TEATRO VACIO: Complacency and Corruption in Latin-America A three-part documentary series concept from Gladys Bensimon and HBR Productions, for release through PBS in the US, distributors in Latin-America, and other venues or opportunities.
Teatro Vacio: Complacency and Corruption in Latin America has very clear objectives: to strengthen democracy in Latin America, and to educate North Americans on the source of the immigration problem in the US. The documentary attempts to simplify the topic into four main themes: the terms of corruption that exist in many Latin American countries and the progress and hope in nations such as Brazil and Chile; the documentary also examines drug trade, para-military oppression, bribery, false judiciary, grinding poverty; included is a look at the history of the roots of corruption in colonial times, and the devastating consequences to the US economy as a result of illegal immigration and drug infiltration through the borders.
The documentary plans to open with a US House Foreign Affairs hearing in the Fall of 2008 featuring Rowan, Otto Reich (former US Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America), Gustavo Coronel (oil expert and anti-corruption activist) and FARC guerillas testifying to corruption in narcotics, arms and kidnapping in Latin America.
New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) is the fiscal sponsor for Teatro: Vacio Complacency and Corruption in Latin America. NYWIFT is a nonprofit membership organization for professional women in film, television and new media. A champion of women's rights, achievements and points of view in the film and television industry, NYWIFT is an educational forum for media professionals, and a network for the exchange of information and resources. NYWIFT brings together more than 1,700 professionals including EMMY and Academy Award® winners, who work in all areas of the entertainment industry — above and below the line. It is part of a network of 40 international women in film chapters, representing more than 10,000 members worldwide. Please donate at: http://www.nywift.org/article.aspx?ID=998 and join NYWIFT in their efforts to make the production of this documentary possible.
The documentary will be completed by early 2009, and aired immediately in the US, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and selected locations in Central America and the Caribbean. The filmmaker has applied for a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy, and submitted inquiry to the Ford Foundation seeking for funding. The filmmaker is also approaching individuals and organizations that believe in the need to maintaining and spreading democracy in Latin America.
Approximately, eight (8) hours of footage have already been videotaped by the filmmaker. A pilot of for the documentary can be viewed at: www.hbrproductions.com Please click on the button: Teatro Vacio: documentary pilot.
Gladys Bensimon is the producer/director of Teatro Vacio: Complacency and Corruption in Latin America. She has won several awards for the bold documentaries she has written and directed: ‘Domestic Violence: the Legal Process’, winner of the 1993 Media Award in Television and ‘Silent Victims Speak’, winner of the 1997 Media Award Competition, from the National Council on Family Relations. ‘Silent Victims’ is currently under distribution by Global Video LLC. ‘Roll Call’, an hour-long docudrama funded by the US Department of Justice, and aired on New Jersey Network, 1992. The documentary was designed to educate New Jersey police officers on domestic violence issues. ‘Roll Call’ has been distributed to every police academy in New Jersey, Texas, California, New Hampshire, the Royal Police Academy in New Zeeland, and France. Bensimon was born in Caracas, Venezuela where she studied her undergraduate in Mass Communication and Television. She completed her Masters Degree in Film and Media Studies the New School University.
The film-maker will be aided by Michael Rowan. Michael Rowan is a political consultant and newspaper columnist. He has worked as a consultant in 30 states and 13 nations for political candidates, governments, institutions and corporations since 1968, including 7 nations in Latin America. In 1984-5 he was the president of the International Association of Political Consultants. He has been a columnist for the Caracas Daily Journal, Venezuela's El Universal and VenEconomy since 1994 and has contributed articles to many US and UK newspapers. He is the author of Getting Over Chavez and Poverty [El Nacional Books, 2006] and the forthcoming The Threat Closer to Home [Free Press, 2008] with co-author Doug Schoen.
Drew Oberholtzer has over ten years of experience editing long-form content, music videos, promos, and industrials. He has worked for clients ranging from the Food Network, Bravo, Irish America Magazine, and the Army Corps of Engineers. He has been involved with HBR Productions for the last several years and has worked as their freelance editor on various projects. He is trained as a documentarian receiving a Masters degree in Film and Media Studies from the New School University and a graduate certificate from the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies.
List of experts already interviewed
Michael Rowan: journalist, political consultant for the documentary and author of Getting Over Chavez and Poverty 2006, El Nacional Books, Caracas, and The Threat Closer to Home about Chavez's asymmetric war against America, to be published in 2008; (attached letter of support)
Ambassador Otto Reich: former assistant Secretary of State for Latin America. He left Cuba when he was 14 years old in 1960. He worked as the top Latin America specialist in the Agency for International Development (AID) and was made head of the State Department's notorious Office of Public Diplomacy (PDO) for Latin America and the Caribbean when it was created under Reagan in 1983, ostensibly to lobby congress. Actually Reich worked for Col. Oliver North, the secret head of PDO, putting out disinformation or "White Propaganda."
Patricio Navia: Master’s Teacher, General Studies Program, NYU, Ph.D., New York University 2003. Specialties: Electoral Systems, Democratization and Democratic Institutions. Author: Las Grandes Alamedas: El Chile Post Pinochet (Mondadori, 2004); The Politics of Second Generation Reforms in Latin America (with Andrés Velasco) in Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and John Williamson (eds.); After the Washington Consensus: Restarting Growth and Reform in Latin America.
Dr. Ted Goertzel: Rutgers University Professor of Sociology, Latin American Studies, Brazilian Society, and Sociology of Religion. He is the author of six books, the most recent being Fernando Henrique Cardoso: Reinventing Democracy in Brazil.
Dr. Jaime Valencia: fled Colombia with his family who were victims of the FARC.
Paulo Sotero: director, Brazilian Studies at The Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, DC. Sotero covered Washington for Estado de S. Paulo and Gazeta Mercantil. He also served as assistant editor for Latin America, correspondent at the presidency in Brasília, and Lisbon; and correspondent for Veja weekly magazine. He taught Brazilian politics and media as an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University and writes and lectures on Brazil-U.S. relations and Brazilian and Latin American affairs.
Manuel Espino: president of the National Action Party (PAN) of Mexico, and president of ORCA.
