Why Democracy?

Infobox Film | name = Why Democracy?


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director = Weijun Chen, Rodrigo Vazquez, Alex Gibney, Lalit Vachani, Sabiha Sumar, Nino Kirtadze, Daniel Junge, Leila Menjou, Karsten Kjaer, Kazuhiro Soda
producer = Don Edkins
Mette Heide
writer =
starring =
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cinematography =
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distributor = Steps International
released = October, 2007
runtime = 10 x 52 minutes
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imdb_id =

"Why Democracy?" is a documentary film series produced by Steps International. The series consists of 10 films depicting independent documentary filmmakers personal perception of and experience with democracy, and was broadcast by 42 different broadcasters worldwide between the 8th and the 18th of October 2007. The series was accompanied by a global interactive conversation about Democracy which took place in real and interactive space.

Background

The series took almost four years to make. The Why Democracy? series was launched in November 2004 at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam. Through a democratic process the Steps International working group chose the ten best proposals, from a selection of 700. The filmmakers and movies are diverse in background, representing different experiences of contemporary democracy.

The ten films

Why Democracy? consists of ten feature films and a collection of short films. The ten movies are being made by independent award-winning filmmakers from different countries around the world.

"Please Vote for Me" (China)

Wuhan is a city in central China about the size of London, and it is here that director Weijun Chen has conducted an experiment in democracy. A grade 3 class at Evergreen Primary School has their first encounter with democracy by holding an election to select a Class Monitor. Eight-year olds compete against each other for the coveted position, abetted and egged on by teachers and doting parents. Elections in China take place only within the Communist Party, but recently millions of Chinese voted in their version of Pop Idol. The purpose of Weijun Chen’s experiment is to determine how, if democracy came to China, it would be received. Is democracy a universal value that fits human nature? Do elections inevitably lead to manipulation? Please Vote for Me is a portrait of a society and a town through a school, its children and its families.

"Looking for the Revolution" (Bolivia)

Che Guevara died in Southern Bolivia 40 years ago while trying to ignite the sparks of revolution throughout South America. His death at the hands of Bolivian Rangers trained and financed by the US Government, marked the beginning of the cocaine era in Bolivia. Pressed by the masses who gave him a massive mandate, the first indigenous President Evo Morales an ex-coca leaf farmer, has nationalised the oil industry and passed laws on the Agrarian reform. All the election speeches, which resulted in his landslide victory, sounded quite revolutionary, the iconography too, but looking harder into it, it emerges that the old system is pretty much alive inside the new one. Corruption, nepotism and old-fashioned populism are at the core of this movement. The more Evo does to create employment, the more the landowners conspire against him and paralyse Bolivia’s economy. As a result, no jobs are created and the poor press Evo even harder. Thus a cycle of tension threatens to crush the country and the indigenous revolution as well. Looking for the Revolution is about the inner workings of that tension as witnessed by the characters of the film. The landowners and the indigenous movement are still wrestling for power and neither has claimed victory yet. Ultimately, the search for the revolution that Che Guevara tried to start in Bolivia is now in Morales’ hands.

"Taxi to the Dark Side" (USA)

Over one hundred prisoners have died in suspicious circumstances in U.S. custody during the war on terror. Taxi to the Dark Side takes an in-depth look at one case: an Afghan taxi driver called Dilawar who was considered an honest and kind man by the people of his rustic village. So when he was detained by the U.S military one afternoon, after picking up three passengers, denizens wondered why this man was randomly chosen to be held in prison, and, especially, without trial? Five days after his arrest Dilawar died in his Bagram prison cell. His death came within a week of another death of a detainee at Bagram. The conclusion, with autopsy evidence, was that the former taxi driver and the detainee who passed away before him, had died due to sustained injuries inflicted at the prison by U.S. soldiers. The documentary, by award-winning producer Alex Gibney, carefully develops the last weeks of Dilawar’s life and shows how decisions taken at the pinnacle of power in the Bush Administration led directly to Dilawar’s brutal death. The film documents how Rumsfeld, together with the White House legal team, were able to convince Congress to approve the use of torture against prisoners of war. Taxi to the Dark Side is the definitive exploration of the introduction of torture as an interrogation technique in U.S. facilities, and the roles played by key figures of the Bush Administration in the process.

