Dispatch from Sundance: And the (Oscar) Winners Are…

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Sunday night, during the closing ceremonies in Park City, Utah, the 2007 Sundance Film Festival winners were announced. I wasn’t there, four days at Sundance was plenty for me, but the onslaught of emails from the press office were evidence enough. But I wonder, does anyone really care about which film won the Special Jury Prize or the World Cinema Audience Award? It seems all anyone is talking about is how “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Iraq in Fragments” (read Mother Jones‘ review of the film here) and “An Inconvenient Truth” raked in the Oscar nominations last week.

Sundance tends to be repetitious in its subject matter. This year, “No End In Sight” will surely give you your Iraq fill, “Everything’s Cool” contains a deluge of information on Global Warming and “Blame It On Fidel,” much like “Little Miss Sunshine” tells the story of a young girl shaped by her society. But really, would the festival be complete without a film on Iraq or Global Warming?

“No End In Sight” is the product of over 75 interviews with the war’s key players (read my blog post on a panel discussion I attended for the film and stay tuned for a Mother Jones review coming soon). With appearances by General Jay Garner, New Yorker columnist, George Packer and State Department veteran, Barbara Bodine, this politically heavy doc weaves the story, through images and first-hand accounts, of the blatant incompetence on the part of our administration. I think this film will act as a historical archive of the war for decades to come. “Everything’s Cool,” as the title indicates, documents the administration’s denial that climate change exists and their dirty tactics to make sure that scientists weren’t able to prove it did. In this very funny film, Daniel Gold and Judith Helfand follow global warming prophets, journalist, Ross Gelbspan, Mother Jones writer, Bill McKibben and the “Bad Boys of Environmentalism” throughout their mission to turn back the clock on the widening gap between the reality of climate change and the public’s perception. “No End In Sight” and “Everything’s Cool” were definitely the two most prescient films of the year, but make sure to look for the releases of “Manda Bala,” a tale of the harsh realities of life in Sao Paulo and “Enemies of Happiness,” which follows the campaign of Malalai Joya, a female member of Afghanistan’s parliament.

For what it’s worth, “Manda Bala” won the Grand Jury Prize and “Enemies of Happiness,” the World Cinema Jury Prize. Maybe an Oscar is in these film’s futures too.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate