It is a sad truth that much of the North American food system is unappetizing and, frankly, more than a little grotesque. Food, Inc., directed by Robert Kenner and co-produced by Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser, is the latest food expose to hit British cinema screens.

The 93-minute documentary is part ‘Our Daily Bread,’ with a dash of ‘The World According to Monsanto’ and a liberal mixing of ‘Fast Food Nation’ and ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ by Michael Pollan.

The result is a haunting look into the North American food system – one of the most corporate controlled, unhealthiest, cruellest food systems on the planet.

If you don’t know much about how most of the food in supermarkets gets to your table, you need to see this film. If you’ve already educated yourself on the horrific practices of America’s food industry, this film will inspire, empower, enrage and connect you with the unsung heroes who are out there doing something about it.

You can too by voting with your mouth three times a day.

Benjamin Esposito has spent his entire working life as a criminal court employee. Recently retired and with time on his hands, he decides to write a novel. He does not decide to make up a story. There is no need to. He can draw on his own past as a civil servant for a true, moving and tragic story in which he was once very directly involved. In 1974, his court was assigned an investigation into the rape and murder of a beautiful young woman. At the scene of the crime, Esposito sees the result of the young woman’s rape and murder first hand. He meets Ricardo Morales, who had married the girl a short time before and worshipped her body and soul. Moved by Ricardo’s grief, Esposito tries to help him find the culprit despite having to contend with the apathy and ineptitude of the police and legal system. He knows that for help the can count on Sandoval, an underling at the office yet a close friend, who occasionally seeks release from the routine of his existence by drinking himself unconscious. He can also turn to Irene, his immediate superior and secretary of the court, with whom he is secretly deeply in love, although there is no hope that she will ever love him. The search for the murderer is anything but simple. No clues remain at the scene of the crime and Esposito must rely on guesswork and his own instincts to make any progress. Furthermore, Argentina in 1974 is not a peaceful place. It is a perfect backdrop for the violence, hate, revenge and death that rule people’s lives and fates. To this ever more hostile and dark setting, Esposito’s investigation takes him deep into a world of terrible violence. No longer an observer, he becomes an unwilling central character in a drama in which he is exposed to ever-greater danger. But it is not only the young Esposito of 1974 who is swept along by the storm of events, for that storm also envelops the present-day Esposito, the old would-be writer, and sets him adrift. By deciding to revive and relive his memories, he has set in motion the wheels of the terrible mechanism of memory. And those memories are neither innocent, neutral nor aseptic. Esposito writes, and as he does so, relives a past that rises up before his eyes and awakens all his demons; particularly those involving his past decisions, uncertainties and irreparable mistakes. As he moves forward, Esposito begins to see that it is now too late to stop. Telling a story from the past is no longer just a pastime to fill his empty hours. It becomes a narrow, winding path he must take if he is to understand and find justification for his own life, if he is to give any meaning to the years remaining to him, and if once and for all he is to face up to the woman who, thirty years on, he is still in love with.

El Secreto De Sus Ojos has been nominated for best foreign language film at the upcoming Academy Awards (Oscars).

One hour away from Miami the elected President of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation was twice removed from office with the complicity of the international community. “Aristide and the Endless Revolution” is a feature documentary that explores through investigative lenses the events that led to the removal of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected President of Haiti. Filmmaker Nicolas Rossier takes the viewer into a journey of political intrigues, armed criminals posing as freedom fighters and economic fiascos. What emerges is a young democracy being constantly tested and ultimately destroyed.

The film features renown physician and anthroplogist Paul Farmer, President Aristide himself, actor and UN goodwill ambassador Danny Glover, Political commentator and linguist Noam Chomsky, Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Expert James Dobbins, John Shattuck and many Haitian Voices.

In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act – The Take – has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head.

In the wake of Argentina’s dramatic economic collapse in 2001, Latin America’s most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. The Forja auto plant lies dormant until its former employees take action. They’re part of a daring new movement of workers who are occupying bankrupt businesses and creating jobs in the ruins of the failed system.

But Freddy, the president of the new worker’s co-operative, and Lalo, the political powerhouse from the Movement of Recovered Companies, know that their success is far from secure. Like every workplace occupation, they have to run the gauntlet of courts, cops and politicians who can either give their project legal protection or violently evict them from the factory.

The story of the workers’ struggle is set against the dramatic backdrop of a crucial presidential election in Argentina, in which the architect of the economic collapse, Carlos Menem, is the front-runner. His cronies, the former owners, are circling: if he wins, they’ll take back the companies that the movement has worked so hard to revive.

Armed only with slingshots and an abiding faith in shop-floor democracy, the workers face off against the bosses, bankers and a whole system that sees their beloved factories as nothing more than scrap metal for sale.

