BANANAS!*

Press release:

(Los Angeles, CA) —  After improperly interfering with the Los Angeles premiere this past June of the documentary film BANANAS!* and then attacking the film with a defamation lawsuit, Dole Food Company last week voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit in response to the anti-SLAPP motion filed by the filmmakers and the outrage expressed in Europe and elsewhere over Dole’s lawsuit.  However, director Fredrik Gertten, producer Margarete Jangard and WG Film are asking the court to compel Dole to pay the fees and costs incurred by the filmmakers to defend the lawsuit. 

In addition, the filmmakers announced today that they have decided to withdraw, for now, the counterclaim they had filed against Dole which sought to recover damages suffered by the filmmakers by Dole’s strong-arm tactics in impeding the premiere and distribution of the film.

“We are extremely busy right now with promoting and screening BANANAS!*, which Dole had tried to stop by filing its unfounded lawsuit,” said director Gertten. “Having successfully compelled Dole to end their legal assault on the film, we are now focusing our efforts on getting the film out to the world.  Once we catch our breath from working on overcoming the harm initially caused by Dole’s tactics, we will reevaluate reinstituting our action against Dole.”

Lincoln Bandlow of Lathrop & Gage LLP, attorneys for the filmmakers, added that “the law is clear that Dole cannot file its action, compel defendants to incur significant expense in having to file an anti-SLAPP motion to have the case thrown out, and then just slink away with a voluntary dismissal while the motion is pending and not pay for its actions. The lawsuit should never have been filed – Dole has to pay the price for filing it.  Whether Dole will have to answer for the additional and significant damage it caused the makers of the film to suffer will be a question that may get revisited some other day.” 

BANANAS!* is the non-fiction film centering on the issues surrounding the treatment of banana workers in Nicaragua and covers one of the many lawsuits filed by these workers against Dole and other companies regarding the adverse health effects suffered as a result of the use of the pesticide DBCP in banana fields.  The film was screened in June 2009 at the Los Angeles Film Festival out of competition to sold out audiences even after Dole had tried to stop its screenings. Shortly after the festival, Dole filed a defamation lawsuit against the filmmakers and then last week, withdrew the lawsuit.

For information and press enquiries, please contact:

Lathrop & Gage LLP
Art Menke
Phone: +01 816 286 6385
amenke@lathropgage.com

David Magdael & Associates
Winston Emano
Phone: +01 213 624 7827
wemano@tcdm-associates.com

BANANAS!* is set for competition at Seville European Film Festival and CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. In total, ten international film festivals will screen BANANAS!* this autumn. The world tour includes CMJ in New York, Mostra Internacional de Cinema in Sao Paolo, IDFA in Amsterdam and more.

The schedule for director Fredrik Gertten is tight; he will visit the festivals in New York, Sao Paolo, Copenhagen, Seville, Paris and Amsterdam.

Film festival schedule, October – November 2009:

CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival
(With director visit)
New York, USA
October 20-24, 2009

Mostra Internacional de Cinema
(With director visit)
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Oct 23 – Nov 5, 2009

M:DOX Film Festival
Malmö, Sweden
October 23-25, 2009

Leeds International Film Festival
Leeds, UK
November 4-22, 2009

CPH:DOX
(In competition / director visit)
Copenhagen, Denmark
November 6-15, 2009

Sevilla Festival de Cine Europeo
(In competition / director visit)
Seville, Spain
November 6-14, 2009

RIDM – Rencontres internationales du documentaire
Montreal, Canada
November 11-21, 2009

Aarhus Filmfestival
Aarhus, Denmark
November 12-15, 2009
(Please note: BANANAS!* screens at the kick-off on Sunday, November 8th!)

Festival Européen des 4 écrans
(With director visit)
Paris, France
November 18-20, 2009

IDFA International Documentary Film Festival
(With director visit)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
November 19-29, 2009

Press release:

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CALIFORNIA – October 14, 2009 Dole Food Company, Inc. today announced that it is dismissing its defamation lawsuit against filmmakers Fredrik Gertten, Margarete Jangård and WG Film AB in the Los Angeles Superior Court, relating to the film BANANAS!*.

Dole made its decision in light of the free speech concerns being expressed in Sweden, although it continues to believe in the merits of its case. Dole strongly believes in freedom of speech and expression, which are so important in Sweden and the United States.

"While the filmmakers continue to show a film that is fundamentally flawed and contains many false statements we look forward to an open discussion with the filmmakers regarding the content of the film," said C. Michael Carter, Dole’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel.

