More about your donation

Tipping Point Film Fund is a not for profit organisation that, through public donations, supports great non-fiction films that can change our world. A regular donation enables the growth of a sustainable fund that can stay committed to funding films that help make change happen. Find out more about how to donate. Email us at info@tippingpointfilmfund.com to claim your free tickets after setting up your regular donation.

More about the film

With both humour and outrage, Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story explores a taboo question: What is the price that America pays for its love of capitalism? Years ago, that love seemed so innocent. Today, however, the American dream is looking more like a nightmare as families pay the price with their jobs, their homes and their savings. Moore takes us into the homes of ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down; and he goes looking for explanations in Washington, DC and elsewhere. What he finds are the all-too-familiar symptoms of a love affair gone astray: lies, abuse, betrayal…and 14,000 jobs being lost every day.

Capitalism: A Love Story is both a culmination of Moore’s previous works and a look into what a more hopeful future could look like. It is Michael Moore’s ultimate quest to answer the question he’s posed throughout his illustrious filmmaking career: Who are we and why do we behave the way that we do?  Read more about the film.

Commit to regularly donating to claim your 2 free tickets – donate now.

Terms and conditions
You must sign up to be a regular giver with Tipping Point Film Fund. Minimum monthly donation to qualify for the 2 free tickets is £10. Donations can either be made via paypal or standing order. When a donation is made by paypal Tipping Point Film Fund will contact you to arrange which cinema you want to go and see the film. When you set up to donate by Standing Order you need to email info@tippingpointfilmfund.com to tell us that you have arranged for a donation. We will then issue your tickets to the cinema of your choice when your first donation is made. This promotion does not apply to one off or annual donations.

IMAGE ©2009 PARAMOUNT VANTAGE. A DIVISION OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION. AND OVERTURE FILMS. LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Film Programme

Life and Debt

- Lewisham Library, 5.45pm on Monday 1 March

- Forest Hill Library, 5.30pm on Thursday 4 March

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Black Gold

- Downham Library, 7.30pm on Monday 1 March

- Manor House Library, 2.30pm on Saturday 6 March

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The Luckiest Nut in the World - aimed at children and families

- Downham Library, 3.30pm on Tuesday 2 March

- Forest Hill Library, 12noon on Saturday 6 March

- Manor House Library, 1pm on Sunday 7 March

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More about the films…

Life and Debt

Life and Debt is a documentary looking at the effects of globalisation on Jamaican industry and agriculture. The movie makes you think and question the motives of rich and powerful organisations.

If you care at least a little bit about what’s happening in the world, you should definitely take the time to see this movie. It talks about the negative effects of globalisation in developing countries. Perfect example of “the rich are getting richer because the poor are getting poorer.”

It shows the social implications of IMF policies and the human tragedy, Economic strangling of developing countries, total dominance over them financially, abuse of power, leaving no other choice but to agree to the terrible terms of big organizations. Many ordinary workers speak up.

It is a great movie!  Catch it at Lewisham Library at 5.45pm on Monday 1 March or Forest Hill Library, 5.30pm on Thursday 4 March.

Black Gold

As westerners revel in designer lattes and cappuccinos, impoverished Ethiopian coffee growers suffer the bitter taste of injustice. In this eye-opening expose of the multi-billion dollar industry, Black Gold traces one man’s fight for a fair price.

Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.

But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields.

Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is one man on a mission to save his 74,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price.

Catch the film at Downham Library, 7.30pm on Monday 1 March and at Manor House Library, 2.30pm on Saturday 6 March.

Luckiest Nut in the World

The film follows an animated American peanut, who sings about the difficulties faced by nuts from developing countries.

The singing peanut presents a mixture of animation, music and archive which sweeps the viewer through the stories of the cashew, brazil and ground nuts – all of whom suffer as world trade is liberalized. But it is a different story in America – where the peanut is protected by tariffs and heavily subsidized, and worth over four billion dollars a year to the American economy. Certainly the luckiest nut in the world.

The film helps people to see how the pressure to embrace free market’ economics, with it’s promise of a wealthy, abundant market place has actually driven many countries further into poverty.

The Guardian’s take on the director Emily James:
Emily James is a genius, and will, in time, be revered as a TV innovator, dead clever and a woman who really knows her nuts.”

Catch the film at the following times and places:

• Downham Library, 3.30pm on Tuesday 2 March
• Forest Hill Library, 12noon on Saturday 6 March
• Manor House Library, 1pm on Sunday 7 March

Find out more about other events taking place in Fairtrade Fortnight across Lewisham.

As westerners revel in designer lattes and cappuccinos, impoverished farmers in Ethiopia, where 15 million people depend on coffee growing for their survival, hover on the brink of destitution. In their documentary Black Gold director and producer Nick Francis provides an eye-opening expose of the $80 billion dollar coffee industry, now the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.

