Warsaw/Wroclaw, Poland
Warsava, Poland
Vancouver, Canada
Munich, Germany
Fredrik Gertten was invited to Italy yesterday to receive the award for Best International Documentary at MIFF Awards in Milan, Italy for his documentary BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!*. The film was screened to a closed jury last month and was nominated for both Best Documentary and Best Editing. Yesterday the winners was announced at a ceremony, where Fredrik received the prize with the motivation "For the courage to tell his own 'David & Goliath" story, involving the audience from the beginning on a hot pro-environment issue."
Director Fredrik Gertten with the award for Best Documentary. Photo: MIFF Awards
BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* is selected to UK's biggest documentary film festival Sheffield Doc/Fest between June 13-17. This will be the UK premiere of the film, and the start of the UK launch of the film. BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* is distributed in the UK by London based disitributor Dogwoof, who also worked with BANANAS!*. The DVD will be released this summer. Read more on Sheffield Doc/Fest webpage.
BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* came second in the Top Ten Audience Favourite at the Canadian premiere at HotDocs last week. Every year the festival presents a selection of more than 150 documentaries from all over the world. Since the film received the Audience Award at One World Human Rights Fim Festival in Czech Republic in March, the film has been the audience favourite at several festival. Most recently at Sarasota and Full Frame Film Festival in US where the film was in the top five of audience choice.
BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* is facing it's greatest International launch so far with Canadian premiere at HotDocs in Toronto, followed by DOXA Film Festival in Vancouver. Then the film opens theatrically May 11. Director Fredrik Gertten will be in attendance in Canada during the whole launch, toghether with the Canadian distributor Kinosmith. Kinosmith is an independent Canadian film distribution & marketing company founded in February 2007 by distribution veteran Robin Smith. See all the screening dates in the films calendar or read more on Kinosmiths webpage.
I became a perfect end to the US tour of BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* when he film was awarded for Best Documentary at Sarasota Film Festival in Florida, US. Now the film is off to Canada, wiht screenings on Canadas two biggest documentary film festivals Hot Docs in Toronto and DOXA in Vancouver.
The film won the Audience Award and the Rudolf Vrba Jury Award at One World in Prague in March. It's also nominated for Best Documentary and Best Editing at MIFF (Milan International Film Festival) in Milan, Italy.
Co-worker at WG Film and producer behind BANANAS!* and BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* Margarete Jangård will attend DOK.fest München, Germany between 2-9 May. Margarete Jangård will be presenting the screening of BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* and take part in a Q&A. Margarete also attended One World Film Festival in Prague, Czech Republic where the film was awarded with the Audience Award and the Rudolf Vrba Jury Award.
(From left) Human rights activist Naung Latt and and producer Margarete Jangård at One World Film Festival in Prague. Photo: One World
BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* returns to the US after the premiere at the prestegious Sundance Film Festival in January. On Thursday April 12 the film begins its three week tour and the first screening is set to Yale University in New Haven, followed by Sarasota Film Festival, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durhamn and The Washington DC International Film Festival. In the beginning of May the film premieres in Canada at Hot Docs in Toronto followed by DOXA in Vancouver. Director Fredrik Gertten will attend all screenings. For more details about the screenings, please visit the films screening calendar.
The Bertha BRITDOC Journalism Fund is an international film fund dedicated to supporting long form feature documentaries of a journalistic nature. These nice people have been impressed by BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* and has granted us £10 000 to support our ongoing legal costs.
From their site: "We are looking for films that break the important stories of our time, expose injustice, bring attention to unreported issues and cameras into regions previously unseen. This new fund recognises such films are often delicate and protracted, making them difficult to fund. With a mission to enable in-depth analysis of issues through long-form investigative filmmaking, we are particularly looking to work with filmmakers with a journalistic background or those who are collaborating with journalists".
If you are curious about the other grantees and their films, you can read more about them here. Thanks a lot, BRITDOC!
On March 6 our film Love Always, Carolyn will have its Swedish premiere at Swedens biggest documentary film festival Tempo Documentary Festival in Stockholm. Love Always, Carolyn is the gala opening film and will also be in competition in the head category Tempo Documentary Award. The directors Maria Ramström and Malin Korkeasalo will be there to introduce the film on the opening night together with the WG Film team.
