Bertha, Carolina and Maxima’s stories are of tireless environmental resistance and their conviction to hunt down transnational corporations, wherever they hide. They keep up the fight for protecting nature even when their life is at risk.
Advice of Millenium :
The Illusion of Abundance is a critical mapping of landscapes and peoples undergoing the neoliberal policies of extractivism. Through the portraits of three women, the filmmakers weave together the defence of nature and the status of women. For behind the catch-all word “development” lie violence, suffering, and magnificent struggles like these women who denounce the companies that exploit nature but also women. The Illusion of Abundance is therefore a film that deploys its images on two fronts, the struggle to protect their land, their crops, but also the invisible struggle to defend the right of women to express themselves and to engage.
Music : Norbert Pflanzer
Sound editing: Selia Cakir
Sound design: Charo Clavo
Sound Mixing: Aline Gavroy
Calibration: Diego Forero Montaña
Animation: Daniela Pinto
Festivals
15th Environmental Film Festival Yale (Connecticut, USA)
9th Portland Environmental Film Festival ( Oregon Premiere, USA)
25th One World (Czech Republic Premiere)
6th MujerDOC Film Festival (Spanish Premiere)
17th Colorado Environmental Film Festival ( US Premiere)
15th This Human World Film Festival (Austrian Premiere)
8th Human Rights Film Festival Zürich (Swiss Premiere)
4th Miradas Diversas Film Festival (Venezuelan Premiere)
32nd FFCGN – Film Festival Cologne (German / World Premiere)
Director's Biography
ERIKA GONZALEZ RAMIREZ
Erika is a senior journalist deeply committed to women’s rights. For over 15 years she covered EU affairs as Brussels correspondent for European and Latin American media. Before co-directing The Illusion of Abundance, Erika was the managing director of the European Network of NGOs Grupo Sur from 2013 to 2017. She led the advocacy activities in the EU institutions, especially in the field of Human Rights with a focus on violence against women and feminicide. Grupo Sur, together with CIFCA, went on to become the new EU-LAT Network. The Illusion of Abundance is her first feature film.
MATTHIEU LIETAERT :
Matthieu Lietaert turned his PhD on multinational lobbying into the documentary film THE BRUSSELS BUSINESS (ARTE, RTBF, CBADOC, VAF) in 2012. For this work he received the award for best Belgian TV journalist and the the interactive award of the Sunny Side of The Doc, Cross media.
He teaches interactive storytelling at the IE Business School in Madrid and wrote the first ever book on interactive documentary in first book on interactive documentary in 2011: Webdocs – A Survival Guide and and practical tips for webdocs.
Co-author of NOS CHERS PARADIS (ARTE France 2016) a participatory film made by
by 800 European citizens previewed at the official building of the COP 21 negotiations
COP 21 negotiations in Paris. Director of LA PUB AU PAYS DES MERVEILLES (2019, self-produced).