The Corporation (2003)

Directors:

Mark Achbar
Jennifer Abbott (co-director)

Writers:

Joel Bakan (written by)
Harold Crooks (narration) ...
(more)

Release Date:

4 June 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | History

Plot:

Documentary that looks at the concept of the corporation throughout recent history up to its present-day dominance.

Plot Keywords:

Corporation | Business | Environmental Activism | Corporate Corruption | Advertising

Awards:

10 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Jane Akre	...	Herself
Ray Anderson	...	Himself
Maude Barlow	...	Herself
Chris Barrett	...	Himself
Carlton Brown	...	Himself
Smedley Darlington Butler	...	Himself - USMC, exposes anti-FDR plot (archive footage)
Noam Chomsky	...	Himself
Víctor Hugo Daza	...	Himself - slain student, Bolivia (archive footage)
Peter Drucker	...	Himself
Samuel Epstein	...	Himself
Milton Friedman	...	Himself
Kathie Lee Gifford	...	Herself (archive footage)
Naomi Klein	...	Herself
Susan E. Linn	...	Herself
Luke McCabe	...	Himself
Mikela J. Mikael	...	Narrator (voice)
Robert Monks	...	Himself
Michael Moore	...	Himself
Jonathan Ressler	...	Himself
Franklin Delano Roosevelt	...	Himself (archive footage)
Vandana Shiva	...	Herself
Steve Wilson	...	Himself
Kofi Annan	...	Himself, at the UN (archive footage) (uncredited)
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Jean Chrétien	...	Himself, with George W. Bush (archive footage) (uncredited)
Winston Churchill	...	Himself, at Potsdam (archive footage) (uncredited)
Mahatma Gandhi	...	Himself, during Salt March (archive footage) (uncredited)
Frank Gifford	...	Himself, behind Kathie Lee (archive footage) (uncredited)
Adolf Hitler	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
King George VI	...	Himself, with Queen Elizabeth (uncredited) (archive footage) (unconfirmed)
Martin Luther King	...	Himself, during March On Washington (archive footage) (uncredited)
V.I. Lenin	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Nelson Mandela	...	Himself, after release, with Winnie (archive footage) (uncredited)
Winnie Mandela	...	Herself, with Nelson (archive footage) (uncredited)
Peter Mansbridge	...	Himself, CBC (voice) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Benito Mussolini	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Knowlton Nash	...	Himself, CBC (voice) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Pope John XXIII	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Joseph Stalin	...	Himself, at Potsdam (archive footage) (uncredited)
Ken Starr	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Martha Stewart	...	Herself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Dave Thomas	...	Himself, in Wendy's commercial (archive footage) (uncredited)
Harry S. Truman	...	Himself, at Potsdam (archive footage) (uncredited)
Eugene Whelan	...	Himself - Senator, chairs Posilac inquiry (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Mark Achbar
Jennifer Abbott		(co-director)

Writing credits
Joel Bakan		(written by)
Harold Crooks		(narration) and
Mark Achbar		(narration)

Produced by
Mark Achbar	....	producer
Maureen Levitt	....	consulting producer: Vision TV
Bart Simpson	....	producer

Original Music by
Leonard J. Paul

Cinematography by
Mark Achbar
Rolf Cutts
Jeffrey M. Hoffman		(as Jeff Koffman)
Kirk Tougas

Film Editing by
Jennifer Abbott

Art Direction by
Henry Faber

Production Management
Larry Di Stefano	....	post-production supervisor
Bart Simpson	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Trish Dolman	....	second unit director
Beth Pielert	....	assistant director

Art Department
Henry Faber	....	lead designer

Sound Department
Hennie Britton	....	foley artist
Stephen Cheung	....	dialogue editor
Ian Emberton	....	sound re-recording mixer
Tony Gort	....	sound effects editor
Jeff Henschel	....	sound recordist
Roger Morris	....	adr mixer
David Novack	....	sound re-recording mixer
Chris Ove	....	dialogue recordist
David Raines	....	dialogue pre-mixer
Velcrow Ripper	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Sandi Higgins	....	additional videographer
Jeffrey M. Hoffman	....	director of photography: documentary

Editorial Department
Ness Broom	....	additional editor
Larry Di Stefano	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Sarah Webster	....	music clearances: S.L. Feldman & Associates

Other crew
Scott Challgren	....	outreach
Bienvenido Cruz	....	layout and motion designer
Corinna Hagel	....	research and clearance
Henrieta Isufllari	....	video to film transfer
Lea Moss	....	research and clearance
Paula Sawadsky	....	archival researcher

Thanks
Sandi Higgins	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Big Picture Media Corporation

Distributors

• Film West Associates (2003) (Canada) (DVD) (educational)
• Films Transit International (worldwide)
• Madman Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Mongrel Media (2004) (Canada)
• UPLINK Company (2006) (Japan) (DVD)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (Finland) (TV)
• Zeitgeist Films (2004) (USA)

Other Companies

• Jeremy Walker + Associates  publicity
• Post Modern Sound  post-production sound services
• S.L. Feldman & Associates  music clearances
• Sequence Post  DVD authoring
• Sequence Post  DVD design
• Sequence Post  animation
• Sequence Post  dvd mastering
• Sequence Post  dvd special edition packaging
• Vision TV  funding

Runtime:

145 min | Argentina:150 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) | Hong Kong:165 min (Hong Kong International Film Festival)

Country:

Canada

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Brazil:10 | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | UK:PG | USA:Unrated | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Celebration, Florida, USA

Company:

Big Picture Media Corporation

Trivia:

A lot of the footage is downloaded off the Internet from www.archive.org, a website dedicated to free film footage within the public domain.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: 150 years ago, the business corporation was a relatively insignificant institution. Today, it is all-pervasive. Like the Church, the Monarchy and the Communist Party in other times and places, the corporation is today's dominant institution. This documentary examines the nature...

Movie Connections:

Features The Big One (1997)

Soundtrack:

Bad Apple

I'll never buy Hood's or Shaw's milk again.

So we're getting used to antibiotics because of Corporate America's dairies pumping their sick cattle full of the stuff. I knew it intellectually but never realized it so viscerally as I did while watching these cows with their udders painfully distended and the pus coming out of them. Like a little pus with your milk? You're getting it.

so it's onto soy milk or organic milk for me, from now on. That is but one of the life-changing experiences I had watching this movie. Of course, I already knew what tentacles Corporate America has around every area of our government including the media, but this movie just punched it up.

It should make you angry. If not, your conscience has long been stilled by your big screen TV, your gas-guzzling SUV or your stock options. Probably won't show in most of your towns....too much of a threat to the corporations that are shown up in this show. Monsanto? Won't be buying any of their products anytime soon, and I already boycott Walmark, Penney's and the ubiquitous Barbie Doll. Pretty soon, I'll be eating nothing buy my own garden's products....a good idea, no? See the movie: find out how you're being shilled. You might even decide to take back your government from the corporations writing policy for Cheney and other Congressional prostitutes.