Bei zahlreichen Produkten ist der Verschleiß vorprogrammiert. Seien es Glühbirnen, Computer oder Handys, der Kunde soll ein defektes Gerät nicht reparieren lassen, sondern das Altgerät entsorgen und sich ein neues anschaffen. Diese beabsichtigte eingeschränkte Lebensdauer nennt man “geplante Obsoleszenz”. Die Dokumentation geht dem Phänomen nach und wirft einen kritischen Blick auf die moderne Wegwerfgesellschaft.

a movie about the terrible consequences of hydrailic fracturing called fracking to extract oil out of the deepth of the ground. It is the new hype in the USA to gain oil independece. But costs for the people in the region are lethal.

GasLand mit Übersetzung auf Deutsch

Marcellus Shale contains enough natural gas to supply all US gas needs for 14 years. But as gas drilling takes place, using a process called hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” toxic chemicals and methane gas seep into drinking water. Now experts fear that unacceptable levels of radioactive Radium 226 in gas development waste.

Fracking chemicals are linked to bone, liver and breast cancers, gastrointestinal, circulatory, respiratory, developmental as well as brain and nervous system disorders. Such chemicals are present in frack waste and may find their way into drinking water and air.

Waste from Pennsylvania gas wells — waste that may also contain unacceptable levels of radium — is routinely dumped across state lines into landfills in New York, Ohio and West Virginia. New York does not require testing waste for radioactivity prior to dumping or treatment. So drill cuttings from Pennsylvania have been dumped in New York’s Chemung and other counties and liquid waste is shipped to treatment plants in Auburn and Watertown New York. How radioactive is this waste? Experts are calling are for testing to find out.
New York State may have been the first state in the nation to put a temporary hold on fracking pending a safety review, but it allows other states to dump toxic frack waste within its boundaries.

With a gas production boom underway in the Marcellus Shale and plans for some 400,000 wells in the coming decades, the cumulative impact of dumping potential lethal waste without adequate oversight is a catastrophe waiting to happen. And now U.S. companies are exporting fracking to Europe.

Williston is a boom-town in every sense of the word. By night the city shines brighter than New York, as flare-stacks burn off excess gas. By day it’s swamped with new arrivals, keen to join the new gold rush. “If I could get you driving a truck, you could probably make $100,000 dollars a year.” Economic developer Tom Rolf is proud to live in the only recession-proof town in the US. But as space becomes scarce tensions are bubbling to the surface. One local is distraught: “We shouldn’t have to suffer when the government is making trillions”. And the worries aren’t limited to local concerns. As the US begins freeing itself from dependency on Middle-Eastern oil Europe frets over where it will get its energy supplies in the future. European expert Rob de Wijk explains, “This is also about the safety of Europe in connection with what’s happening in the Middle East. We’re on our own now.”
(June 2013)

In March of 2005, Danny was one of them.
He escaped a life of indoctrination, routine public executions, and starvation.

This is a documentary about Danny’s story– from his challenging life in North Korea, to his brave escape to China, and his resettlement journey in the United States.

(2006)

Sein Bild ist in Nordkorea allgegenwärtig. Es hängt in jeder Amtsstube, in jedem Klassenzimmer und in jedem Krankenhaus. Geboren sei er am Fuß des heiligen Berges Paektu, heißt es in der offiziellen Vita von Nordkoreas Staatschef Kim Jong Il, doch in Wahrheit kam er in einem Ausbildungslager nahe der russischen Stadt Chabarowsk zur Welt. Die Dokumentation “Der unheimliche Diktator – Nordkoreas ‘geliebter Führer” zeigt seltene Aufnahmen aus chinesischen, russischen und südkoreanischen Archiven, die in der Gesamtschau das Bild einer schillernden Persönlichkeit mit bizarren Facetten wiedergibt.

(2011)