Payback
Spring 2012 Documentary series
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 8:00pm
Acadia Cinema's Al Whittle Theatre
450 Main Street, Wolfville, NS
Directed by Jennifer Baichwal
Screenplay by Jennifer Baichwal
Based on the book by Margaret Atwood
Starring William Rees, Karen Armstrong, Louise Arbour, Raj Patel, and Margaret Atwood
Rated G ·
1h 26m
Canada
English
Payback
This riveting and poetic feature documentary based on Margaret Atwood’s visionary bestselling book Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, offers a fascinating look at debt as a mental construct and traces how it influences relationships, societies, governing structures and the fate of the planet—in an examination of the metaphor of indebtedness.
The film, directed by Jennifer Baichwal (Manufactured Landscapes), strikingly interweaves these (sometimes surprising) debtor/creditor relationships – a years-long blood feud between two Albanian families; the BP oil spill; tomato farm workers in Florida and their bosses; media mogul Conrad Black and the US justice system – while addressing debt in all its forms: societal, personal, environmental, spiritual, criminal and, of course, economic.
With stunning cinematography and insightful commentary from renowned thinkers Raj Patel, Louise Arbour, Karen Armstrong, William Rees, Conrad Black and Margaret Atwood herself, Payback is a brilliant, game-changing rumination on the subject.
Payback was produced by Ravida Din for the National Film Board of Canada.