"In Search of Gandhi" (India)

In the early decades of the twentieth century Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy of non-violent revolution or Satyagraha inspired a mass movement of millions of Indians to rise up against the British colonial state and successfully agitate for the establishment of a democratic and free India. In 2007, the country is preparing to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of its existence as an independent nation. But what kind of a democracy does India have today? What does it actually mean to live in the world’s largest democracy? In road-movie style the film crew travels down the famous trail of Gandhi’s salt march, the remarkable mass campaign that galvanized ordinary Indians to join the non-violent struggle for democracy and freedom almost a century ago. Stopping at the same villages and cities, where Gandhi and his followers had raised their call for independence, the film documents the stories of ordinary citizens in India today. Although inspired by a historical event In Search of Gandhi is not a journey back in time. Instead it is a search for the present and future of democracy in India.

"Dinner with the President" (Pakistan)

What are the implications for democracy in Pakistan when secular political parties have succumbed to the Islamic agenda? What does it mean when the army appears to be the only force able to contain the opponents of democracy, the armed Islamists? President Musharraf agrees to explore this apparent contradiction over dinner at his official residence, the Army House. As the discussion moves in and out of the different worlds in Pakistan a complex tapestry emerges revealing a society unique yet universal. The filmmaker talks to diverse individuals, from labourers to intellectuals, from street vendors to religious right wing political party members, and from journalists to industrialists. What is their idea of democracy in Pakistan? What is their idea of President Musharraf’s vision of a modern Pakistan? Dinner With the President questions the role a military leader can play in guiding a state towards modern democracy.

"For God, Tsar and Fatherland" (Russia)

Mikhail Morozov is a Russian patriot, good Christian and successful businessman. He owns Durakovo -the “Village of Fools” -100 km southwest of Moscow. People come here from all over Russia to learn how to live and become true Russians. When they join the Village of Fools, the new residents abandon all their former rights and agree to obey Mikhail Morozov’s strict rules. “What we have here is a society that respects the vertical of power, this is what our country needs most of all, “ says Morozov quoting his idol President Putin. The whole spectrum of state power - political, spiritual and administrative – gathers in the village for semi-private meetings with Morozov. They discuss the future of Russia, their ambitions and their goals. For God, Tsar and Fatherland shows what drives Russian patriotism today and why they are against democracy.

"Iron Ladies of Liberia" (Liberia)

After fourteen years of civil war, Liberia is a nation ready for change. On January 16, 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was inaugurated President. She is the first ever elected female Head of State in Africa, winning a hotly contested election with the overwhelming support of women across Liberia. Since taking office she has appointed other extraordinary women to leadership positions in all areas of government, including the Police Chief and the ministers of Justice, Commerce and Finance. Can the first female Liberian president, backed by other powerful women, bring sustainable democracy and peace to such a devastated country? Iron Ladies of Liberia gives the viewer a behind-the-scenes access to Sirleaf’s first year in government, providing a unique insight into a newly elected African cabinet.

"Egypt: We are Watching You" (Egypt)

In his 2005 State of the Union address President Bush cites Egypt as the country that will pave the way for democracy in the Middle East. Three women, unable to sit by while their country is on the brink of drastic change, start a grassroots movement to educate and empower the public by raising awareness on the meaning of democracy. They name their campaign Shayfeen.com which means to “we are watching you.” This film follows the highs and lows of the first year of their movement in Egypt. Insisting that only the people can make change happen, their goal is to educate the Egyptian public on what it takes to build the most basic pillars of democracy: demanding basic human rights, freedom of speech and the establishment of an independent judiciary. Egypt: We are Watching You shows the role ordinary citizens can play in shaping and securing their democracy.

"Bloody Cartoons" (Denmark)

What do Danish cartoons tell us about contemporary democracy? A lot it seems. Freedom of expression has always been a core principle of democracy. Imagining one without the other is unthinkable to most people. But what happens when one democratic right infringes on the rights of others? Since the furore of the Danish cartoons it is clear that not everyone agrees with the idea of limitless freedom. The director films in Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Qatar, France, Turkey and Denmark, talking to some of the people that played key roles during the cartoon crisis. Bloody Cartoons is a documentary about how and why 12 drawings in a Danish provincial paper could whirl a small country into a confrontation with Muslims all over the world. He asks whether respect for Islam combined with the heated response to the cartoons is now leading us towards self-censorship. How tolerant should we be, he wonders, of the intolerant. And what limits should there be, if any, to freedom of speech in a democracy.

