Damocracy Documentary to Be Released in February

A documentary that lies across the Amazons to Mesopotamia: Damocracy. Dam-ocracy is a saga that questions whether a democracy allowing massive dam projects can be environment-friendly.

Canadian filmmaker Todd Southgate made a documentary on world's two most controversial dam projects--Belo Monte in Bresil and Ilısu in Turkey--entitled "From the Amazons to Hasankeyf: Damocracy".

"They think we are blocking the way to progress but our only aim is to protect our culture," a native Brazilian said in the documentary trailer. A native Mesopotamian from Hasankeyf considered the Ilısu dam project as homicide.

The documentary is a wake-up call against the upcoming disappearance of countless cultures, peoples and wildlife nourished by Tigris and Xingu rivers. It also criticizes how Amazon forests and Mesopotamia face threats in the name of producing clean energy.

"The documentary idea came up during our climate summit which was held as an alternative to this year's Rio 20," Dicle Tuba Kılıç, an environmental organization campaign coordinator, told bianet.

Kılıç said they initiated the "damocracy" movement in order to confront world governments' pressures on the dam constructions in the pretext of climate change and clean energy. "The documentary is first product and there is more to come."

Traveling to the Amazons first, filmmaker Southgate interviewed hundreds of native people in the region. Then heading to the Mesopotamia, he observed the vast plateaus and valleys of Hasankeyf. Southgate interviewed several stakeholders in the region including environment advocates, natives, academicians and NGO representatives.

The documentary will come out in February 2013. (NV)