With The Take, director Avi Lewis, one of Canada’s most outspoken journalists, and writer Naomi Klein, author of the international bestsellers No Logo and the Shock Doctrine, champion a radical economic manifesto for the 21st century. But what shines through in the film is the simple drama of workers’ lives and their struggle: the demand for dignity and the searing injustice of dignity denied.

The Cove is an astounding piece of investigative journalism with the heart of an action thriller. Led by Louie Psihoyos, leader of the Ocean Preservation Society, and Richard O’Barry, an internationally recognized authority on dolphin training who is best known for his work on the 1960’s TV show Flipper, the film follows a high-tech dive team on a mission to discover the truth about the international dolphin capture trade as practiced in Taji, Japan. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide.

The Cove is also directed by Louie Psihoyos, who brings confidence and precision to his insider’s account of this life-or-death covert operation. A celebrated photographer who has created images for National Geographic for 18 years, Psihoyos captures the magnificence of the dolphins themselves and the ocean that surrounds them.

The Cove is such a powerful and effective piece of advocacy filmmaking that we had to make it our movie of the month (January).

If you haven’t already seen Avatar, James Cameron’s blockbusting 3D film, you should make sure you do. No matter what you think of the plot or special effects, this film has a profound and insightful message. It’s profound because, like most films about aliens, it is a metaphor for contact between different human cultures. But in this case the metaphor is conscious and precise: this is the story of the indigenous peoples fight to save their forest homes from corporate exploitation.

To get informed please refer to Jeremy Hance’s excellent article posted on Mongabay News (scroll down) and a report by Carlos A. Quiroz featured on Ground Report (click on ‘world’ and scroll down).

Sadly, many people have become skilled in the art of not seeing. Now is the time to start using our eyes. Avatar speaks of a truth more important and more dangerous than those contained in a thousand arthouse movies.

Home is a 2009 documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The film is almost entirely composed of aerial shots of various places on Earth. It shows the diversity of life on Earth and how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet. The movie was released simultaneously on 5 June 2009 in cinemas across the globe, on DVD, Blu-ray, television, and on YouTube. Opening in 181 countries, the film broke the world record for the largest film release in history.

The documentary chronicles the present day state of the Earth, its climate and how we as the dominant species have long-term repercussions on its future. A theme expressed throughout the documentary is that of linkage – how all organisms and the Earth are linked in a “delicate but crucial” natural balance with each other, and how no organism can be self-sufficient.

America likes to talk about “spreading democracy”, but in this film John Pilger argues that the US is actually stifling its progress. The War on Democracy shows that the principles of democracy can be found more readily among the poorest people of Latin America than anywhere near the corridors of the White House. It features an exclusive interview with Hugo Chávez and Pilger also speaks to former US government officials who claim the CIA waged covert wars in Latin America. Through this film, Pilger conveys his central belief in the enduring power of the people.

John Pilger’s ‘The War on Democracy’ won the 2008 Best Documentary at the One World Media Awards, beating ‘Taxi to the Dark Side’ and others.

The Milk of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada) is a 2009 film by Peruvian director Claudia Llosa and starring Magaly Solier, addressing the fears of abused women during Peru’s recent history. It won the 2009 Golden Bear award and FIPRESCI prize in that Festival, as well as the award for best movie in the 24 Festival Internacional de Cine de Guadalajara in Mexico.

Between 1980 and 1992 Peru experienced a period of violence, particularly in the Andean region, because of the uprising of the Maoist group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and the actions of the paramilitary and state armed forces. By 1990 the conflict finally reached Lima, the capital city of Peru. Claudia Llosa claims in her film that the trauma experienced by women who were raped by members of Sendero Luminoso was passed on to their children through the milk from their breasts, thus, this period of violence continues to effect not only those who experienced it, but the next generation as well. Llosa’s work is a psychological as well as sociological approach to the 12 years of conflict, and is critical of Sendero Luminoso actions.

Claudia Llosa’s deserved Golden Bear winner offers a stirring, magical-realist portrait of modern Peru and its post-conflict traumas. Llosa tenderly documents the slow, surreal process of both personal and community rehabilitation in a film which seeks to lay to rest a nation’s civil war grief.

A Convenient Truth is an informative, inspirational documentary aimed at sharing ideas to provoke environment-friendly and cost-effective changes in cities worldwide. The documentary focuses on innovations in transportation, recycling, social benefits including affordable housing, seasonal parks, and the processes that transformed Curitiba into one of the most liveable cities in the world.

This documentary includes exclusive interviews from Curitiba’s world renowned mayors Jaime Lerner and Cassio Tanigushi, as well as other brilliant minds who made Curitiba a world class model.

A must see documentary for anyone interested in urban planning, sustainable development, and life itself.