A List of interesting Finance and Economics Documentaries/Short Films
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- DirectorWilliam T. StillStarsWilliam T. StillThe Money Masters is a 1996 documentary film that discusses the concepts of money, debt, taxes, and describes their development from biblical times onward.
- 1974–7.5 (73)TV EpisodeDirectorAdam CurtisStarsRon BakerBob ButcherPamela Chiu25 Million Pounds details the collapse of Barings Bank in the mid 1990s primarily by a broker called Nick Leeson, who lost £827 million ($1.3 billion) by speculating on futures contracts. The film contextualises the downfall as the history of Barings Bank was one of the oldest and most prestigious merchant banks in Britain, run by the same family for decades with extensive ties to Britain's elites. But in the late 19th century Barings almost went bankrupt after investing heavily in South American bonds, including backing the construction of a sewer system in Buenos Aires. The bank was saved by The Bank of England, but Edward Baring, the head of the bank, was financially ruined and never recovered. This film explores the culture of Barings and of the financial markets during the 1990s, and how Nick Leeson was able to cause another huge loss of money to the bank, this time bankrupting the company. He did this by claiming fictitious profits on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange and using money requested from London as margin payments on fictitious trades to finance his loss-making positions. It's also the profile of a stereotypical corporate psychopath, as Leeson himself explains how he was able to manipulate those around him to achieve his ends and rationalise his actions.
- StarsDavid Ogden StiersDick CheneyNewt GingrichThe people, ideas, and events that created our current world economy.
- DirectorMarc ShafferThe meteoric rise and stunning collapse of Enron caused many to question why watchdog system was supposed to protect investors failed to sound any alarms about company's dubious financial underpinnings.
- DirectorMark AchbarJennifer AbbottStarsMikela JayRob BeckwermertChristopher GoraDocumentary that looks at the concept of the corporation throughout recent history up to its present-day dominance.
- DirectorAlex GibneyStarsJohn BeardTim BeldenBarbara BoxerA documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.
- DirectorRobert GreenwaldStarsLee ScottDon HunterJon HunterA look at the impact of the retail giant on local communities.
- DirectorDanny SchechterJoel SucherStarsNina AdamsDavid AguilarRoy BarnesJust a few decades ago, owing more money than you had in your bank account was the exception, not the rule.
- DirectorPaul GrignonStarsBob BossinThe monetary systems practiced through modern banking.
- It's a relatively new word in the vocabulary of America, the idea that we are raising a generation of kids who are spoiled, materialistic, and bored; kids who define success and themselves by possessions, especially brand-names; kids especially susceptible to advertising; kids who are often in debt by the time they leave college. According to one survey, 93 percent of teenage girls say shopping is their favorite pastime. "Rich kids, middle class kids, very poor kids ALL get conditioned to feel like they gotta have this stuff in order to be somebody," says John De Graaf, author of the book "Affluenza." Shopping fever is one symptom, but there is a cure. Watch, "Affluenza."
- DirectorJames D. ScurlockStarsBeth NaefMike HudsonLouis C.K.When Hurricane Katrina ravaged America's Gulf Coast, it laid bare an uncomfortable reality-America is not only far from the world's wealthiest nation; it is crumbling beneath a staggering burden of individual and government debt. Maxed Out takes us on a journey deep inside the American debt-style, where everything seems okay as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. Sure, most of us may have that sinking feeling that something isn't quite right, but we're told not to worry. After all, there's always more credit! Maxed Out shows how the modern financial industry really works, explains the true definition of "preferred customer" and tells us why the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer. By turns hilarious and profoundly disturbing, Maxed Out paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us.
- DirectorBasil GelpkeRaymond McCormackReto CaduffStarsWade AdamsAbdul Samad Al-AwadiFadhil J. Al-ChalabiA theatrical documentary on the planet's dwindling oil resources.