U.S. Contact: Marty Ordman – Phone: 818-874-4834
Europe Contact: Marie Noelle Fixler – Phone: 33 1 44 17 30 60

Media links:

Dole withdraws lawsuit against Swedish filmmaker
AP, Los Angeles Times, Oct 15

Dole drops BANANAS!* lawsuit
David Landes, The Local, Oct 15

Swedish news papers:

Dole drar tillbaka stämningen
Sydsvenskan, Oct 15

Dole drar tillbaka stämningen mot BANANAS!*
Anders Forsström, Dagens Nyheter, Oct 15

Dole drar tillbaka stämning
Helsingborgs Dagblad, Oct 15

Dole drar tillbaka stämning
Göteborgsposten, Oct 15

Dole drar tillbaka stämning
Svenska Dagbladet. Oct 15

On October 5, the CEO of Swedish hamburger chain Max said that they had stopped selling Dole fruit salads. A blogger had informed them about the lawsuit against BANANAS!*.

“We don’t like Dole’s actions. Suing a filmmaker instead of having a dialogue is despicable,” said Max CEO Richard Bergfors to the Realtid.se news website.

The story spread to news media all over Sweden, and journalists started contacting major food grocers ICA, Coop and Axood for comments. In an interview with Swedish news agency TT, a representative from ICA said that they had contacted Dole and demanded to have a talk about the film and the situation.

Swedish MPs Mats Johansson and Luciano Astudillo, who invited director Fredrik Gertten to screen BANANAS!* in the parliament, have invited representatives from ICA, Coop and Axfood to an informal lunch in relation to a meeting with the Swedish minister of culture. The meeting with be held in the parliament on October 15. Read more about the meeting »

Media links:

Ica, Coop och Axfood i möte om Doles stämning av filmen BANANAS!*
Anders Forsström, DN.se, Oct 13

Max bluffar om Dole-bojkott
Bernt Hermele, Realtid.se, Oct 12

Swedish grocers demand talks with Dole over Bananas!* lawsuit
TT/David Landes, The Local, Oct 7

”Det här är en ganska medveten pr-strategi"
Jens Mikkelsen & Sarah Nylund, Sydsvenskan.se, Oct 6

Swedish burger chain ditches Dole over Bananas!* lawsuit
TT/David Landes, The Local, Oct 6

”Dole uppför sig för djävligt”
Bernt Hermele, Realtid.se, Oct 5

Excerpt from IFJ.org:

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned as "unforgiveable censorship" attempts by the US fruit company, Dole Food, to prevent the release of a documentary film BANANAS!* by Swedish journalist and film maker Fredrik Gertten, which exposes threats to the health of banana plantations workers in Nicaragua.

"The company’s action is designed to legitimise censorship," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. "We condemn the use of law to try to evade media scrutiny and public accountability. It is an unforgiveable violation of free speech."

The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 123 countries worldwide.

Read full article:
IFJ Condemns Attempts by Embattled Food Company to Censor Free Speech in US
IFJ.org, Oct 8, 2009

Related articles on this site:

• Oct 14: Swedish MPs reply to Dole: “we are not impressed”
• Sep 29: ”Dole threatens free speech”
• Sep 2: Reporters Without Borders launches BANANAS!* petition
• Aug 24: German filmmakers warns Dole
• Aug 13: Filmmakers express their support for BANANAS!*

Swedish MPs Mats Johansson and Luciano Astudillo, who invited director Fredrik Gertten to screen BANANAS!* in the parliament, is now raising the question to the Swedish government.

On Thursday, October 15, 1.30 PM, the Swedish minister of culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, meets with director Fredrik Gertten, free speech lawyer Percy Bratt, and the two MPs to get a deeper insight into the matter.

“The purpose is to inform the minister of culture about our actions and opinions. We have launched a petition among the parliament members where we ask Dole Food to withdraw their lawsuit”, said Mats Johansson to Dagens Nyheter.

”Another issuie is what happens when the film is shown in other countries, where it might be targeted by new lawsuits. The film needs political support from the Swedish government”, said Luciano Astudillo to Dagens Nyheter.

In relation to the meeting, Johansson and Astudillo have also invited representatives from the three largest Swedish food grocers Coop, ICA and Axfood to an informal lunch in the parliament. The aim is to give a clearer picture of why the Swedish parliament has reacted so strongly against Dole’s lawsuit.

