almost a company with deep deep pockets sure they're hiring very fast. i think you being a little bit naive if you think that you can take the. bait on the street and expect to move away without some sort of funny to me. it was beyond belief to think back could be done to a participant in a film festival. i think the goal succeeded and games long to doubt about the credibility of the story. as a swedish filmmaker and journalist i always took the right of freedom of speech for granted. but i think came to learn it depends on the story you want to tell. in two thousand and nine i had made a film about

a court case in los angeles where banana workers from nicaragua were suing the old food company for the use of a banned pesticide that they claimed made them sterile along with other serious health effects and in november two thousand and seven the jury in the los angeles court delivered a groundbreaking verdict was found liable for malice and misconduct. my hope was that this story would bring about better conditions for the fall workers to produce by us today for ever the message was extremely unpleasant so to get a film out would prove to be a journey full of obstacles. out . in the beginning or made two dozen

nine were ready to launch my film by anonymous. one morning a huge package from the us was delivered to our office. only a few days earlier we had launched the film's website announcing that we would have our world premiere in competition at the los angeles film festival. inside this package was a cease and desist letter from a law firm representing dold food company claimed that facts in my film were based on a fraud. that the banana workers were lying. they could be deaf but all i said was going on here we're not out to get. him

and the story convinced that this was a misunderstanding. as they see the film everything will fall into place. when the cease and desist letter came in from dole i was also mentioned and i guess in some way i was kind of flattered it was like wow ok nice i'm on the rich on the radar for a dollar it's really nice to see but. my wife really sort of like you know brought me back to reality and said you know this is quite serious you know we could lose the house we could lot of things could happen doe decided to go after everybody so they could stop the film and so in doing so they threatened everybody threatened me they threatened los angeles film festival by going to all of the major sponsors including the l.a. times and i think it was important that we all had united front. as we started to step towards you know the film screening at the festival. i wanted to tell the whole world what was going on but i didn't so when i was interviewed for

a local swedish t.v. news i did not give the reporter to full story i didn't tell her about the letters from told that we might not be able to show our film. i was doing a segment on this film that was about to compete at the l.a. festival. all sound a few days later i received a long letter any mail from those p.r. agency in washington. that is to want to look at the documentary was based on false accusations and lies my initial reaction was fear i was scared to think it made me very uncomfortable i mean this was a tiny segment aired by a local news station how did they find it i'll be watching every move i can talk to the agency and that put me in touch with those vice president i have made it very clear to this producer and to the film festival given. to the

absolute basis on which they built this trial and they're going forward with it very well when they're going to get sued and two they're going to be exposed to chemical damages and they'll still remember when they asked him what exactly is faked. what lies are you throwing to. try to stop me just went on and on that made me angry the film is based on a sham that's the point but have you seen the trailer share or told you know charlotte. we didn't tell anybody to threats against a film. that created the first headline. front page. page of the. day this is. you see this this is the front page of the l.a. .

despite. what. the writer has seen. i want to talk about pesticide use and its impact on workers. successfully shifted the focus away. to appear. in the media and. cuban immigrant chasing. a beloved american corporation and now eve swedish filmmaker is making this crook into hero. is afraid. they are afraid that.

it was such an insult who worked so hard to make this movie the fumes of the skin grew in the film's entire. i want to say. we feel like. it's a very silly sensible. so we. it all very. clear to us there's anything. there. that was sued by joel geyser our early trying to be addressed. and especially likely to ask you. guys los angeles they're going to serve you with us are obvious surprise if they doctored yes. i've been successful in court the same week

to judge concluded that the. case probably had committed fraud the conclusion was based on testimonies from anonymous witnesses stories. so what happens if the central premise that your documentary that's just about to be released turns out to be a fraud. that. they're basically created in and. this sort of supportive people getting their piece of that going wow so have you finally seen the documentary and i have to admit i did not. and could not defend themselves publicly instead the journalist attacked me and my film with one

question why don't you change your film. is found to be a fraud i told them that this was still an ongoing legal fight and that i didn't believe decent usage they're attacking you as a filmmaker they're attacking the film there are no. everything became personal it wasn't just about the film is really going after you. and if you look back everything. was actually they moved it off of them because they couldn't get after him to the film because. to them is damaging because you know the c.e.o. from then had you know admitted his guilt right there you know in court did it occur to you and mr rennes all that maybe it would be best not to use d.c.p. until you were sure your workers wouldn't be affected this general waiting for the evidence to pile up.

