Completed - SPANISH, ENGLISH - Documentary - 76 minutes
When three inexperienced yet determined gringos try to build cheap tropical resort destinations in politically volatile Nicaragua, they find the land under their feet becomes terribly unstable.
Year of production : 2010 Director(s) : Julian PINDER Cast : Daniel ORTEGA, Jimmy CARTER, Comandante ZERO, Keith GRIFFITH, Sean JACKSON, Fred GOLDFARB, Zacarias LOPEZ Producer(s) : Paul SCHERZER (Six Island Productions), Julian PINDER (Deliberate Films)
LAND is a true Wild West story, delving in to the tumultuous topic of land ownership and development in politically volatile Nicaragua. The year is 2006, where Nicaragua is viewed as the new land of opportunity. Newspapers and magazines hail it as The New Cancun, The Next Florida. Fred, Sean and Keith, three naive Americans wide-eyed at the prospects of finally making it big, set up shop and start constructing resorts for tourists’ next discount tropical vacation. What these inexperienced developers don't know is that the seemingly inexhaustible cheap manual labour is about to run out. The natives are restless and starting to see through this new form of imperialism. When former revolutionary leader Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas sweep back to power, legitimately or otherwise, not one of our Gringos is left unscathed. Dreams of plane loads of vacationers and pool-side margaritas give way to death threats and armed assaults. In a story of tourism vs. terrorism, one is never quite sure who has the upper hand nor if anyone is telling the honest truth.
Country(ies) : NICARAGUA, CANADA Financing plan : TVOntario, Canadian Television Fund, CanWest-HotDocs Fund, National Film Board