Darwin's Nightmare

Winner of an Oscar for Best Documentary, DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE is a tale about people, the North/South divide, globalization, and about fish.

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Berlin (Hertie)
Wednesday February 13, 2008
Screening begins 19h00
Venue: Hertie School of Governance, room 00.17

France/Austria/Belgium / 2004 / 107 min

Some time in the 1960s, in the heart of Africa, a new animal was introduced into Lake Victoria as a little scientific experiment. The Nile Perch, a voracious predator, extinguished almost the entire stock of the native fish species. However, this new gigantic fish multiplied incredibly fast, and its white fillets are today exported all around the world. Huge hulking ex-Soviet cargo planes come daily to collect the latest catch in exchange for their southbound cargo: Kalashnikovs and ammunitions for the uncounted wars in the dark center of the African continent.

This booming multinational industry of fish and weapons has created an ungodly globalized alliance on the shores of the world’s biggest tropical lake: an army of local fishermen, World Bank agents, homeless children, African ministers, EU-commissioners, Tanzanian prostitutes and Russian pilots. DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE brings us in close for an intimate and at times uncomfortable look at this world, and in doing so this film deftly unpacks the puzzle of globalization in a visually stunning and raw portrait of life on this planet.

Written and directed by Hubert Sauper
Artistic Collaboration: Sandor Rieder, Nick Flynn
Cinematographer: Hubert Sauper
Sound engineer: Cosmas Antoniadis
Film Editor: Denise Vindevogel
Sound design: Veronika Hlawatsch
Press book layout: Kurt Hennrich

Producers:
Edouard Mauriat, Antonin Svoboda, Martin Gschlacht, Barbara Albert, Hubert Toint and Hubert Sauper.

Produced by
Mille et une productions, Paris, coop99 filmproduktion, Vienna Saga Film, Bruxelles
In collaboration with ARTE and WDR-Commissioning editor Sabine Rollberg, and VPRO Amsterdam, SVT Stokholm, YLE 2 Helsinki, and CBC Toronto.

With the support of the Centre National de la Cinematographie (CNC) France, Vienna Film Fund (FFW) Austria, Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Communauté Française de Belgique et des télédistributeurs wallons

WINNER - Best Documentary 2004 - European Film Awards
WINNER - Europa Cinemas Label Jury Award - Venice
WINNER - Vienna Film Prize - Viennale
WINNER - NFB Documentary Award - Montreal
WINNER - Best Film - Copenhagen Dox
WINNER - Grand Prix - Festival de Film d'Environnement Paris
WINNER - European Film Awards 2004 Winner Best Documentary
WINNER - Belfort 2005 Audience Award best Documentary
WINNER - Angers, France European First Film Festival Premiers Plans 2005 Grand Jury Prize
WINNER - European First Film Festival Premiers Plans 2005 Grand Jury Prize
WINNER - Paris festival de l'environnement 2005 Grand prix Best Film
WINNER - Mexico Cine Contemporain 2005 Grand prize for Best Documentary
WINNER - Chicago Doc Festival 2005 - Best Film
WINNER - Thessaloniki Doc FF 2005 Audience Award
WINNER - Oslo Eurodoc 2005 Norway Distribution Award
WINNER - Docaviv in Israel Grand Prix Best Film 2005

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