Directors Malin Korkeasalo and Maria Ramström. Photo: Johan Bergmark.
The festival will also screen Fredrik Gertten's new documentary BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!*, in competition. More info about the opening of Love Always, Carolyn and the screening times of the films can be found on Tempo's website.
Conservative MP Mats Johansson and former social democrat MP Luciano Astudillo took the initiative to the screening of BANANAS!* in the Swedish parliament in October 2009. Today (29 feb) they show the new film BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* to politicians and journalists once again in the Swedish parliament.
Director Fredrik Gertten together with lawyer Lincoln Bandlow. Photo: Margarete Jangård
The film is not just about the legal process between the fruit giant and the filmmaker. Questions are also raised about media manipulation and the influence in jounalism from PR-and lobbyists in the news we read today. US lawyer Lincoln Bandlow, who defended our film BANANAS!*, is presenting the screening. After the screening there is a discussion about the PR- and lobbyists influence in democracy. Particpants in the discussion are Lincoln Bandlow, Anna Serner, CEO of the Swedish Filminstitute, Anna Grönlund Kratz, JKL, Paul Ronge, media consult,Mats Johansson, Luciano Astudillo, Fredrik Gertten, director and Margarete Jangård, producer.
BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* will be shown on 38 screens in Sweden. Friday last week the film opened in 14 theatres around Sweden and today (29 feb) there will be a live broadcast from Cinema Spegeln in Malmö to 18 cinemas around the country. The audience can send text messages with questions to the director Fredrik Gertten and his lawyer Lincoln Bandlow. Read more on www.bigboysgonebananas.com.
Our poster designed by Rebeca Mendez, first in line outside the EFM market in Berlin.
Now it's official - our new film BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* by Fredrik Gertten has been selected for the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival! It will take place January 19 through 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Utah. Read more on the films new official website bigboysgonebananas.com or on sundance.org.
Press Inquiries:
David Magdael, TCDM and Associates/Los Angeles
+1 213 624 7827
dmagdael@tcdm-associates.com
First there was a film about banana workers saying Dole Food had made them infertile. Then Dole attacked the filmmakers. Time for a new film! WG Film is proud to present BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* by Fredrik Gertten. The true story about a Swedish filmmaker and a banana corporation. Dirty tricks, lawsuits, manipulation, and the price of free speech.
Last Saturday the film had its world premiere at the biggest documentary film festival in the world, IDFA in Amsterdam. The film got a response we couln't even wish for, and two screenings were sold out before the festival opened. Follow this exiting film, (because it's gonna be exiting!) and help us make this unother unpleasant journey for the corporations.
Join the network today on www.bigboysgonebananas.com.
We are happy to announce, that our latest documentary Love Always, Carolyn directed by Malin Korkeasalo and Maria Ramström will be screened in competition at the 47th Chicago International Film Festival during October 6-20! The film competes with 12 other documentaries in the DOCUFEST category.
This is the second time the film is invited to screen in the US since the premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in New York in May. The film also had its North American Premiere during the same period, at Hot Docs in Toronto, Canada and on friday 23rd of September it's time for the European premiere when the film will be screened in competition at The Nordisk Panorama Film Festival in Aarhus, Denmark. Read more about the film on the Love Always, Carolyn Official Website.
Fredrik Gerttens BANANAS!* will be shown on Three Continent Filmfestival in South Africa between September 9-28. The film will tour with the festival to Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg.
Read more...
Our latest production Love Always, Carolyn is selected to compete at the Nordisk Panorama Film Festival between September 23-28. The film is compeeting against 20 other documetaries in the Nordic Documentary section. This year the festival takes place in Aarhus, Denmark and therefore it will be the European premiere of the film. Visit Love Always, Carolyn official website.
BANANAS!* will be screened at the touring music festival Dave Matthews Band Caravan between June 24 - September 4th. The line-up contains famous artists like Emmylou Harris, The Dave Matthews Band, The Roots and The Wailers. The festival will travel to Atlantic City, New York, Chicago and George. Read more...
