 | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
« Legislative Database Update | Main | Legislative Database Update 2 » January 16, 2007Mine Your Own Business
The documentary is a powerful counterpoint to a misleading article in the Jan. 3 New York Times, "Fighting Over Gold in the Land of Dracula," that was little more than a one-sided piece attacking a proposed gold mine in the impoverished Romanian village of Rosia Montana. The NYT portrayed the situation as a struggle between a big, bad mining company and a lone person seeking to stop the mine. The truth is far different, as shown in Mine Your Own Business, directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker Phelim McAleer and produced by New Bera Media in association with the Moving Picture Institute. Mine Your Own Business will be screened Jan. 19 in New York City at the Director's Guild Theater and screened Jan. 24 in Washington D.C. at the National Geographic Grosvenor Auditorium. Both screenings begin at 7 p.m. The directors and producers of the film will be there to answer questions and discuss their experiences in Rosia Montana . The NYT article reflects the thinking of left-wing Hollywood elitist cause-celebre environmentalism that runs roughshod over the very real needs of people like the impoverished residents of Rosia Montana - needs such as decent jobs and housing that the mine would bring. The NYT never mentions that a majority of the people of Rosia Montana support the mine or mentions that 60 percent of the property owners affected by the mine have chosen to sell their property to the mining company. The NYT never mentions the abject poverty that would be alleviated by the development of the mine, and the creation of hundreds of new and desperately needed jobs. Mine Your Own Business exposes the exaggerations and misleading claims of the foreign environmentalists opposed to the development, some of whom are caught on film asserting that people in the village don't want prosperity but prefer the simple peasant life where they are "poor but happy." On film, however, villagers speak instead about their desire for development that will bring prosperity and clean up the hundreds of years of environmentally unfriendly mining projects. "Mine Your Own Business is the first documentary to take a hard look at the environmental movement," says the director, "and what we found was not pretty. Activists believe that people in remote areas are 'poor but happy.' They think that development will spoil their idyllic rural existence. But I've been there, and poverty is neither charming nor quaint, nor is it a lifestyle choice." You can view the trailer by clicking the movie poster image, or on YouTube. or on YouTube You can read more about the film and the issues surrounding it on Persistence of Vision, the blog of the Moving Picture Institute. Posted in Miscellaneous
Comments
The idea of the "noble savage" has been a fixture to Westerners for generations. On a somewhat related note, it is in these times full of modern riches that we seek to immerse ourselves in idyllic and mythical pasts. It is why we build 5,000 square foot log cabins on remote mountain sites, and sail the seas on modern yachts. It's a "return" to simpler times that, quite simply, never were. The truth was far more severe. Stillbirths and infant death were the norm on the frontier, and ocean passages were rarely calm sailing. In our opulence, we've forgotten that part. Posted by: Bob K at January 16, 2007 1:14 PMThe film was financed by the same company which plans to mine the valley. It's therefore a propoganda tool that is perhaps as one-sided, or more so, than the environmental doco "Fighting over Gold in the Land of dracula" which also covered the story. You REALLY should have made an effort to mention who are the forces behind the film in your report. Posted by: lee lloyd at January 26, 2007 8:21 PMThat fact is not hidden - it is in many of the articles I've linked to in the last week from several blog posts about MYOB - even the film's website contains that information. The filmmakers freely admit the mining company funded the film. But here's the relevant fact: The filmmakers, European liberals, had free reign to report the story that they found - the mining company had zero editorial input, didn't see the film until it was done, and made no changes to it. Director Phelim McAleer went to Romania to do a documentary on how the big bad mining company was trying to destroy a village but he, being a journalist, found that the truth was much different and he put the truth in his documentary. Posted by: Bill Hobbs at January 27, 2007 9:19 AMPost a comment
Comments Policy: Your comment is subject to deletion if it is off-topic or includes foul language or personal attack. Readers, please email me if you find comments that include egregious violations of this policy. Comments may not post immediately - do not post twice!
|
|||||||||||
