DER GROSSE AUSVERKAUF

In all corners of the globe the abstract phenomenon of privatisation is having a real and often devastating effect on people’s lives. This episodic documentary examines the consequences of the economic policy backed by global financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on individuals in four continents.

In Soweto, South Africa, Bongani illegally restores electricity to homes too poor to afford the high prices charged by a privatised utility firm. In Manila, since the Philippine health sector was bought out Minda struggles to pay for the dialysis her son needs twice a week. In Brighton, UK, train-driver and trade unionist Simon bemoans the decline of British Rail, and in Cochabamba, Bolivia, Rosa has joined the struggle against the take over of the municipal water supply by a US corporation.

Director Florian Opitz supports these diverse but nonetheless interwoven human stories with an insightful commentary from Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, former director of the World Bank, who now offers support to those who are prepared to stand up and fight for the most basic of human needs.

"They had stolen our industries, our railways, our airline and our natural resources already. When they tried to privatise our water too, we had to react and fight. Water is Life. You can't privatise life." Dona Rosa, Bolivia

"I don't want to portray them as victims but as active and dignified individuals, who are able to take their destinies in their own hands and change the privatised reality they live in. This documentary wants to make the public aware of a development that can change all our lives." Florian Optiz

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