BANANAS!*

BANANAS!* comes back to Los Angeles for one time screenings on June 23, 2010. Oscilloscope Laboratories presents theatrical screening at the Downtown Independent theater on eve of filmmaker trial.

Press release:

LOS ANGELES, CA – The infamous documentary BANANAS!* comes back to Los Angeles for a one night theatrical screening on the eve of the trial between Dole Food Company and filmmaker Fredrik Gertten. Both filmmaker Gertten and his attorney Lincoln Bandlow will be in attendance at the screening to discuss the film following each screening on June 23 in downtown Los Angeles.

After last year’s highly controversial screening at the Los Angeles Film Festival amid threats of lawsuits, Dole Food Company sued director Gertten and his production company WG Film. However, Dole withdrew the lawsuit after Gertten’s home country, Sweden and its Parliament, signed a petition demanding Dole to withdraw the lawsuit on the basis of freedom of speech. Next Thursday, June 24, following the Los Angeles screening, Gertten will have his day in court against Dole, as he filed a SLAPP motion.

"One year later after the turmoil at last year’s LA Film Festival, I am glad that the public can see the film that Dole Food Company didn’t want anyone to see," said filmmaker Gertten. "We are pleased that our US distributor Oscilloscope Laboratories is screening this film for the public at this time before the DVD comes out, so that everyone can see for themselves. With Chevron coming on down on my fellow filmmaker Joe Berlinger for his film CRUDE and Dole suing us for BANANAS!*, it’s become even more difficult for documentary filmmakers to defend ourselves and continue to make nonfiction stories about those who have been wronged. Despite all of Dole’s effort to halt our film, to date we have screened at over 50 festivals worldwide and sold the film to over 10 countries for television and theatrical exhibition."

This special screening of BANANAS!* takes place on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 7PM and 9PM at the Downtown Independent Theatre located at 251 Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, CA 90012.

The film has screened with critical acclaim in theaters and on television in Sweden, France, England, and Germany and other countries. BANANAS!* is a multi-layered courtroom drama delving into the global politics of food, the dynamics of First and Third world nations, and ultimately, human rights at the basest of levels.

Directed by investigative journalist Fredrik Gertten, BANANAS!* focuses on a landmark and highly controversial legal case pitting a dozen Nicaraguan plantation workers against Dole Food Corporation and its alleged use of a banned pesticide with a probable link to generations of sterilized workers. Juan "Accidentes" Dominguez, a Los Angeles-based personal injury attorney, leads the charge in this classic David vs. Goliath story at times both infuriating and inspirational of workers, their families as well as the culture of global, multinational business. Cameras inside the court and interviews with Dominguez and the plaintiffs take the audience directly to the story.

Experts and companies all over the world have followed this case. If Dominguez is successful, it could rock the economic foundations of Dole and Dow, and would open the US courts to other global victims of US-based multinationals. It would represent a new day in international justice, and there are further cases of a similar nature coming up next in many jurisdictions.

For more information on the screening go to:
Downtown Independent’s website »

Background on the lawsuit againt BANANAS!*:
BANANAS!* background » (1 page PDF)
BANANAS!* under fire – a timeline » (full timeline)

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Winston Emano
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