Cashback (working title)

Speak-It Productions.
Producers/Directors Marc and Nick Francis.

In development

Tipping Point Film Fund is excited to be working with the makers of the highly acclaimed Black Gold on their next feature-documentary film  Cashback.

Cashback will be a landmark cinematic feature-documentary thriller about illicit financial flows. It will tell the story of how money is drained out of developing countries by a network of  bankers, accountants, and lawyers into secret,  off-shore Western bank accounts, undermining the lives of millions of people. It is estimated that for every dollar of aid that goes in to developing countries ten dollars comes out under the table.  How does this happen? Why is no-one paying attention? This landmark film will peel away the secrecy to reveal one of the 21st century’s biggest scandals. Cashback will act as urgent wake up call to the public on one hand, as well as being a powerful lobbying tool for organisations to use at the highest level.

Critically, the release of the film will be supported by a multimedia website and 3 – 5 year international outreach campaign. Development agency Christian Aid were early development funders of this project. It is hoped the film will start production in late 2010 and that funds raised through Tipping Point Film Fund can contribute a significant part of the overall production and campaigning budget.

For more information and how you can support this project please contact us.

Campaign – Tax Justice

Tax justice is a growing campaign as the issue of tax – evasion, avoidance – both domestically and internationally becomes more and more relevant to global politics. Developing countries have lost, and continue to lose , massive amounts of revenue from unpaid taxes.

Unpaid taxes that multinationals avoid paying through a combination of practises – some just plain unethical, others illegal. They are ‘assisted’ by banking and accountancy systems where secrecy and complexity combine to make it impossible for poor countries to track what is truly theirs. It amounts to billions. Watch this space for more information on the Tax Justice campaign that will be developed alongside the film.

Also find out more about Black Gold which continues to stir audiences up across the world.

Black Gold Movie Trailer

More information:

• Tax Justice Network
• Christian Aid
• Global Witness

Tipping Point Film Fund spent a very enjoyable weekend in the company of many a lovely festival-goer at the Greenbelt festival in Cheltenham. We whisked as many as were willing into our ’smallest cinema in the world’ and we also chatted film with anyone who would listen.

The result – we know all about the films that have opened your eyes to new issues. If you want to check out your photo or see which films where chosen check out all the images on flickr or facebook.

For a great ready-made list of films ‘to watch’ check out: Blood Diamond, Age of Stupid, The day after tomorrow, It’s a free world, Black Gold, Amazing Grace, Secrets and Lies, Killing Fields, Babel, Bamako, Hotel Rwanda, Gandhi, Slumdog Millionaire, Sicko, Syriana, Cry freedom, American History, Schindlers List, 11th Hour, Constant Gardener, In the name of the father, The Color Purple, An Inconvenient Truth, Burma VJ and London to Brighton to mention just a few!

It was great meeting everyone at the festival and finding out what films get you interested. Post Greenbelt do stay in touch – become a fan of our page on Facebook and visit our website if you want to know more about us.  And remember if you discover a new ‘eye opening’ film do drop us a line and let us know what it is.

We couldn’t sign off with saying a few ‘thankyous’ without which the ‘smallest cinema in the world’ would not have been possible! Special thanks go out to Deb’s ‘man for all jobs’ –the brilliant Bob Elson; Woody and Ben from the Greenbelt crew, and the one and only Ralph …of the festival fire service.  !!Thankyou!!

-And finally – a very big thank you to the Greenbelt Angel for her very generous donation…

Deborah Burton, co-founder of Tipping Point Film Fund, and Black Gold Producers and Directors Marc and Nick Francis talk about harnessing the power of films and campaigns on The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation website. Click here to watch the clip (scroll to bottom of page).

Not got time to watch the clip?  Nick Francis has this to say:

Tipping Point is crucial to ensure more films like Black Gold continue to made and now is the perfect time for this fund to be launched

- Nick Francis, Producer/Director – Black Gold.

To find out more about the new film from the Producers / Directors of Black Gold click here.