- DirectorLouis FoxStarsAnnie LeonardFor most of the world, consumption has been the unquestioned duty of every individual. Then garbage activist Annie Leonard brought her two-hour lecture to Free Range who helped her turn it into a 20-minute animated revolution. Shown in thousands of classrooms, endlessly blasted by Fox News, viewed more than 10 million times, The Store of Stuff finally opens the door to a serious cultural dialog about the costs of consumption.
- DirectorStelios KouloglouStarsJohn PerkinsIn front of an angry audience somewhere in Latin America, a North American discloses the secret network that used the World Bank, payoffs, extortion and sex, military coups and political assassinations to create the American empire. The definitive answer to President Bush's question: "why do they hate us?".
- StarsNiall FergusonGareth ArmstrongRichard LinternNiall Ferguson takes us on a historical adventure through the ascent of money, applying fact and opinion throughout.
- DirectorPhilippe DiazStarsMartin SheenAmartya SenJohn PerkinsA phenomenal discourse on why poverty exists when there is so much wealth in the world. A must see for anyone wanting to understand not only the US economic system but the foundations of today's global economy.
- DirectorErwin WagenhoferStarsMark MobiusMirko KovatsK. Sujatha RaajuMost of us don't know where their money is. However, one thing is for certain, it's is not in the bank to which we entrusted it. The bank and our money is already a part of the cycle of the global money market.
- DirectorJohn O'KaneStarsRobert Peston
- DirectorJohn O'KaneStarsRobert Peston
- DirectorPatrick CreadonStarsRobert BixbyHumphrey BogartWarren BuffettFew are aware that America may be on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. explores the country's shocking current fiscal condition and ways to avoid a national economic disaster.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreWilliam BlackJimmy CarterAn examination of the social costs of corporate interests pursuing profits at the expense of the public good.
- DirectorChris SmithStarsMichael RuppertA documentary on Michael Ruppert, a police officer turned independent reporter who predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published newsletter, From the Wilderness.
- DirectorMat WhitecrossMichael WinterbottomStarsJanine HuardEwen CameronNaomi KleinAn investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.
- DirectorAlan RosenblithStarsFrancis AyleyNoam ChomskyThomas H. GrecoMoney is at the intersection of nearly every aspect of modern life. Most of us take the monetary system for granted, but it has a profound and largely misunderstood influence on our lives. The Money Fix is a feature-length documentary exploring our society's relationship with the almighty dollar.
- StarsAndrew LincolnLex van DamEight ordinary people are given a million dollars, a fortnight of intensive training and two months to run their own hedge fund. Can they make a killing?
- DirectorCharles FergusonStarsMatt DamonGylfi ZoegaAndri Snær MagnasonTakes a closer look at what brought about the 2008 financial meltdown.
- DirectorMartin BorgsStarsJohan NorbergIn times of crisis people seek strong leaders and simple solutions. But what happens when their solutions are identical to the mistakes that caused the very crisis?
- DirectorJeff ProssermanStarsBernie MadoffFrank CaseyGaytri KachrooA look at how one investigator spent ten years trying to expose Bernie Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme that scammed an estimated $18 billion from investors.
- DirectorHeidi EwingAlex GibneySeth GordonStarsJames RansoneTempestt BledsoeMorgan SpurlockA collection of documentaries that explores the hidden side of human nature through the use of the science of economics.
- DirectorScott RobertsJeremy WagenerStarsPeter GallagherAnna EshooBrian PauwelsAbout the history of oil prices and the future of alternative fuels.
- DirectorJosh FoxStarsJosh FoxDick CheneyPete SeegerAn exploration of the fracking petroleum extraction industry and the serious environmental consequences involved.
- DirectorGayle FerraroStarsMuhammad YunusFor 30 years, Muhammad Yunus helped 7.5 million Bangladeshi move out of poverty. Can he help women in Queens NY to achieve their American Dream?
- DirectorSusan KuceraStarsLee AltenbergJohn BarnesJeff BingamanTrading on Thin Air examines the carbon market and whether big business is capitalizing on environmentalism in order to make money.
- DirectorMarc H. SimonBobby LeighStarsMarc DreierBobby LeighA documentary on Marc Dreier, the once-prominent Manhattan attorney who was arrested for orchestrating a massive fraud scheme that netted over 700 million dollars from hedge funds.