Related articles on this site:

• Oct 14: Swedish MPs: “we are not impressed”
• Oct 14: After Max boycott: Swedish grocers demand talks with Dole
• Oct 5: Overwhelming support from the Swedish parliament
• Sep 29: Dole’s letter to Swedish parliament members
• Sep 17: BANANAS!* screening and debate in the Swedish parliament

Parliament members Mats Johansson and Luciano Astudillo invited director Fredrik Gertten to screen BANANAS!* in the Swedish parliament on October 1. The meeting was held, and the response was overwhelming from politicians from left to right. Read more »

Before the meeting, Michael Carter, Executive Vice President of Dole, sent a letter to Johansson and Astudillo. In the letter, Carter provided Dole’s perspective on BANANAS!* and “a more complete understanding, given the October 1 screening”. Read the full letter »

On October 8, Johansson and Astudillo sent a reply to Carter’s letter:

"Dear Michael,

Thanks for your letter of September 28, regarding the Bananas-film.

Regrettably, we have to say that we are not very impressed by the way you are arguing your case. A more civilized way of behaving would be to answer the questions raised by the film in a proper way with a serious intention, rather than attacking Mr Gertten.

It seems clear to us that you are misled by your PR-firm on how to influence Swedish opinion, with a poor understanding of our tradition of free speech during more than two hundred years.  As the saying goes: all business is local. We strongly recommend a change of bureau and tactics, if you are at all interested in the Swedish market. But first and most we urge you – in the name of free speech – to withdraw your lawsuit against Mr Gertten.

Stockholm, October 8, 2009

Mats Johansson, M P for the Conservatives
Luciano Astudillo, M P for the Social Democrats"

Related media links:

“Dole försökte stoppa visningen av banandokumentären i riksdagen”
Andreas Henriksson, Makthavare.se, Oct 7
Includes longer interviews with Johansson and Astudillo. For a translation by Google, click here.

”Gertten får stöd från höger och vänster”
Hedvig Weibull, Sydsvenskan, Oct 2

"Dole gör en slags ekonomisk fatwa"
Anders Forsström, Dagens Nyheter, Oct 1

”Svenska företag kan inte göra som Dole”
Ann Persson, Dagens Nyheter, Oct 1

”Filmen BANANAS!* visas i Riksdagen”
TV4 News, Oct 1

”Därför visades BANANAS!* i riksdagen”
TV4 News, Oct 1

Interview with Fredrik Gertten
SVT News, Oct 1

Interview with Fredrik Gertten and Luciano Astudillo
Gomorron Sverige, SVT, Oct 1

Kulturnyheterna
SVT, Oct 1

"Konsten att skala yttrandefriheten"
Fredrik Robertsson, Helsingborgs Dagblad, Oct 2

”Höstens viktigaste film?”
Miranda Sigander, Expressen.se, Oct 2

"Gerttens film väckte en storm"
Jeanette Gentele, Svenska Dagbladet, Oct 5

Dagens Nyheter (4/5) »
Maaret Koskinen

Sydsvenskan (4/5) »
Michael Tapper

Gomorron Sverige, SVT (4/5) »
Göran Everdahl

Nyhetsmorgon, TV4 (4/5) »
Ronny Svensson

Expressen (4/5) »
Ronnit Hasson

Aftonbladet (4/5) »
Jan-Olov Andersson

Svensk biopremiär den 9:e oktober i följande städer:

Båstad, Scala, Oct 9
Fagersta, Folkets hus, Oct 9
Gusum, Folkan bio, Oct 9
Göteborg, Roy, Oct 9
Haparanda, Folkets hus, Oct 9
Järfälla, Folkets hus Kallhäll, Oct 9
Lund, Kino, Oct 9
Malmö, Spegeln, Oct 9
Mörrum, Bio Laxen, Oct 9
Nynäshamn, Folkets hus, Oct 9
Osby, Bio Borgen, Oct 9
Skärhamn, Saga, Oct 9
Skoghall, Folkets hus, Oct 9
Stockholm, Rio, Oct 9
Stockholm, Zita, Oct 9
Tomelilla, Brösarps bio, Oct 9
Trollhättan, Forum/Folkets hus, Oct 9
Uppsala, Fyris, Oct 9
Västerås, Elektra, Oct 9
Ånge, Folkets hus, Oct 9
Åseda, Folkets hus, Oct 9
Örebro, Roxy, Oct 9
Östersund, Regina, Oct 9

