| Big Boys Gone Bananas!* | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Fredrik Gertten |
| Written by | Fredrik Gertten |
| Produced by | Margarete Jangård |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | Sweden |
Big Boys Gone Bananas!* is a 2011 documentary film, directed by Fredrik Gertten. The film is about how Gertten's film company was sued by Dole for the 2009 documentary film Bananas!* . [1] This lawsuit is a type of case known as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP). [2]
Big Boys Gone Bananas!* focuses primarily on the lawsuit, rather than the subject of worker exploitation or mistreatment that was the focus of Bananas!*. [3]
The film concerns events that began when Dole sent a cease-and-desist letter to the filmmaker, the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival, and the festival’s sponsors, that alleged that Bananas!* was false and defamatory, though the film had not yet been screened. [4] [5] [6]
In June, a scathing review of Bananas!* appeared on the front page of the Los Angeles Business Journal . [7] [8] [9] The Los Angeles Film Festival removed the film from the competition and screened it separately as a "case study" rather than a documentary. [4] [3] Many critics saw this procedure as undermining the original documentary's claims. [10]
In July 2009, Dole filed a lawsuit for defamation against Gertten, claiming that Bananas!* did not show that the original lawsuit by the banana workers was thrown out of court: "To screen, promote, and profit from this film, despite the fact that its entire premise has been (judged) a fraud on Dole and California’s courts, is the epitome of reckless and irresponsible conduct." [11] [7] [12] [13] Multiple news organizations reported that entertainment lawyer David Ginsburg submitted a document on Dole's behalf that compared Bananas!* to anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
European channels screened Big Boys Gone Bananas!* and there was a threatened boycott of Dole fruits in Sweden. [19] [20] Dole withdrew the suit. [20] [19]
Gertten describes the film's themes thus:
Today, independent documentary films are more important than ever. These films are the last bastions of truth telling. Traditional media outlets have less money for investigative reporting and many are owned by corporate entities that have an influence on the news and its presentation and distribution. [20]
The film was positively reviewed in major newspapers. [3] Most reviewers described how the film demonstrated how easily media companies and journalists, especially in the United States, caved quickly to the threat of negative publicity generated by Dole's lawsuit. [10] [4] [21] Numerous critics invoked the phrase "David and Goliath" in reference to the difference between an independent filmmaker and a multinational corporation. [19] [14] [22]
One critic in the Los Angeles Times remarked that the film did not examine allegations of fraud against workers’ attorneys in the first film. [4]
The review in The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "of limited commercial interest, though it raises issues with broad appeal." [10] The film's Skype interviews with Gertten were also critiqued. [19] [22]
Dole plc is an Irish agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company is among the world's largest producers of fruit and vegetables, operating with 38,500 full-time and seasonal employees who supply some 300 products in 75 countries. Dole reported 2021 revenues of $6.5 billion.
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June 2020. In addition to the annual festival, Hot Docs owns and operates the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, administers multiple production funds, and runs year-round screening programs including Doc Soup and Hot Docs Showcase.
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Fredrik Gertten is a Swedish filmmaker, producer and journalist. Famous for documentaries investigating global patterns of kleptocracy, lobbyism, financialization and extractivism. Through representation at major film festivals such as Sundance, Berlinale, Hotdocs, IDFA, and CPH:DOX and broadcast worldwide Gerttens films has reached a global audience and been used as tools for change in different aspects of society. His production company WG Film was founded in 1994 and is known for title such as Push (2019), Bikes vs Cars (2015) and Bananas*! (2009) In 2017, he was appointed as an honorary doctor at Malmö University
Bananas!* is a 2009 Swedish documentary directed by Fredrik Gertten about a conflict between the Dole Food Company and banana plantation workers in Nicaragua over alleged cases of sterility caused by the pesticide DBCP.
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Cable News Network Films is a motion picture division of CNN under Warner Bros. Pictures, originally launched in 2012. Its first film, Girl Rising premiered in spring 2013 in the United States.
WG Film is a Swedish production company that produces national and international documentaries. The company is located in Malmö and was founded in 1994 by documentary filmmaker Lars Westman and journalist Fredrik Gertten.
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Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah is a 2015 documentary-short film exploring the life and work of French director Claude Lanzmann. The film was written, directed, and produced by British filmmaker and journalist Adam Benzine.
Charles Wilkinson is a Canadian documentary filmmaker and film and television director. He is best known for making documentaries that touch on environmental issues. These include Haida Modern, Vancouver: No Fixed Address, Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World, Oil Sands Karaoke, and Peace Out. All five films premiered at Hot Docs International Documentary Festival, and have gone on to win awards at Hot Docs, the Vancouver International Film Festival, le Festival International du Film sur l'Art - Artfifa, the DGC Awards, the Leo Awards and the Yorkton Film Festival. Before moving into documentaries, Wilkinson worked for many years in dramatic television series and on feature films. His directing credits include such TV series as The Highlander, The Immortal, So Weird, Dead Man's Gun, Road to Avonlea and The Beachcombers, the feature films My Kind of Town, Max, Blood Clan and Breach of Trust, and the TV movie Heart of the Storm. As a preteen, he was one of the original performers in the Calgary Safety Roundup, paired with his brother Billy as kid cowboy singers. "We sang both kinds - country and western."
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