Small Planet Documentary Production Company

DURATION: 60 min.

Can you imagine a water market? A market where owners of water stock would buy and sell, while others would profit on its price without needing it? What would life be like if all of the planet’s water resources, superficial or subterranean, the waters of rivers, lakes and glaciers, belonged to the private sector?

‘Life For Sale’ examines the biggest water market in the world, set up in Chile. Where the country’s water resources do not belong to the state but to private individuals and one company can own an entire river and possess a quantity of water as big as Belgium. A place where water has turned from a public good of life to property and a ‘water right’ can cost as much as a house. Even in the Atacama desert, which is considered the driest place on the planet, the mining companies – big owners of Chile’s longest river, the Rio Loa – draw immense quantities and use valuable water to wash metals, thus condemning thousands of natives and farmers’ villages to thirst and poverty.

MAIN CREDITS

Written, Produced & Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos / Produced by Manolis Filaktidis & Georgia Anagnou/ Research Coordinator: Aggelos Athanasopoulos / Production Manager: Anastasia Skoubri / Director of Photography: Yiannis Avgeropoulos / Editing: Yiannis Biliris, Anna Prokou / Original Music by Yiannis Paxevanis / Graphics: Sakis Palpanas / A Small Planet production for Greek Public Television ERT © 2009 – 2010

TECHNICAL DATA

Original shooting format: HD 1080p / Languages: Greek, Spanish / Subtitles: Greek, English, French, Spanish / Available Versions: Greek, English, French, Spanish, International

AWARDS

DURATION: 49 min.

August 2008, two small greek fishing boats broke the naval siege, illegally laid by the state of Israel on Gaza, for the first time after 41 years.

“Gaza We Are Coming” records the historic and risky journey of 44 activists from all over the world, who, by breaking the embargo, proved that history is often made by those that the wise and prudent determinists call ‘unreal’.

MAIN CREDITS

Directed by: Yorgos Avgeropoulos, Yiannis Karipidis / Script: Nikolas Zirganos / Produced by: Nasim Alatras / Production Manager: Anastasia Skoubri / Director of Photography: Yiannis Avgeropoulos, Yorgos Alexopoulos / Editing: Yiannis Biliris/Anna Prokou / Sound: Kostas Katalimatias / Original Music by: Yiannis Paxevanis / Graphics: Sakis Palpanas / Assistant Journalist: Ahilleas Kouremenos / Cooperating Journalists: Petros Yiotis, Aggelos Athanasopoulos / A Small Planet production for Al Jazeera Satellite Network © 2009

TECHNICAL DATA

Original shooting format: HD 720p25 / Languages: Greek, Arabic, English / Subtitles: Greek, English, French / Available Versions: Greek, English, French, International

AWARDS

DURATION: 55 min.

"Love hurts three times - when they cut you, when you marry and when you give birth"

Old African saying.

Excision is an ancient custom that survives to this day. An excruciating operation on the female body, which is mainly encountered in African countries. Across the world, 140.000 girls and women have already suffered genital mutilation (FGM). Six girls are being mutilated every passing moment. In Mali the percentage of sexually mutilated women reaches up to 85%!

Little girls that are being kept captive by tradition and superstition are being submitted to the cruel custom in a defenseless manner, experiencing awful consequences throughout their life. Both the government and activist organizations in Mali are struggling against the practice these past few years. Will they be able to beat a deeply rooted tradition?

MAIN CREDITS

Written & Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos / Produced by Georgia Anagnou / Director of Photography:Yorgos Alexopoulos / Production Manager: Anastasia Skoubri /Research Coordinator: Aggelos Athanasopoulos / Original Music by Yiannis Paxevanis / Editing by Yiannis Biliris & Anna Prokou / Website Coordinator: Apostolis Kaparoudakis / Graphics: Sakis Palpanas / A Small Planet Production for  Greek Public Television  ERT © 2008-2009

TECHNICAL DATA

Original shooting format: HD 720p25 / Languages: Greek, Bambara, French / Subtitles: Greek, English / Available Versions: Greek, English, International

AWARDS

DURATION: 54 min.

"Control oil and you control nations. Control food and you control the people!"

Henry Kissinger 1974

A handful of multinational companies have managed to control the "heart" of the food we put on our table everyday: The very seed and, therefore, global agricultural production. Brokers in the developed world gamble with food, raising and lowering prices, playing with the fundamental right of millions of people to access food. Meanwhile, almost a billion people on this planet are undernourished and 25,000 die of hunger each day. Could it be that the Earth can no longer feed its population?

