstream media’s failures of coverage and how a country might build a new, just and workable society form the ground up.”

Gareth Evans