Yes Men Fix the World (2009)

Synopsis: Shadow Distribution is proud to present the US theatrical release of THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD. Directed by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno of the Yes Men, and co-directed by Kurt Engfehr (Bowling... Shadow Distribution is proud to present the US theatrical release of THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD. Directed by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno of the Yes Men, and co-directed by Kurt Engfehr (Bowling for Columbine, Farenheit 911), the humor-injected political documentary is launching theatrically nationwide in October, with a New York premiere at Film Forum on October 7, and in Los Angeles at Laemmle Theaters on October 23, 2009. This film swept the festival circuit, premiering at Sundance and Hot Docs in North America, and garnering audience awards at the Berlin International Film Festival and elsewhere. It was the closing film of the 20th annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York.

Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno are two guys who just can't take "no" for an answer. They have an unusual hobby: posing as top executives of corporations they hate. Armed with nothing but thrift-store suits, the Yes Men lie their way into business conferences and parody their corporate targets in ever more extreme ways - basically doing everything that they can to wake up their audiences to the danger of letting greed run our world.

One day Andy, purporting to be a Dow Chemical spokesperson, gets on the biggest TV news program in the world and announces that Dow will finally clean up the site of the largest industrial accident in history, the Bhopal catastrophe. The result: as people worldwide celebrate, Dow's stock value loses two billion dollars. People want Dow to do the right thing, but the market decides that it can't.

The reality hits Andy and Mike like a ton of bricks: we have created a market system that makes doing the right thing impossible, and the people who appear to be leading are actually following its pathological dictates. If we keep putting the market in the driver's seat, it could happily drive the whole planet off a cliff.

At conference after conference, the Yes Men try to wake up their corporate audiences to this frightening prospect, in the process taking on some of the world's biggest and baddest corporations. Just one example: as Exxon, Andy and Mike demonstrate a new biofuel made from climate-change victims. It's a gut-busting laugh riot - one of several in the film - to see the unsuspecting audience learn that the lit candles they hold are made out of dead people.

On their journey, the Yes Men act as gonzo journalists, delving deep into the question of why we have given the market more power than any other institution to determine our direction as a society. They visit the twisted (and accidentally hilarious) underworld of the free-market think tanks, where they figure out a way to defeat the logic that's destroying our planet. And as they appear on the BBC before 300 million viewers, or before 1000 New Orleans contractors alongside Mayor Ray Nagin, the layers of lies are peeled back to reveal the raw heart of truth - a truth that brings with it hope.

Bonus: This film has one of the very few underwater ballet scenes you will ever see in a political documentary! --© Shadow Distribution [More]

Starring: Mike Bonanno

Starring: Mike Bonanno

Director: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno

Director: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno
Screenwriter: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno
Studio: Shadow Distribution

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