the first tool pass but you still don't know if our film will be screened at all. or. just will board calls us to an urgent crisis we did receive new letters from going. through they're not even on a plane. and they make it very clear to us they will no longer defend my from. my account this is chris. we just came out of the media. just the bottom line. it's not really finished but they. think they will it's so hard to risk their own organization the fessor game up with different options but the options are never going to be in your favor you know the options were i mean i was in the room with the options where they were going to show up next year when you can get distribution or why don't we just show clips and

we can do a discussion around it but all along that was going to do anything for your for your show and then also we felt as you know on the publicity side all that said to dole was yes you're right so i'm just going to show clips so that i don't get in trouble. if festool keeps changing the conditions we have to accept that the film has been taking on a competition another legal disclaimer defending those view of the film. it's going to be read before. if you don't accept these terms there will be no world premiere . i've got to find a disclaimer text in my hand just arrived to the theater the first of all is given in to the pressure from don't publicly announcing that the banana workers are liars i tried not to read it because i knew i would because. so basically if you say i'll

say it is a microcosm coming around the watch out that is assistant. vice president michael connor and his lawyers are right these are the guys who have been putting pressure on us for over six weeks now to pull the film. deliberate george is on an epic journey to structure. one hundred twenty three days. through two thousand and nine hundred two cities of russia. relayed by fourteen thousand people or sixty five thousand killing. in a record setting trip by land air sea and others face. a limp torch relay. on r t r two dot com. do you think your argument about turkey being that prodigious example of

a muslim democracy that was able to separate the it's really china from its economy still can be applied to these day that's a fair point what i spoke about in the book was how ways doki had done some being accompanied by a stick he said make it go away with hyperinflation and very valid i go with the tide so it seems so much economic success and i think that was great but the problem there is of course they do one day and his attitude has changed you know has become much more targeted here and less dollar rate of any criticism and more bad annoyed. the deepest lake in the world. usually then no more than fifteen thousand years old this one dates back twenty five.

spirits and buddhist dogs live you know. the pure clear water in the lake is helping scientists unravel the mysteries of the universe. i try to see by cow in its entirety. it's not that i have discovered something new here rather that i absorb everything but this place offers . a spiritual bike. for. this ok great thank you all i'm so sorry like that contingent there getting us going here. welcome to the fifteenth annual los angeles film festival presented by the los angeles times i'm don heads and executive director of film independent and i also looking at you two tonight

screening and case study of bananas the screen is presented by film independent film and his los angeles film festival and frederick the director and i want to introduce to you right now. and i want to keep it first so we can all. i want you to read the first you want to introduce the film yes i will but i want you to read this first i will i mean. you . but that was all i was told all right it was actually one of the most shocking things i've ever seen this sort of putting a documentary into a special ghetto of its own declassifying it and then actually feeling like there was surveillance on me in the audience as we lined up and were forced to read a document that disavowed this thing and i actually felt completely ashamed for

the entire los angeles movie industry and the festival. it was beyond belief to think think that that could be done to to a participant in a film festival before you watch this film you need to know that serious questions have been raised about its credibility the judge specifically mentions in her ruling that the witnesses you will see in the film tonight from the trial lied under oath presented false employment records and presented fraudulent evidence of sterility none of this is reflected in the film you're about to see as a result there seems to be little question that the version of reality the film portrays does not match the reality that emerged in the courtroom. we are not eager to be sued that is why we are showing this film out of competition as a case study to eliminate a timely exploration of what makes and doesn't make a responsible documentary the language was.