An extraordinary film which provides an unprecedented inside view of Hugo Chavez's Venezuela and the 48 hour coup which removed him from office briefly in 2002, The Revoution Will Not be Televised is the winner of numerous awards and a must see cinematic event.
Unlike most documentaries which seek to reconstruct events after the fact, the Irish film crew which made this film found themselves, quite accidentally, in the middle of history in the making. Dropping the project they had been working on, they turned their cameras on the unfolding drama of the coup. Finding themselves inside the presidential palace as military forces threatened to bomb it and in the centre of turbulent and often violent street protests, their cameras rolled as they were fired upon and raced through Caracas, alternately fleeing from danger and then seeking it out. With no regard for their personal safety these filmmakers sought to bring an honest portrayal of events to the outside world and succeeded in showing a side of the coup very different from what we in the west saw on the six o’clock news.
In addition to the film’s value as an insight into recent historical events it is also a chilling example of how easily the mass media can distort reality to serve their own purposes, and those of their corporate owners. Using concrete evidence, the filmmakers show how throughout the coup the major channels were falsifying and doctoring footage in order to broadcast news which was the exact opposite of the reality.
Winner of over 25 major film awards from around the world, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is a must-see film for anyone seeking to understand the world we live in.
In the Wu Centre at 8 p.m. Everyone is welcome and, as with all Cinema Politica events, the screening is free.