"Campaign! The Kawasaki Candidate" (Japan)

Can a candidate with no political experience and no charisma win an election when the political giant Prime Minister Koizumi and his Liberal Democratic Party back him? In the fall of 2005, 40-year-old, self-employed Kazuhiko “Yama-san” Yamauchi’s peaceful, humdrum life was turned upside-down. Koizumi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had chosen him at the last moment as its official candidate to run for a vacant seat on the Kawasaki City Council. Yama-san had zero experience in politics, no charisma, no supporters, no constituency, and one week to prepare for the impending election. The election was critical for the LDP, Yama-san’s loss would automatically oust the LDP from its position as the dominant political party on the council. Adhering to the campaign tactic of “bowing to everybody, even to telephone poles,” Yama-san visits local festivals, senior gatherings, commuter train stations, and even bus stops to offer his hand to every one he sees. Can Yama-san win this heated race? In "Campaign! The Kawasaki Candidate", canvassing for a single seat in the city council becomes a microcosm of Japanese democracy.

The ten questions

Each of the films prompts a question (which appears at the beginning of the film). These tenquestions permeate the Why Democracy? season. World leaders, celebrities, intellectuals and everyday people have been interviewed. Their responses appear daily in Metro International newspapers in 23 countries during the global broadcast.
The 10 questions are:
Who would you vote for as President of the World?
What would make you start a revolution?
Can terrorism destroy democracy?
Is Democracy good for everyone?
Are dictators ever good?
Who rules the world?
Are women more democratic than men?
Why bother to vote?
Is God democratic?
Can politicians solve climate change?

The Why Democracy? House

In June 2007 a group of young people from around the world was set to live and work together, creating and managing the online platformfor the series in a real house in Cape Town.

Awards

*In June 2007 Please Vote for Me won the Sterling Feature Award at Silverdocs. [ [http://silverdocs.com/festival/films/please-vote-for-me/ SILVERDOCS | Festival | Films | PLEASE VOTE FOR ME ] ]

*"Taxi to the Dark Side" won the
**Best documentary feature award at the 80th Academy Awards.
**Best Documentary Film Award at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. [http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tixSYS/2007/filmguide/eventnote.php?EventNumber=4625]

The Broadcasting Partners

The series is sold to over 40 broadcasters. The 10 films will be broadcast in October 2007 on ORF Austria, SBS Australia, RTBF BelgiumCanal Futura Brazil, CBC Canada, Knowledge Network Canada, HRT Croatia, CT Czech Republic, DR TV Denmark, ETV Estonia, YLE Finland, ARTE France, ARTE G.E.I.E., MDR Germany, WDR Germany, ZDF Germany, ERT Greece, MTV Hungary, PSBT/Doordarshan India, IBA Israel, RAI Italy, NHK Japan, LRT Latvia, La Red Mexico, VPRO The Netherlands, NRK Norway, RTP Portugal, TVP Poland, TVR Romania, RTVSLO Slovenia, SABC South Africa, EBS South Korea, Canal + Spain, SVT Sweden, TSR Switzerland, PTS Taiwan, Al Arabiya Middle East, BBC United Kingdom, PBS USA, BBC World

ee also

*Misrepresentation of the People Act

Notes

References

Why Democracy [http://www.whydemocracy.net/project/introduction Introduction] [http://silverdocs.com/festival/films/please-vote-for-me/ Silver Docs: Please vote for me] Tribeca Film Festival, [http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tixSYS/2007/filmguide/eventnote.php?EventNumber=4625 World Documentary Award Winner]

External links

* [http://www.whydemocracy.net Official Homepage]
* [http://www.dr.dk/presse/Article.asp?articleID=25219 Article from DR - Danish Broadcaster]
* [http://silverdocs.com/media/pdf/SD_07_Friday_Advisory_FINAL.pdf SilverDocs]
* [http://www.jedensvet.cz/ow/2007/index_en.php?id=192&idp=459# One World Festival]
* [http://www.indiewire.com/ots/2007/06/festivals_silve.html Indie Wire]
* [http://www.team-productions.com/default.aspx?pageID=8593&menuId=7549&submenuId=7150&subsubmenuId=7575 Production Company of the series]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/democracy/ BBC "Why Democracy?" week]