The evidence proves otherwise! The food crisis, as it will go down in history, occurs at a time when the planet is producing more food than ever. Filmed in India and the USA, "Dying in abundance" unfolds the absurd before our eyes, the interconnections of a system in which, while there is enough food, it is so expensive the poor cannot afford it.

MAIN CREDITS

Written & directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos / Produced by Georgia Anagnou / Production Manager: Anastasia Skoubri / Director of Photography: Dinesh Lal / Research Coordinator: Aggelos Athanasopoulos / Editors: Yiannis Biliris, Anna Prokou / Original Music by Yiannis Paxevanis / Website Coordinator: Apostolis Kaparoudakis / Graphics: Sakis Palpanas / A Small Planet Production for Greek Public Television ERT © 2008 - 2009

TECHNICAL DATA

Original shooting format: SD PAL 576i / Aspect Ratio: 16:9 PAL / Languages: Greek, Hindi, English / Subtitles: Greek, English / Available Versions: Greek, English, International

AWARDS

DURATION: 62 min.

In the virgin tropical forests of the Amazon, the region with the richest biodiversity in the world, an unspeakable crime has been and is still being committed against humankind. Texaco is accused of dumping 18.5 billion gallons of toxic oil waste into the Ecuadorian Amazonia. Petroecuador, the state oil company, is accused of causing hundreds of oils spills into the jungle.

Ancient native populations are considered invisible and expendable, victims of the oil companies' easy profiteering. They are disappearing on a massive scale, as pollution kills the animals they hunt and causes illnesses until recently unknown to them, such as cancer.

This documentary - the second by Yorgos Avgeropoulos on the same subject, following multi-awarded "Delta - Oil's Dirty Business" - is dedicated to the Tetetes and Sansahuari people. Their voices were silenced forever at the dawn of the 21st century on account of the region"s "development".

MAIN CREDITS

Written & Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos / Production Manager: Anastasia Skoubri / Director of Photography: Alexis Barzos /Research Coordinator: Aggelos Athanasopoulos / Associated Producer: Manolis Filaktidis / Original Music by Yiannis Paxevanis / Editing: Yiannis Biliris, Anna Prokou / Website Coordinator: Apostolis Kaparoudakis / Graphics: Sakis Palpanas / A Small Planet Production for  Greek Public Television ERT © 2008 - 2009

TECHNICAL DATA

Original shooting format: HD 720p25 / Languages: Greek, Spanish, English / Subtitles: Greek, English, French / Available Versions: Greek, English, French, International

AWARDS

DURATION: 57 min.

The Arctic Ocean spreads across 14 million square kilometers and conceals 25% of the global oil and natural gas reserves. As the ices melt, bays, marine areas and islands that had been long forgotten suddenly find themselves in the spotlight of the international agenda.

Five arctic states, Russia, Canada, Norway, Denmark and the US, lay claim to a piece of the Arctic Pole and, of course, to the largest share of the treasure. This is a new-age western film on the Wild North, which explores the economic and geostrategic facts of the Great Arctic Game that has just begun.

MAIN CREDITS

Written & Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos / Recearch by Georgia Anagnou / Production Manager: Anastasia Skoubri / Director of Photography: Yiannis Avgeropoulos / Editing: Yiannis Biliris, Meletis Pongkas / Original Music by Yiannis Paxevanis / Graphics: Sakis Palpanas / A Small Planet production for Greek Public Television ERT © 2007 – 2008

TECHNICAL DATA

Original shooting format: HD 1080p25 / Languages: Greek, Norwegian, Russian, English / Subtitles: Greek, English / Available Versions: Greek, English, International

AWARDS

DURATION: 63 min.

The planet is suffering from high fever and its thermometer can be found in Greenland. In this vast land of ice which is now melting at a great speed (248 cubic kilometres of snow each year) all that we hear on the news and read about in the newspapers constitutes the everyday life of its few inhabitants.

The Inuit, better known to us as Eskimos, watch helpless as their life changes dramatically and their Arctic civilization receives what is probably the worst blow in its centuries long, frozen history. Traditionally hunters and fishermen, they watch as their pray disappears and their moving about becomes more and more dangerous due to the fragile ice and the unexpected weather changes.

The creators of this penetrating documentary spent weeks in isolated communities in Greenland, recording the life of the native Inuit. They also present new climate research results, more pessimistic than ever, while uncovering the new and regrettable “el dorado” of oil companies who are preparing to drill for black gold in the planet’s most vulnerable area.

MAIN CREDITS

Written, Produced & Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos / Research Coordinator: Mathew Tsimitakis / Production Manager: Anastasia Skoubri / Director of Photography: Alexis Barzos / Editing: Yiannis Biliris, Meletis Pongkas / Original Music by Yiannis Paxevanis / Graphics: Sakis Palpanas / A Small Planet production for Greek Public Television ERT © 2007 – 2008

TECHNICAL DATA

Original shooting format: HD 1080p25 / Languages: Greek, Greenlandic, English / Subtitles: Greek, English / Available Versions: Greek, English, International

AWARDS

DURATION: 53 min.