Fler orter, oktober 2009:
Kumla, Folkan, Oct 11
Älmhult, Folkan, Oct 13
Söråker, Folkets hus, Oct 14
Umeå, Folkets bio, Oct 16
Norrköping, Harlekinen, Oct 18 & 25
Växjö, Palladium, Oct 22
Lidköping, Folkets hus, Oct 23
Karlstad, Arenan, Oct 26-27

From Dan Koeppel’s blog:

The following is the English text of an article I wrote for Dagens Nyheter, the largest daily newspaper in Sweden. The story is about Dole’s attempt to stop the distribution of “BANANAS!*”, a documentary made by Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Gertten that the banana company believes to be untrue. The film is about lawsuits filed against Dole by Nicaraguan workers claiming to have been injured by the company’s use of a pesticide called Nemagon, or DBCP. In 2007, those workers achieved a partial victory against the banana company – but a follow-up suit was dismissed earlier this year after lawyers for the fruit giant offered evidence that the lawyer for the laborers had falsified information (here’s one of many news accounts about the trial’s denouement.)

In the story, I explain why I find that “evidence” unconvincing – and why Dole’s suit has roots not just in a century of  banana industry history, but also in a business model that persists to this day.

Read the article »

American writer Dan Koeppel has written articles for New York Times Magazine and Popular Science. He appears regularly in National Geographic Adventure.

Don’t miss Koeppels book on the banana industy: ”Banana. The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World” (Hudson Street Press, 2007).

Free speech lawyer Percy Bratt and director Fredrik Gertten. Photo by Olof Lavesson.

BANANAS!* was screened in a fully booked meeting room in the Swedish parliament on October 1. The will to defend free speech was overwhelming from politicians from left to right.

After the screening, parliament members Mats Johansson (m) and Luciano Astudillo (s) launched a cross-party petition, collecting names in the Parliament. In the petition they are asking Dole to withdraw their lawsuit.

In an interview with Dagens Nyheter, Mats Johansson said (our translation):
"We hope that all parliament members will sign the petition. /…/ If Dole succeeds in this lawsuit, it may set a precedent, making it possible to ban films through court proceedings. /…/ Today, there are no laws that would support a Swedish company to act like Dole."

In an interview with Sydsvenskan, Luciano Astudillo said (our translation):
“We have repeatedly defended free speech when governments repress its citizens, but it’s equally important to react when companies try to restrict free speech through their financial muscles.”

The panel after the screening included Gertten, Astudillo, Johansson and Percy Bratt, a free speech lawyer and chairman of The Swedish Helsinki Committee. In an interview with Dagens Nyheter, Bratt said (our translation):
“This film provides a voice to people with no economic means in their criticism of a large company. In addition, the controversy around the film lies in the core of free speech, a sacred part of the Swedish constitution, something that all politicians, lawyers and journalists must support. It’s not just empty rhetoric on my part. We can not accept filmmakers to be silenced in this way.”

In an interview with SVT News, Fredrik Gertten said:
“The fact that the parliament is screening this film is an important symbolic gesture. We often take freedom of speech for granted, but obvious things must also be defined and formulated. The parliament members who took the initiative to this screening are doing just that, they are formulating why it is important to defend this movie. And I am incredibly happy about that.”

Media links about the screening (in Swedish):

"Dole försökte stoppa visningen av banandokumentären i riksdagen"
Andreas Henriksson, Makthavare.se, Oct 7

”Gertten får stöd från höger och vänster”
Hedvig Weibull, Sydsvenskan, Oct 2

"Dole gör en slags ekonomisk fatwa"
Anders Forsström, Dagens Nyheter, Oct 1

”Svenska företag kan inte göra som Dole”
Ann Persson, Dagens Nyheter, Oct 1

”Filmen BANANAS!* visas i Riksdagen”
TV4 News, Oct 1

”Därför visades BANANAS!* i riksdagen”
TV4 News, Oct 1

Interview with Fredrik Gertten
SVT News, Oct 1

Interview with Fredrik Gertten and Luciano Astudillo
Gomorron Sverige, SVT, Oct 1

Kulturnyheterna
SVT, Oct 1

"Konsten att skala yttrandefriheten"
Fredrik Robertsson, Helsingborgs Dagblad, Oct 2

”Höstens viktigaste film?”
Miranda Sigander, Expressen.se, Oct 2

"Gerttens film väckte en storm"
Jeanette Gentele, Svenska Dagbladet, Oct 5