Big Boys Gone Bananas!*

Big Boys Gone Bananas


Release Date: July 27, 2012 (NY; LA release: Aug. 3)
Studio: WG Film
Director: Fredrik Gertten
Screenwriter: Not Available
Starring: Not Available
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: Not Available
Official Website: Not Available
Review: Not Available
DVD Review: Not Available
DVD: Not Available
Movie Poster: Not Available
Production Stills: Not Available

Plot Summary: What is a big corporation capable of doing in order to protect its brand?

Recently, Swedish documentary filmmaker Fredrik Gertten experienced this first hand. His previous film "Bananas!*" recounts the lawsuit that 12 Nicaraguan plantation workers successfully brought against the fruit giant Dole Food Company. That film was selected for competition by the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival. Then just before leaving Sweden to attend the Los Angeles world premiere of his film, Gertten gets a strange message: the festival has decided to remove "Bananas!*" from competition. Then, a scathing, controversial and misinformed article appears on the cover of the Los Angeles Business Journal about the film a week before the premiere. And subsequently, Gertten receives a letter from Dole's attorneys threatening legal action if the film is shown at this festival and to cease and desist.

What follows is an unparalleled story that Gertten captured on film. He filmed this entire process of corporate bullying and media spin - from DOLE attacking the producers with a defamation lawsuit, utilizing scare tactics, to media-control and PR-spin. "Big Boys Gone Bananas!*" can be seen as a thriller and a cautionary tale. But, mostly this is a personal story about what happened to Gertten, as a documentary filmmaker and to his company and how the livelihood of documentary filmmakers can be easily put into jeopardy. This powerful film reveals precisely how a multinational will stop at nothing to get its way - freedom of speech is at stake. As Dole's public relations company puts it, "It is easier to cope with a bad conscience than a bad reputation".

Many see "Big Boys Gone Bananas!*" as a modern day real life David vs. Goliath story, while law schools, legal experts and attorneys have begun to use this film as a teaching tool about the defense of the freedom of speech and the terrifying antics of corporate bullying.

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