Director: Ferenc Moldovanyi.
“Expanding upon themes he explored in Children: Kosovo 2000 (SDFF 24), Ferenc Moldoványi’s latest documentary is at once hypnotically beautiful and acutely disturbing. Shot over a two-year period in four countries on four continents—Ecuador (South America), Mexico (North America), Democratic Republic of Congo (Africa), and Cambodia (Asia)—Another Planet unfolds as a cinematic tone poem in the tradition of Koyaanisqatsi, exposing the unequal distribution of wealth around the world as a major humanitarian crisis. Framed by pastoral sequences in which a Tarahumara shaman imparts a dream of paradise on earth, the film moves quickly and seamlessly between the lives of seven children inextricably linked by their shocking and tragic experiences of daily exploitation and abuse. We meet lonely, aimless urchins, barely eking out a living on the streets. We see child laborers toiling in brick factories, garbage dumps, and brothels, only to be beaten when business is down. And perhaps most harrowing of all, we get to know the child soldiers of Congo as they are turned into killing machines. Throughout this journey, Moldoványi’s unwavering vision reminds us of the eternal coexistence of beauty and horror all over the world. Informed by the haunting cinematography of Tibor Máthé as well as Tibor Szemzö’s ethereal soundtrack, Another Planet crosses cultural boundaries to forge a commentary on the human condition as damning as it is open-ended.” 31st Starz Denver International Film Festival Official Catalogue "This globe-spanning film hits hard on many levels—visually, intellectually, emotionally. Beautifully shot in Ecuador, Mexico, Africa and Asia, Moldoványi’s film presents images that sparkle in the eye even as they punch you in the heart. Moldoványi introduces us to children in Cambodia, Ecuador, Mexico and the Democratic Republic of Congo, each of whom is struggling to survive. Working long hours, often in dangerous and dirty conditions, these children show us a side of existence that many have never seen or even imagined. While many in the US hold childhood as a special and protected time of nurtured innocence, this film reminds us all that for many children life is a brutal and precarious game of survival. With subjects that include children scavenging dumps for recyclables, child soldiers and child sex workers, this film offers a sympathetic and unblinking eye. The children themselves are our strongest storytellers, and they open up to Moldoványi’s camera to give us their own perspective. Their frankness astonishes as they talk matter-of-factly about their jobs and the consequences of not earning. The children either are at the mercy of adults—often the parents who force them to work and beat them when they don’t earn enough—or have been abandoned by adults altogether. While the film is not a gentle journey, it imagines a better world, a greater one. The filmmaker relies on your humanity and empathy to be moved by these children, while never directly suggesting a call to action. This film offers an unprecedented opportunity to explore another planet, a trip definitely worth taking." SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival

Director: Gertjan Zwanikken.
The documentary Meat the Truth is the first major project undertaken by the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation. Meat the Truth is a high-profile documentary, presented by Marianne Thieme (leader of the Party for the Animals), which forms an addendum to earlier films that have been made about climate change. Although such films have convincingly succeeded in drawing public attention to the issue of global warming, they have repeatedly ignored one of the most important causes of climate change, namely: intensive livestock production. Meat the Truth has drawn attention to this by demonstrating that livestock farming generates more greenhouse gas emissions worldwide than all cars, lorries, trains, boats and planes added together. The Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation chose to compile the best scientific information on climate change and livestock farming, which is presently available and to translate this for a broader audience. The film was produced by Claudine Everaert and Gertjan Zwanikken. The calculations on greenhouse gas emissions used in the film derive from and have been validated by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN (FAO), the World Watch Institute, the Institute for Environmental Studies of the Free University Amsterdam and numerous other authoritative sources. Well-known Dutch celebrities, such as Anthonie Kamerling, Georgina Verbaan, Henk Schiffmacher, Yvonne Kroonenberg, Karen van Holst Pellekaan, Wim.T.Schippers and Dolf Jansen, participated in the making of the Dutch version of this documentary, which has already been deemed better than Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth by the science editors of the quality Dutch daily newspaper, the NRC Handelsblad. In the meantime, the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation has also produced an international version of Meat the Truth. This English language film is better tailored to an international public and uses calculations on the carbon savings that may be achieved by reducing one’s meat consumption based on American, rather than Dutch, examples. Many well-known celebrities, such as Pamela Anderson, Bill Maher, James Cromwell, Emily Deschanel, Tony Denison, Esai Morales, Megan Blake, Debra Wilson Skelton, Elaine Hendrix, Kate Flannery, Carol Leifer, Joy Lauren, Hal Sparks, Constance Marie, Kristina Klebe, Skyler Gisondo, Graham Patrick Martin, Greg Vaughan and Touriya Haoud Vaughan, participated in the making of the international version of the film. With this documentary, the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation hopes to make a contribution to the societal discussion about a more plant-based and thus also more animal-friendly diet and society. Moreover, the Foundation also anticipates that the film will provide a showcase for prominent scientific reports about livestock farming and climate change, which unfortunately have thus far proved inaccessible to the general public. The world premiere of Meat the Truth was held on 10th December 2007 in the Tuschinski cinema in Amsterdam. The international version of the film premiered at London's Odeon West End Cinema in Leicester Square on 19th May 2008 and has since also had its premiere screening in the USA at the Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood, LA during the Artivist Film Festival on 3rd October 2008.

Director: Claudine Everaert.
After the worldwide success of “Meat the Truth”, which was translated in 13 different languages and released in 16 different countries, the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation has made another documentary, named “Sea the Truth”. The state of our oceans and seas is the main focus in “Sea the Truth”. Leading scientists such as Daniel Pauly suggest that if we continue to catch and eat fish at the current rate, the oceans and seas will be empty within 40 years. The hunt for fish is an economic monster on the run: large bottom trawlers are scraping the bottoms of the seas empty, taking with them all living things with destructive force. The massive amount of bycatch is thrown back into the sea, maimed or dead. Under the guidance of Dutch MP Marianne Thieme, two young marine biologists Marianne and Barbara, are searching worldwide for scientific information about the condition of our biggest ecosystems, which cover more than two thirds of our planet. Underwater photographer Dos Winkel shows them the beauty of marine life and the enormous threats to which it is exposed. For the documentary the producers filmed in Newfoundland, on Bonaire, on the North Sea, the Azores and at various locations in the Netherlands. Authorities offer the solution of sustainable fisheries projects while leading scientists say that every fish that is taken now, is one too many. This documentary shows that, unfortunately, there is no such thing as “sustainable fishing”. “Sea the Truth” premiered on May 19th in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ~ www.seathetruth.nl ~