Life Running Out of Control (2005)

Life Running Out of Control
Category: Documentaries
Regions: Europe, North America, South Asia
Topics: Environment, Health, Political Institutions / Systems
In the mid-1980s, scientists thought they had found the key to mastering the planet -- especially its living organisms -- in genetic engineering. Suddenly, everything seemed possible. Twenty years later filmmakers Bertram Veerhaag and Gabriele Krober embark on a global journey to explore the effects of the ongoing experiments in the genetic manipulation of plants, animals and human beings.

Worldwide only a handful of idealistic scientists are defying industry, doing independent research on the effects of transgenic animals and plants on the environment and our health when we consume genetically modified food. The filmmakers come to the conclusion that not only does genetic engineering pose a serious scientific problem, it also challenges fundamental democratic principles, and deserves the widest possible public discussion.


Thorough examination of the issues surrounding the genetic manipulation of plants, animals and human beings.

95 minutes
Color / Stereo
Grade Level: 10-12, College, Adult
US Release Date: 2005



Directed by Bertram Verhaag
Produced by Michel Morales and Bertram Verhaag
for DENKmal-Films and Haifisch Films
Music by Michel Bauer
Film Editor - Gabriele Kröber, BFS
A film by Bertram Verhaag and Gabriele Kröber
 

"Meticulously researched, excellently photographed and multilayered documentary" Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital program
 

In the mid-1980s, scientists, with the help of biotechnology, thought they had found the key to mastering the planet, and especially its living organisms. Suddenly, everything seemed possible!

Twenty years later the filmmakers embark on a global journey to explore the effects of the ongoing experiments in the genetic manipulation of plants, animals and human beings.

Some of the results have not been pretty.

* Due to a disastrous crop of genetically modified cotton many Indian farmers face ruin, and choose instead to sell one of their kidneys or commit suicide.

* In Canada genetically modified canola seeds blow onto the fields of neighboring organic farms, thus making organic certification of those farmers' crops impossible.

* The Icelandic parliament sells the entire gene pool of its population to a private company which intends to turn over the data at a profit to the pharmaceutical industry and insurance companies.

* The Human Genome Diversity Project collects blood, hair and saliva samples from 700 groups of people judged to be in danger of extinction on the pretext of preventive health care. The gene samples find their way into the laboratories of industry to provide the basis for valuable patents.

Worldwide only a handful of idealistic scientists are defying industry, doing independent research on the effects of transgenic animals and plants on the environment and our health when we consume genetically modified food.

This leads to the conclusion that not only does genetic engineering pose a serious scientific problem, it also challenges fundamental democratic principles, and deserves the widest possible public discussion.

The 60-minute version was created for easier use in the classroom. It concentrates on the genetic manipulation of plants and animals only, and omits the section on eugenics.

DVD version: The DVD includes both the original 95-minute, and the short 60-minute, versions of the film, and 77 minutes of additional interviews broken up into separate sections on plants, animals and humans.




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Awards:
Golden Lynx for Best Journalistic Achievement, Ökomedia Environmental Film Festival
First Prize for Best Long Production, FICA-International Environmental Film Festival, Goias, Brazil
Nominee for National Film Board of Canada Award, Vancouver International Film Festival
Nominee for IDA Award, International Documentary Awards Competition
Environmental Great Prize, Special Commendation by CineEco-youth jury, CineEco Environmental Film Festival, Seia/Portugal
Honorable Mention, Columbus International Film and Video Festival
Green Screen Environmental Film Festival, San Francisco
Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital
Seattle Environmental Film Festival
Montana CINE
Mountainfilm Festival
Ellensburg Film Festival

Reviews:
"Life Running Out of Control offers a uniquely wide-ranging international perspective on the science and ethics of genetic engineering. This film carries us on an enlightening journey to India, Norway, and the forests of Colombia, offering inspiring images of resistance and hope amidst the pressing concerns about the science and ethics of GMOs, corporate control of our food, and the patenting of human, animal, and plant life. A must for those who are looking beyond the most immediate health and safety concerns, and seek to understand the wider implications of today's biotechnologies." Brian Tokar, Director, Institute for Social Ecology Biotechnology Project; editor of "Redesigning Life?" and "Gene Traders"

"A harrowing exploration of the increasing genetic manipulation of plants, animals, and human beings around the globe... With its camera focused on the beauty of biodiversity, Life Running Out of Control warns that corporate control of genetic technology is both a serious scientific problem and a major challenge to democracy." Green Screen Environmental Festival Program

"From the genetic transformation of our food to the manipulation of the human genome, this meticulously researched, excellently photographed and multilayered documentary constitutes a rousing appeal to stop a fatal development." Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital Program

"The basic tenet of the film is hard to argue with: in a democratic society, citizens deserve a robust discussion of the pros and cons of a new technology whose results in the long term are difficult to predict. Highly recommended for upper division high schoolers, undergraduates and the general public." Buzz Haughton, University of California at Davis for Educational Media Reviews Online

LinkTV sdtv divx rip, 1hr 30min