PARIS, FRANCE – The European Independent Film Festival (ÉCU), Europe’s premiere event for independent filmmakers and their audiences, announces Danielle Mitterrand, president of France Libertés, the foundation which is recognized as a major actor in water issues, to present the environmental film, ‘Blue Gold: World Water Wars.’ The film is set to be presented on Saturday the 14th of March at approximately 17:30 in Le Grand Auditorium at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, site François-Mitterrand in Paris, France. The Ecology Now category at the festival is a new genre added to the 2009 festival for films dealing with environmental issues.
Danielle Mitterrand will speak specifically about the fact that water cannot be regarded as merchandise, as it is a global commodity not only for humanity, but also for all human beings. In addition, she will talk about the fundamental human right of access to water, which can only be guaranteed by a democratic and transparent public management.
‘We are thrilled to have Danielle Mitterrand as a presenter of this new ‘Ecology Now’ category and continuing with our mission to spotlight hidden talent making extraordinary films,’ says Scott Hillier, ÉCU 2009’s President and Academy Award honoured independent filmmaker. ‘Our goal is to discover and showcase the most exciting young talent in the film industry today and showcase filmmakers whose films demonstrate quality, innovation and independence in both form and content.’
‘Blue Gold: World Water Wars’, a Sam Bozzo film, discusses water as a dwindling life source and the potential for future wars to be fought as corporate giants and corrupt governments vie for control of the water supply. Recent winner of the Best Documentary at the Belloit International Film Festival, winner of the Audience Choice Best Environmental Documentary at the Vancouver International Film Festival and part of the Official Selection of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, ‘Blue Gold: World Water Wars’ screens as one of four films featured in the new Ecology Now genre at the festival.
Sam Bozzo, producer, director and editor of the film, could have given up his dream after losing his sponsor the night before filming was scheduled to begin. Instead, he set out on a one-man journey risking even the loss of his own home to make the film.
The project took him filming deep into Africa, avoiding detection by armed police,
bribing Mexican guards for a 20-minute window to shoot raw sewage irrigating the
farmlands and investigating another documentary filmmaker’s assassination for
efforts to save African water…all to bring the environmental issues within the film and the knowledge of the global water crisis to the general public.
“Why take these risks” asks Sam Bozzo, producer, director and editor of ‘Blue Gold: World Water Wars.’ “My conscious mind tells me I made this film for the general public, who do not know about this issue, and need to while there is time for a change. My subconscious mind tells me I made it for my son. But deeper down still, I know I made it for one reason alone. As a society, it seems to me that our sole focus of environmental concern has become carbon gas emissions and Global Warming. But we will survive Global Warming. The world will be different, but the world will be here. I made this film because while Global Warming is an issue of ‘how’ we live, the water crisis is an issue of ‘if’ we live.”
Other films in the 2009 Ecology Now category include German film Glore, in which directors Ingo Walde and Sermin Kaynak make a stand for globally responsible fashion and encourage the use of environmentally friendly and organic fabrics. British film ‘Don’t Let It All Unravel’, is a two-minute knitted warning, that shows a colourful woven world unraveling and asks as it does, that we stop the disappearance of our own world through environmental destruction. In addition, The Great Squeeze reveals that the stresses we have put on the earth are not only threatening our habitat, but also our way of life, our prosperity and even our existence on the planet.
Since its inception four years ago the festival has proved to be a discovery point for many of Europe’s talented filmmakers, who are driven by the passion to make great cinema, but don’t benefit from huge production budgets.
The film festival takes place on the 13th, 14th and 15th March 2009 at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, site François-Mitterrand in Paris, France. Entrance to the festival screenings and the workshop events is free and open to the public. A preview of the opening films, as well as a full schedule of screenings and workshop events, is available at www.ecufilmfestival.com.