The film traces the efforts of one man, Tadesse Maskada, to achieve a fair price for the exploited African farmers who support it. Against the backdrop of his journey to London and Seattle, the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world’s coffee trade becomes apparent. Deborah Burton is the co-founder of our very own Tipping Point Film Fund which (as you know) raises money to support independent film-makers, and she was involved in the production of Black Gold.  Following the film showing, Nick and Deborah will respond to a Q&A from the floor.

Friends of Le Monde Diplomatique is a UK-based affiliate of the Les Amis Le Monde Diplomatique which supports the writings and tradition which has evolved over 50 years of publication of the Le Monde Diplomatique Newspaper. The Cafe Diplo meetings are held at The Gallery, Farringdon on selected Monday evenings. The sessions give an opportunity for lively debate between speakers and audience.

Come along and get more involved

You are invited to come along to find out how to get more involved with supporting Tipping Point Film Fund. During the evening we will be introducing the idea behind our 360° network.

Come along and meet up with a group of people who believe in the power of people and film to make change. The event will be held in central London but there will also be a chance for people all over the UK and around the world to take part online.

As part of the evening we will be hosting a special screening of one of the most highly acclaimed documentaries so far in 2009.  Want to find out which film we will be screening? Come along on the night and all will be revealed! - with thanks to dogwoof for allowing us to show this film.

When: Thursday 12th November
Where: St. Anne’s Soho, 55 Dean Street, Soho, London, W1D 6AF – map.
What time: 6.15pm for 6.30pm
Drinks and light snacks will be provided during the evening.

Not able to make it to London?

You can take part in the event over the web. Just RSVP and let us know that you will be joining us online on the night and we will send you instructions how to link up with us.

As Tipping Point Film Fund supporter Caroline from Edinburgh says:

I met the Tipping Point Film Fund team at Greenbelt Festival in the summer and then again at the Take One Action Film Festival in Edinburgh. I think what they are doing is really important. I can’t make it down to London for the event but I will be joining the evening virtually and am looking forward to getting more involved.

Please RSVP to info@tippingpointfilmfund.com by Monday 9th November to let us know if you can attend the event either in person or online.  RSVPs will be treated on a first come first served basis.

A quick reminder of who we are…

Tipping Point Film Fund is a new, non-profit organisation that aims to grow a fund drawn from donations from the wider general public in order to support outstanding social action feature documentaries – films which also have an integrated campaigns involved.  Our aim is to offer funding as well as campaigning support on each and every film. Tipping Point Film Fund is for people from all walks of life, all ages and all parts of the world – supporting challenging, truth telling films.

We hope that you can make it on the 12th!

Please RSVP to info@tippingpointfilmfund.com by Monday 9th November to let us know if you can attend the event either in person or online.  RSVPs will be treated on a first come first served basis.

All the best,

from Debs, Thea, Kev and all at Tipping Point Film Fund.
Giving. Watching. Campaigning.

‘I’m fully supportive of what Tipping Point Film Fund is doing. To use the medium of film to move and inspire people to get involved in important social justice issues is critical… we have an opportunity right now… we must make use of that opportunity and momentum and ensure our voices are heard.’

Danny Glover – actor, producer and campaigner.

‘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.

‘Tipping Point Film Fund has just launched, with the explicit aim of getting cash to great filmmakers making social/political docs. Why didn’t they invent that five years ago, goddammit?’

Franny Armstrong, Director of The Age of Stupid

‘So to the really exciting news in doc land which is the launch of the Tipping Point Film Fund, a new UK initiative to crowd-fund documentaries with big ambitions to change things. It aims to unite ‘campaigning networks, independent film goers and online social networks, through a mix of regular giving, one-off donations and support from major donors’ and I hope so much that it takes off. I’m a massive advocate of ‘crowd-funding’ and this is a perfect opportunity to invite people who love documentaries to roll up their sleeves and help make it happen. So, go donate, OK?!’

Charlie Phillips, Sheffield Doc/Fest and Tipping Point Film Fund Regular Giver

Bees are dying in their billions. In the UK alone one fifth of the honeybee hives were lost in the winter of 2008/09.  Bees pollinate a third of the food we eat, and this contributes £200million a year to the UK economy.  The Vanishing of the Bees is an eye opening account of the shocking truth behind the declining bee population.

If you could imagine your food cupboard / plate / picnic without the things that rely on bees to pollinate them…then you would have a sad half-empty cupboard/plate/ picnic…

We need bees that much.  and if you are an urbanised soul, then you may not quite realise that, without bees – those small little things that you pay no attention to – our food chain is in trouble….

Bees are in a critical state of emergency – which means we are too.  If we don’t get to the bottom of how and why this is happening and then take all the measures necessary to address it, we can kiss goodbye to the bee – and all that it does for us.

Vanishing of the Bees (UK Première on Thursday 1st October) will make a vital contribution to raising awareness on all these issues.  The film, like Tipping Point Film Fund is supported by The Co-operative. The film is another example of a powerful mainstream cinematic social action feature documentary that will tell us a story we need to know about and act upon.

