What will a big corporation do in order to protect its brand? Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Gertten personally experienced how far one was prepared to go in the aftermath of releasing his previous film Bananas!*. That first documentary follows the lawsuit that 12 Nicaraguan plantation workers successfully brought against the fruit giant Dole Food Company. Just before Gertten left Sweden to attend the world premier of his film at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival, the film is mysteriously removed from competition.

Big Boys Gone Bananas!* is about what happened next, Gertten captured the entire process of corporate bullying and media spin – from Dole attacking the producers with a defamation lawsuit, to media-control and PR-spin. It is a personal story documenting what happened to Gertten and his company as well as how the livelihood of documentary filmmakers can be easily put into jeopardy. This powerful film reveals precisely how a multinational will stop at nothing to get its way – freedom of speech is at stake.

The screening at Curzon Soho will be followed by a Q&A with director Fredrik Gertten. Tim Burt, Managing Director of StockWell, which he joined from Brunswick, the international advisory firm, where he oversaw sectors including media, technology and automotive will also be present.

Director: Fredrik Gertten
Duration: 90′
Year: 2011

This entry containers spoilers for the film Big Boys Gone Bananas!*

Filmmaker Fredrik Gertten took on the multinational corporation Dole Food Company and its PR army and won. Upon the release of Gertten’s blockbuster documentary Bananas!*, which recounts the law suit 12 Nicaraguan plantation workers brought against Dole, his tenacity and journalistic mettle were tested to their limits when he was hounded by Dole’s lawyers and PR firms.

Gertten’s follow-up film Big Boys Gone Bananas!* traces his journey from the LA film festival, which is pressurised by Dole to remove Bananas!* from competition, to Gertten and his colleagues’ battle for free speech, eventually gaining the support of the Swedish parliament.

Gertten will be at the Frontline Club to give a masterclass in filmmaking against the odds. Using clips from his films and drawing on his experience of becoming the story in his fight for journalistic freedoms, he will give a detailed account of his ordeal and answer questions about his films and filmmaking in general.

Moderated by award winning investigative journalist and author John Sweeney of the BBC’s Panorama.