IN THE COMPANY OF FEAR
SCREENED AT 25 INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALS
HOT DOCS NOMINEE – BEST POLITICAL DOC
HOT DOCS NOMINEE – VISION TV HUMANITARIAN AWARD
COLOMBIA IS NOTORIOUS for its politics of fear. In The Company of Fear explores the power of non-violent resistance to oppose state terror, through the work of “Protective Accompaniment”. This is a strategy whereby foreign volunteers offer human rights activists the un-armed protection of an international presence. The theory is that countries that kill their own people don’t want the world to know about it. In quest for the roots of violence the film examines the international community’s role in generating and deterring terror.
From the film: “San Pablo is a town controlled by the guerrillas, but the paramilitaries are moving in. Just before we arrived, four activists were abducted in a paramilitary roadblock. They turned up the next day, arms, legs and heads cut off by chainsaws. Marco Tulio is the lone, local human rights activist. Marco is under serious threat now, and Peace Brigades volunteers stay with him several times a week – to show the “paras” the outside world is watching.
The film features respected political analyst Noam Chomsky who in the film states, “The objectives of state terror are to make people lose hope.” Chomsky further explains that, “If you oppose these conditions and work to change them you’re not going to have a death squad come and kill you at night as you would if you lived in Colombia.”
With just over a decade of implementation, Protective Accompaniment has proved to be an effective non-violent tactic in the prevention of human rights abuses around the world. In The Company of Fear is a compelling and cinematic film capturing the courage of those working towards a new paradigm in human rights protection. It offers hope that as civilians we have the power to effectively shape world history.
In The Company of Fear
directed by
VELCROW RIPPER
written by
JILL SHARPE
produced by
JILL SHARPE
picture editors
BONNI DEVLIN
HEATHER FRISE
directors of photography
GUILLERMO ESCALON
VELCROW RIPPER
sound recordist
JILL SHARPE
Location Translator
BEA PIZANO
sound design
VELCROW RIPPER
original music by
CELSO MACHADO
Production Manager
LYNN BOOTH
Story Consultant
LIAM MAHONY
Researcher
JILL SHARPE
Production Accountant
ANDREA DROEGE
Corporate Accountant
BRUCE WHITTY
Legal Counsel
EVA SCHMIEG
Translators
MARY LUZ MEJIA
CLAUDIA MEDINA
JANET DUCKWORTH
FRANCISCO TRUJILLO
MAGALY VARAS
Transcription
KIM GOODLIFFE
ANDREA JOHNSON
Graphic Designer
MAVIS HAMILTON
Re-Recording Mixer
DIETER PILTZ
Dialogue Editor
DIETER PILTZ
Post Production Assistant
MARY LUZ MEJIA
Translation Recording J
EAN-LUC PERRON
Assistand Sound Editor
SUEZ HOLLAND
On Line Editor
EDDIE O.
Subtitles
EDDIE O.
Titles
IRENE SOMMERFELDT
Stock Footage
GANDHI FILMS FOUNDATION
NOTICIERO DE LAS SIETE
Music Recording
SID PEREZ
Session Musicians
Celso Machado
Carlinhos Machado
Gera Machado
Additional Music by
AGRICANTUS
rom the album “Tuareg”
TRANCENDENTAL
from the soundtrack “Steam”
Courtesy of CNI Compagnia Nuove Indye Sri, Rome, Italy
Special Thanks to
PEACE BRIGADES Volunteers
Human Rights Activists in
Colombia & Guatemala
NCOORD, USA
Project Accompaniment, Canada
Many thanks to
Mark Achbar
Lajos Arendas
Canadian Embassy, Guatemala
Canadian Embassy, Colombia
Suzanne Chapman
Nick Coghlan
Hostal Linden
Kelly MacCready
Bob Martin
Amilcar Mendez
Alan Morinis
Multimotos del Norte
Jan Rofekamp
Leonard Terhoch
Issac Thau
Produced with the participation of the
Canadian Television Fund
created by the Government of Canada
and the Canadian cable industry
Telefilm Canada: Equity Investment Program
CTF: Licence Fee Program
British Columbia Film
Rogers Documentary Fund
Rogers Telefund
The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit
Produced in association with
VISION TV
CFCF 12
Knowledge Network
Saskatchewan Communications Network
Developed with the assistance of
National Film Board of Canada
Distributed by
Films Transit International
A Reel-Myth Production
copyright 1999
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