The culture organisation CNEX will be organizing a series of touring screenings in Hong Kong and Mainland China under the "The Next Homeland" Doc Film Festival during September - December.
For the second time in a row, I bought a rainforest will be participating with 10 campus screenings all over China, starting in November 2011.
CNEX is a non-profit organization founded by a group of professionals, from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, who are passionate about Chinese culture. It is devoted to the production and promotion of documentaries related to the Chinese people. Visit their website.
Director Helena Nygren and Jacob Andrén
together with line producer Vita Randazzo (middle).
Love Always, Carolyn will attend Lilla Filmfestivalen i Båstad between August 2-8. The screening is a sneak-peak premiere, before the European premiere later this fall. Directors Malin Korkeasalo and Maria Ramström together with the production company WG Film will be attending the screening. Read more...
The NYC based distributer Oscilloscope, founded by Adam Yauch from The Beastie Boys, has now released BANANAS!* in the US. The DVD is designed by the Oscilloscope team and contains loads of bonusmaterial and exclusve liner notes from from writer Dan Koeppel. The DVD is available online and in stores.
Find you nearest retailer here. It can also be booked for special screenings, educational and consumer DVD through Oscilloscope.
Selected press quotes: (Read all of them on bananasthemovie.com)
"Offers a front-row seat to a landmark Erin Brockovich-style trial... an incredibly polished film." -Peter Debruge, VARIETY
FOUR STARS! "As gripping as any fictional courtroom drama" -The Independent.
The DVD release of BANANAS!* in the US is getting really close! Starting on May 8, director Fredrik Gertten and distributors Oscilloscope will launch the film at the following events in NYC (Click on the dates below to get more info). The DVD release is set to May 10th.
Pre-order the DVD here!
Sun, May 8 – 7:00 p.m (film at 7:30) BANANAS!* Screening and Q&A at Liberty Hall in the Ace Hotel.
Mon, May 9 – 7:30 p.m BANANAS!* Screening and Q&A at the Maysles Cinema.
Tues, May 10 – 7:00 BANANAS!* Screening and Q&A at Park Slope Food Co-Op.
DVD RELEASE!
Our new film Love Always, Carolyn had three sold out screenings at Robert De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival in New York last week. The directors Malin Korkeasalo and Maria Ramström was present together with producer Margarete Jangård from WG Film. After the first screening, one of the film's main characters and the son of Neal and Carolyn Cassady, John Cassady joined in a Q&A together with the directors.
Directors Maria Ramström and Malin Korkeasalo along with "Beat-son" John Cassady and composer David Amram, who was a close friend of Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac. Photo: Margarete Jangård
Tomorrow, tuesday, it's time for World Premiere Part 2 when the movie will be shown on North America's largest documentary film festival Hot Docs in Toronto, Canada. The festival will also screen Alex Gibbneys "The magic trip", based on author Ken Kesey archival material from the last years of Neal Cassady's life.
On Wednesday April 6th, Pernille Rose Groenkjaer's brand new feature documentary, Love Addict will premiere simultaneously in 40 cinemas throughout Denmark. The film is produced by Danish Documentary from Denmark in co-production with WG Film.
Love Addict is a documentary that explores the nature of the disorder “love addiction” through personal stories of love addicts and the people around them. It's a search to understand what creates this peculiar disorder and describe the struggles and cravings for the ultimate aphrodisiac: Love.
Today it's official that our new documentary Love Always, Carolyn - A story about Kerouac, Cassady and Me will conquer the world! As previously mentioned the film will have its world premiere, in competition, at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on April 23rd. Closely after this the film will continue to HotDocs where it will meet its Canadian audience and celebrate a North American premiere!
Love always, Carolyn is directed by Maria Ramström and Malin Korkeasalo and produced by WG Film. The film is about Carolyn Cassady, the wife and lover of two famous Beat icons, Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac. Carolyn is fighting a losing battle for truth. Mythmakers and the media have hijacked the story of her life and the memory of the men she loved. Love Always, Carolyn is an intimate yet universal story of a woman’s search for personal recognition and price of a life in the public eye. Read more on the films homepage or visit Tribeca Film Festival.