- DirectorAris ChatzistefanouKaterina KitidiStarsSamir AminHugo AriasAlain BadiouDebtocracy seeks the causes of the Greek debt crisis and proposes solutions sidelined by the government and the dominant media. It follows countries like Ecuador that created debt Audit Commissions and tracks this process in Greece.
- StarsRobert Peston
- DirectorMarije MeermanStarsEric Scott HunsaderGregg BermanRishi NarangA thriller based on actual events that takes you to the heart of our automated financial world. Based on interviews with those directly involved and data visualizations up to the millisecond, it reconstructs the fastest and deepest U.S. stock market plunge ever.
- DirectorRoss AshcroftStarsDominic FrisbyGillian TettLawrence WilkersonThe modern day Four Horsemen continue to ride roughshod over the people who can least afford it. Crises are converging when governments, religion and mainstream economists have stalled. 23 international thinkers come together and break their silence about how the world really works and why there is still hope in re-establishing a moral and just society. Four Horsemen is free from mainstream media propaganda, doesn't bash bankers, criticize politicians or get involved in conspiracy theories. The film ignites the debate about how we usher a new economic paradigm into the world which, globally, would dramatically improve the quality of life for billions.
- DirectorAris ChatzistefanouKaterina KitidiStarsDean BakerAlex CallinicosCostas DouzinasThe creators of Debtocracy, analyze the shifting of state assets to private hands. They travel round the world gathering data on privatization and search for clues on the day after Greece's massive privatization program.
- DirectorMichael OswaldStarsBen DysonAnne BelseyNoel Longhurst97% owned present serious research and verifiable evidence on our economic and financial system. This is the first documentary to tackle this issue from a UK-perspective and explains the inner workings of Central Banks and the Money creation process. When money drives almost all activity on the planet, it's essential that we understand it. Yet simple questions often get overlooked, questions like; where does money come from? Who creates it? Who decides how it gets used? And what does this mean for the millions of ordinary people who suffer when the monetary, and financial system, breaks down? Produced by Queuepolitely and featuring Ben Dyson of Positive Money, Josh Ryan-Collins of The New Economics Foundation, Ann Pettifor, the "HBOS Whistleblower" Paul Moore, Simon Dixon of Bank to the Future and Nick Dearden from the Jubliee Debt Campaign.
- DirectorKatie TeagueStarsMarga LaubeLynne TwistVandana ShivaMONEY and LIFE is a passionate and inspirational essay-style documentary that makes a provocative proposition: can we see the economic crisis not as a disaster, but as a tremendous opportunity? An optimistic film steeped in appreciation for human ingenuity, MONEY and LIFE is a respectful invitation to consider questions critical to all our well-being: How can we move beyond being merely consumers, debtors and creditors, and put money in service to what we really care about as citizens, as human beings? Can we design a monetary circulation system that fosters democratic equality? What does it really mean to make a living? MONEY and LIFE empowers each of us to respond to the fundamental issues of our time and participate in the emerging new economy.
- DirectorJim BruceStarsLiev SchreiberPaul VolckerJanet YellenNearly 100 years after its creation, the power of the U.S. Federal Reserve has never been greater. Markets and governments around the world hold their breath in anticipation of the Fed Chairman's every word. Yet the average person knows very little about the most powerful - and least understood - financial institution on earth. Narrated by Liev Schreiber, Money For Nothing is the first film to take viewers inside the Fed and reveal the impact of Fed policies - past, present, and future - on our lives. Join current and former Fed officials as they debate the critics, and each other, about the decisions that helped lead the global financial system to the brink of collapse in 2008. And why we might be headed there again.
- DirectorJosh FoxStarsAl ArmendarizKindra ArnesenLon BurnamA documentary that declares the gas industry's portrayal of natural gas as a clean and safe alternative to oil is a myth, and that fracked wells inevitably leak over time, contaminating water and air, hurting families, and endangering the earth's climate with the potent greenhouse gas methane.