The Creston and District Public Library’s National Film Board Film Club feature for January is the documentary, Payback, by award-winning director Jennifer Baichwal. Payback offers a fascinating look at debt and how it influences relationships, societies, governing structures and even the fate of the planet.
Debt is all around us — the debt we are familiar with — household and government financial debt — and areas of debt that we rarely consider: environmental debt, where the impacts of natural resource depletion and environmental degradation will be paid by future generations, or physical debt, where we discount the lifestyle of the past and present and its affects on our health of the future. There is kinship debt, allowing hurts and wrongs to affect relationships that can have cross-generational impacts, and even societal or cultural debt, where norms in a given society create debt to its peoples.
Based on Margaret Atwood’s bestselling book Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, which was originally composed for the 2008 Massey Lectures series broadcast by CBC Radio, the film explores the link between debtor and creditor in a variety of contexts and situations — a years-long blood feud between two Albanian families, the BP oil spill, tomato farm workers in Florida and their bosses, media mogul Conrad Black and the U.S. justice system — while addressing debt in all its forms: societal, personal, environmental, spiritual, criminal and, of course, economic.
Featuring stunning cinematography and insightful commentary by Raj Patel, Louise Arbour, Karen Armstrong, William Rees, Conrad Black and Margaret Atwood, Payback is a brilliant, game-changing reflection on the subject of debt, produced by Ravida Din for the National Film Board of Canada.
Baichwal has been directing and producing documentaries for 18 years. Her films have played all over the world and won awards nationally and internationally including Let it Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles (1998), The Holier It Gets (1999) and The True Meaning of Pictures (2003). Manufactured Landscapes (2007), about the work of artist Edward Burtynsky, was released theatrically in over 15 countries, while Act of God (2009) opened the Hot Docs film festival. Baichwal is currently in production on a film about water with Edward Burtynsky, Nick de Pencier and Daniel Iron.
Din is an Executive Producer at the National Film Board of Canada (Quebec and Atlantic Production Centres). Credits include Pink Ribbons, Inc. (directed by Léa Pool, 2011), The Socalled Movie (directed by Garry Beitel, 2010), Jelena’s Song (directed by Pablo Alvarez-Mesa, 2010) and Family Motel (directed by Helene Klodawsky, 2007). Payback is her most recent production.
Payback will be preceded by the animated short film, The Visitor. A young boy plays with his toys while left alone in a large, empty house. Suddenly, a dark cloud starts to seep in through the mail slot in the front door. It begins to take shape — the shape of a monster! The boy runs away, but the creature is always near. The chase will not end until the boy discovers the true source of his fears.
Admission is free to Payback and The Visitor, which will run on Jan. 10 at 7 p.m., at the Creston and District Public Library (531 16th Ave. S.). Running time is 86 minutes.
Please note that the NFB Film Club films are not necessarily added to the library’s collection. If you want to see a film, please attend the screening at the library. Alternatively, NFB Film Club features are available for viewing through www.nfb.ca for a fee of $2.95.
—CRESTON AND DISTRICT PUBLIC LIBRARY
