Abstract:

"Her opponents gave her the 'Bullshit Award' for sustaining global poverty. Time Magazine hailed her as one of the great heroes of our time -- an icon for young people all over the world. She is Vandana Shiva and this is a film about globalization, genetic engineering, bio-piracy, food, and water. In this documentary, we follow environmental activist and nuclear physicist Vandana Shiva for a period of two years, a whirlwind tour from her organic farm at the foot of the Himalayas to the summit of the World Trade Organization in Mexico to a protest outside the European Patents Office in Munich. Here, in these institutions of power, Shiva does battle with the proponents of globalization, multi-national corporations like Monsanto, an American bio-tech company manufacturing genetically modified foods (whom Shiva holds responsible for a rash of farmers' suicides) and Coca-Cola, accused of depleting and contaminating groundwater in India. A portrait of a tireless and fearless activist (Shiva is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award and the United Nations' Earth Day International Award), Bullshit also gives voice to the small farmers affected by these policies, as well as to some of her staunchest opponents, including executives from Monsanto and Coca-Cola, and especially Barun Mitra, a neo-liberal lobbyist who gave Shiva the 'Bullshit Award' for espousing lies about the negative effects of globalization (upon receiving the award, Shiva mockingly retorted that 'cow dung is the most beautiful of materials'). An insightful, eye-opening, and exhilarating film, Bullshit elucidates some of the most pressing social and technological questions of the 21st century -- can genetically modified foods alleviate world hunger? is it legal for corporations to patent natural crops? can indigenous knowledge inform modern genetic engineering? -- as it takes you to the frontlines of the war over globalization." --http://www.cinemaguild.com || Film Festivals: Official Selection, Sierra Club film festival, Pittsburgh, 2007; Official Selection, Int'l Documentary Festival Amsterdam, 2006; Official Selection, Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, 2006; Official Selection, Women's Film Festival, Seoul, South Korea, 2006