Still from Encirclement
Still from Encirclement
 

On Demand

Encirclement: Neo-Liberalism Ensnares Democracy

by Richard Brouillette
This doc sketches a portrait of neo-liberal ideology and examines the various mechanisms used to impose its dictates throughout the world.
2008  ·  2h40m  ·  Canada
French
English subs
About the Film

Drawing upon the thinking and analyses of internationally renowned intellectuals, ENCIRCLEMENT: NEO-LIBERALISM ENSNARES DEMOCRACY sketches a portrait of neoliberal ideology and examines the various mechanisms used to impose its dictates throughout the world. The one-size-fits-all dogmas of neoliberalism are well known: deregulation, reducing the role of the State, privatization, limiting inflation rather than unemployment. In other words, depoliticizing the economy and putting it into the hands of the financial class.

These dogmas are gradually settling into our consciousness because they’re being broadcast across a vast and pervasive network of propaganda. Beginning with the founding in 1947 of the Mont Pèlerin Society, neoliberal think tanks financed by multinational companies and big capital have propagated neoliberal ideas in universities, in the media, and in governments. Convinced of its historical and scientific validity—particularly in the fall of the Soviet Union—this ideology has intoxicated all governments, left and right alike, with the rate of neoliberal reforms dramatically increasing since the Cold War.

Often imposed with force—either through the structural adjustment plans of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, under the pressure of financial markets and multinationals, or even by outright war—the neoliberal doctrine has now reached every corner of the planet. But what is really going on behind the ideological smokescreen, behind the neat concepts of natural order and the harmony of interests in a free market, beyond the panacea of the “invisible hand”?


Be sure to also watch UNCLE BERNARD, director Richard Brouillette’s fascinating interview with economist Bernard Maris, who was killed during the Charlie Hebdo shooting, on January 7, 2015.

Upcoming Screenings

Stay tuned for upcoming screenings!

Festivals and Awards
2008
Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal, Official Selection
2009
Rendez-Vous du cinéma québecois, Official Selection
2009
Berlinale, Official Selection
2009
Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente, Official Selection
2009
Festival de cinéma des trois Amériques, Official Selection
2009
Festival cinematográfico internacional del Uruguay, Official Selection
2009
Documenta Madrid, Official Selection
2009
Festival international de cinéma francophone en Acadie, Official Selection
2009
Vancouver International Film Festival, Official Selection
2009
Festival do Rio, Official Selection
2009
Festival du film de Gand, Official Selection
2009
International Film Festival Bratislava, Official Selection
2009
Leeds International Film Festival, Official Selection
2009
Oslo Internasjonale Film Festival, Official Selection
In the Press
Review
Editor
Richard Brouillette
Cinematographer
Michel Lamothe
Producer
Richard Brouillette and Esteban Bernatas
Sound Editor
Simon Goulet and Alexandre Gravel
Mixing
Mixing: Éric Tessier and Studio Harmonie
Soundtrack Composer
Éric Morin
Translator
Kathleen Fleming and Anrà Médiatextes
Writer
Richard Brouillette
NFB/ACIC Producers
Monique Létourneau and Pierre Lapointe
About the Director

Richard Brouillette

Richard Brouillette

Richard Brouillette is a film producer, director, editor and programmer. Starting as a film critic for the Montréal weekly, Voir (1989), he then worked for Québec’s top independent distribution company, Cinéma Libre (1989-1999), which has since folded. In 1993, he founded the artist-run center Casa Obscura, a multi-disciplinary exhibition space, where he still runs a weekly cine-club called Les projections libérantes, for which he is also the projectionist.

He has produced and directed Too Much is Enough (doc., 111 min., 1995), for which he won the prestigious M. Joan Chalmers Award in 1996; Carpe Diem (experimental, 5 mins., 1995) and Encirclement – Neo-Liberalism Ensnares Democracy (doc., 160 mins., 2008), for which he won six awards including the prestigious Robert and Frances Flaherty Grand Prize of the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival and Grand Prize La Poste Suisse of the 2009 Visions du réel festival.

He has also produced six feature-length films: Tree with Severed Branches by Pascale Ferland (doc., 81 mins. 2005), Barbers – A Men’s Story by Claude Demers (doc., 82 mins., 2006), Les désœuvrés by René Bail (fiction, 72 mins. 1959-2007), Adagio for a Biker by Pascale Ferland (doc., 90 mins., 2008), Les dames en bleu et Michel Louvain by Claude Demers (doc., 90 mins., 2009) and Chantier by René Bail (doc., 75 mins., 1957-2009). Brouillette has also acted as consulting producer on a number of other documentary projects.

Richard Brouillette has always been very active in Québec’s independent film community, participating in militant actions and devoting himself to the cause of artist-run centers. Since 1993, he has also sat on the Boards of various organizations. He is currently treasurer of the independent filmmakers’ cooperative, Main Film, and administrator of l’Amicale de la culture indépendante, the coop that manages Casa Obscura.

 

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