L’ILLUSION DE L’ABONDANCE

BelgischeFilms

Synopsis

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: David Forero Montana

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)

Biografie van de regisseur

ERIKA GONZALEZ RAMIREZ

Before starting the co-direction of THE ILLUSION OF ABUNDANCE, Erika
González was the executive director of a European network of NGOs, Grupo Sur, from
2013 à 2017. She led advocacy activities within the EU institutions, including in the field of human rights with a focus on violence against women and violence against women and feminicide. Grupo Sur, together with CIFCA, later became the current EU-LAT network.
A feminist deeply committed to women’s rights, Erika is an experienced journalist.
journalist. For more than 15 years, she has worked as a correspondent for various
For more than 15 years, she worked as a correspondent for various European and Latin American media covering European affairs.

MATTHIEU LIETAERT :

Matthieu Lietaert turned his PhD on multinational lobbying into a documentary film
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-director of THE BRUSSEL BUSINESS (ARTE/ZDF, RTBF, ORF, VAF, CBA
2012) + live interactive online project for ARTE during 2 months in the European
European Parliament.
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)