The 1st San Francisco Green Film Festival (SFGFF), which made its debut March 3-6, 2011, announced on Sunday the recipient of the festival’s inaugural Green Tenacity Award.
Fredrik Gertten with the Green Tenacity Award
The award, to be given annually to a filmmaker who shows great tenacity in exploring crucial environmental issues in their work, was presented to director Fredrik Gertten for his film BANANAS!* which screened at the festival. The festival’s 25-person Screening Committee, including international filmmakers, environmentalists, journalists, industry executives, and content experts, selected the award. Read the full article here.
Our film The Leftovers about dumpster diving is now sold to Finlands nationwide TV-channel YLE. Broadcast date is set to March 14th. Since the premiere in the end of 2008, the film has been screened at several "green" film festivals and the topic is just as actual than it was almost three years ago.
Love Always, Carolyn will have it's Polish premiere at PLANETE+ Doc Film Festival between 11-20 May. Read more about the event and book tickets here!
On Wednesday April 24th at 5 PM I bought a rainforest is screening at Millenium International Documentary Film Festival in Brussels, Belgium. Read more...
BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* i nominated for Best Documentary and Best Editors in the section Leonardo da Vinchi's Horse Awards at the 2012 MIFF Awards in Milan, Italy. The winners is announced in May. Read more and see all the nominated films on MIFF's website.
The Swedish premiere of Love Always, Carolyn at Tempo on Tuesday (6/3) will be followed by four special screening on Doc Lounge venues in Sweden and Denmark. The first screening will be held at Doc Lunge in Aarhus, Denmark on March 8. Read more on Doc Lounge's hompage.
Thanks so much for all the pledges! WE HAVE NOW REACHED THE KICKSTARTER GOAL! It's a very powerful experience to see the pledges coming in - encouraging and humbling at the same time.
BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* is being received incredibly well and it's already off to the biggest documentary launch in recent history in Sweden. Now let's make the same thing happen internationally - and that's what this Kickstarter campaign is about. As the international interest in the film is growing rapidly, this also means so much more work for us, and we'll be really, really grateful for every dollar that takes us beyond those $15,000 we picked as initial goal.
As you know, Dole's attack cost us so much more - both in money and time - than what we've been asking for here. However, this is our first Kickstarter campaign, and that's why we wanted to be somewhat modest with our target, making sure it's realistic enough for us to reach it - and not to lose it all. So keep in mind those $15,000 were just an initial goal, and by no means a limit!
Broadcaster NHK Enterprises in Japan has for the second time bought the broadcasting rights of Milkbar, directed by Ewa Einhorn and Terese Mörnvik. The film will be screened three times during 2012.
Our new film BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* will have an audience in the UK and Ireland as the distribution rights yesterday was sold to London based distribution and sales company Doogwoof. Doogwoof was also the distributors behind Fredrik Gertten's previous film BANANAS!*. The film will be avaliable on cinemas and DVD soon. Read more on Dogwoofs website.
Today BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* is having its scandinavian premiere at DocPoint - Scandinavias biggest documentary film festival located in Helsinki, Finland. The festival runs between 24-29 of January. Read more...
BANANAS!* is now avaliable on the French market. This month the DVD was released by the distribution company L'Harmattan located in Paris. The DVD is avaliable on video stores and online. Read more...
The WG production Milkbar will be screened at the film and food festival Slow Filme in Goiás, Brazil between September 15 - 18. The documentary is directed by Ewa Einhorn and Terese Mörnvik. Read more...
The Italian premiere of I bought a rainforest on this years CinemAmbiente Film Festival in Torino, Italy did as usual get a lot of attention from a sold-out and very diverse crowd. One of the directors Jacob Andrén (picture) were there and held a Q&A after the screenings.
Malmö City Cultural Award "Valuable contributions" went this year to filmaker/producer Fredrik Gertten and filmmaker/producer Jan Hemmel.
The scholarship was handed out by the president of city council at the City Hall in Malmö on Thursday, May 26.
I bought a rainforest is invited to the 14th CinemAmbiente Environmental Film Fesival in Torino, Italy between May 31 - June 5. Jacob Andrén - one of the directors and also the main character in the film - will be present. The screening is the Italian premiere of the film.