POVERTYCURE, ACTON MEDIA, AND COLDWATER MEDIA PRESENT “A powerful and uncompromising flm that strikes at the core of the traditional understanding of development and international assistance.” - Andres Jimenez, Waging Non-Violence [Costa Rica] DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY MICHAEL MATHESON MILLER DOCUMENTARY, 91 MIN. (55 MIN. VERSION AVAILABLE) DISTRIBUTED BY RO*CO FILMS INTERNATIONAL TUGG, INC. BRAINSTORM MEDIA WWW.POVERTYINC.ORG #POVERTYINC
[email protected] Logline The West has positioned itself as the protagonist of development, giving rise to a vast multi- billion dollar poverty industry of for-proft aid contractors and massive NGOs — the business of doing good has never been better. Yet the results have been mixed and leaders in the developing world are calling for change. From TOMs Shoes to international adoptions, from solar panels to U.S. agricultural subsidies, POVERTY, INC. challenges each of us to ask the tough question: Could I be part of the problem? Synopsis “I see multiple colonial governors,” says Ghanaian software entrepreneur Herman Chinery- Hesse of the international development establishment in Africa. “We are held captive by the donor community.” The West has positioned itself as the protagonist of development, giving rise to a vast multi- billion dollar poverty industry — the business of doing good has never been better. Yet the results have been mixed, in some cases even catastrophic, and leaders in the developing world are growing increasingly vocal in calling for change. Drawing from over 200 interviews flmed in 20 countries, Poverty, Inc. unearths an uncomfortable side of charity we can no longer ignore. From TOMs Shoes to international adoptions, from solar panels to U.S.