Computer parts contain toxic and carcinogenic materials. When our favourite pc stops working, it turns into a dangerous electronic waste which must be recycled following rigid specifications. However, instead of managing their own electronic waste, developed countries find it cheaper to export it to poorer nations. In doing so, they force billions of people to choose between poisoning and poverty, while the planet’s seas, rivers, soil and air are being irreparably contaminated. Up to 50,000,000 tons of our “digital civilization” end up illegally in China. In cemetery cities, computers are cut into pieces, rinsed in acid baths and incinerated by legions of impoverished workers and underage children, who tear these parts to pieces with their bare hands for a dollar a day.

MAIN CREDITS

Written & Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos / Produced by Nina – Maria Pashalidou / Research Coordinator: Apostolis Kaparoudakis / Production Manager: Anastasia Skoubri / Director of Photography: Alexis Barzos / Editing: Yiannis Biliris, Dimitris Nikolopoulos, Meletis Pongkas / Original Music by Yiannis Paxevanis / Graphics: Sakis Palpanas / A Small Planet production for Greek Public Television ERT © 2007 – 2008

TECHNICAL DATA

Original shooting format: SD PAL 576i / Aspect Ratio: 16:9 PAL / Languages: Greek, Chinese, English / Subtitles: Greek, English, Available Versions: Greek, English, International

AWARDS

DURATION: 62 min.

June 25, 2006. At the military post of Kerem Shalom Palestinian fighters kidnap an aIsraeli soldier and kill two more. This act triggers a sequence of events that lead to a major crisis in the Middle East, the war between Israel and Lebanon begins.

Who were these people that played such a dramatic role in the area? The documentary observes the training of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, enters their shelters, records how they manufacture their weapons, how they build underground tunnels to cross enemy lines, follows them in battle, depicts them tying up explosives around them. We see the thoughts of Palestinian fighters, but also those of civilians and their never-ending nightmare. Then the camera crosses the border, joins the Israelis and captures their thoughts, their fears, their dreams and their hopes.

While the international community was focusing on the development of the crisis in Lebanon, this documentary, often violent and disturbing, reveals the crucial events that occurred in the southern boarders of Israel between Palestinians and Israelis.

MAIN CREDITS

Written, Produced & Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos / Research Coordinator: Apostolis Kaparoudakis / Production Manager: Anastasia Skoubri / Research Conducted by: Aggelos Athanasopouos, Elli Kritharaki, Yanna Delatola /  Editing: Dimitris Nikolopoulos, Meletis Pongkas / Original Music by Yiannis Paxevanis / A SMALL PLANET production for ERT © 2006 – 2007

TECHNICAL DATA

Original shooting format: SD PAL 576i / Aspect Ratio: 16:9 PAL / Languages: Greek, Arabic, English, Hebrew / Subtitles: Greek, English / Available Versions: Greek, English,  International

AWARDS

DURATION: 64 min.

At the Delta of the Niger River in Nigeria, where a vast proportion of the planet's oil is excavated, bomb attacks, abductions and murders form part of the daily routine.The documentary portrays the image of "development", as giant multinational petroleum companies would define it. Petroleum leaks in the River destroy the flora and fauna, poison the food chain and consequently wipe out the 27 million indigenous people of the area - the Ijaws, the Ogoni and the Itsekiris.

The inhabitants dare to ask the self-evident, they demand an end to it. As a response they are being massively and brutally attacked by special forces of the army and the police, which are armed by the oil companies. On the river the camera meets militia of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta-MEND- and, for the first time, presents to the world shattering images of their speed boat patrols and heavy weaponry.

The Delta of Niger is a lost paradise. As the documentary reveals, it is a place where despite the natural beauty, contemporary "globalized" hell prevails.

MAIN CREDITS

Written, Produced & Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos / Research Coordinator: Apostolis Kaparoudakis / Production Manager: Anastasia Skoubri / Director of Photography: Yiannis Avgeropoulos / Editing: Dimitris Nikolopoulos, Meletis Pongkas / Original Music by Yiannis Paxevanis / Graphics: Sakis Palpanas / A Small Planet production for Greek Public Television ERT © 2006 – 2007

TECHNICAL DATA

Original shooting format: HD 720p / Aspect Ratio: 16:9 PAL / Languages: English, Ijaw, Greek / Subtitles: Greek, English, French / Available Versions: Greek, English, French, International

AWARDS