The Vanishing of the Bees and Tipping Point Film Fund have alot in common – we both believe in the power of people and film to make change through – giving, watching, and campaigning.

Read more

• Find out more about donating to Tipping Point Film Fund.
• Read more about the film, the Vanishing of the Bees.
• Check out The Guardian’s article on pesticides and the death of the honeybee.
• Read The Telegraph’s report – Call for research into pesticides blamed for vanishing bees.

From Richard Attenborough to Michael Moore, there’s no doubt that films have changed the world: but in a changing world, how are filmmakers and campaigners keeping pace?

Tipping Point Film Fund is please to announce that it will be taking part in the Take One Action Festival.  A festival that brings people and movies who are changing the world together.

Deborah Burton, co-founder of Tipping Point Film Fund, will be taking part in the symposium Reclaiming the Cinema at the festival on Friday 25th September. The symposium will look at funding, presentation and distribution of films for social change.

Mixing debate, new work and compelling talks from some of the leading players in Britain’s emerging global action cinema scene, the symposium event will give you the opportunity to explore the latest thinking about popular film as a tool for social change. Open to everyone, but of special value to activists, filmmakers and people interested in communications and culture.

Speakers include distributor Oli Harbottle (Dogwoof - Burma VJ, Age of Stupid, The End of the Line), campaigner and director Mike Bonanno (The Yes Men Fix the World), campaigner turned talent-spotter Deborah Burton (Tipping Point Film Fund – Bamako, Black Gold) and Simon Bateson (Director, Take One Action).

Cry Freedom achieved more to tell the world about apartheid in South Africa in one year than all my years on Robben Island…

- Nelson Mandela

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…

As part of the I Will Tell International Film Festival Tipping Point Film Fund will be taking part in the Q&A session for Burma VJ screening.

If you are interested in coming along the screening is at 6pm on Friday 11th September at the Prince Charles Theatre in Leceister Square in London’s West End.  Book tickets and find out more information about this screening and the rest of the festival here.

Tipping Point Film Fund are delighted to be a part of this exciting festival, running from the 1st – 12th September 2009 at the Prince Charles Cinema, in Leicester Square. With award-winning films, post-screening discussions, director Q&As, workshops, comedy shows, matinee screenings, family day, short films, Hip Hop Gala and a closing gala party at a secret venue in Leicester Square, there’s plenty of inspiration for everyone. We will see you there!

One hundred and fifty people gathered together to celebrate the launch of Tipping Point Film Fund. If you came along – or even if you didn’t – check out our photos from the event on Flickr.  Not only did we have a great shin-dig and chance to catch up with lots of lovely people but we also got a whole host of media coverage.

To see what others have to say about us – feel free to explore some of the links below:

• Screen Daily – Socially-conscious film fund Tipping Point launches in UK
• Real Screen – Two new funds for socially conscious docs launched
• Cineuropa – Documentary funding reaches Tipping Point
• Sheffield Doc Fest – Scroll down to 11th July – Tipping Point Film Fund: excellent
• Film London – Film London News Bulletin

What next?

Want to stay in touch with Tipping Point Film Fund as our fund starts to grow and projects develop? There are three easy things that you can do to stay up-to-date with what we’re up to:

1. Sign up to email updates
2. Follow us on Twitter
3. Become a fan of our page of facebook

Tipping Point Film Fund (TPFF), supported by The Co-operative, is extending the idea of ‘crowd funding’, whereby independent filmmakers can tap into their networks in order to raise production funding.  TPFF aims to grow its donor base by reaching out to campaigning networks, independent film goers and online social networks, through a mix of regular giving, one-off donations and support from major donors.

Through these routes, TPFF aims to create a rolling, sustainable fund that can support a number of films at any time, and which can ultimately contribute a large enough portion of a production budget to ensure it can be made and allow creative independence. Equally important will be TPFF’s involvement in the outreach of the film at home and abroad.

TPFF founders are a unique mix of film and campaign professionals whose experience with documentaries such as ‘Black Gold’ (www.blackgoldmovie.com) led them to explore the potential of traditional charity donors funding films that advance public and political debate.

As feature documentaries about social and environmental issues find a growing global audience, the struggle for production funding remains constant – despite the recognition that such films can and do contribute to significant social change.  We want to create a new funding stream for accessible and cinematically strong social issue feature documentaries. To be able to support such film-makers, we want to build a donor base of regular givers – people who are excited by and see value in directly supporting films for change. People of all ages, all walks of life, who want to come with us on the journey from development, through to distribution to campaigning.

- Deborah Burton, Co-founder Tipping Point Film Fund.

The Co-operative has three million members and a unique 165 year history of campaigning. Using a democratic co-operative model, we believe that Tipping Point Film Fund can play a unique role in bringing important untold stories to people’s attention, and hope that these films will help mobilise our members and the general public”.

- Paul Monaghan, Head of Social Goals and Sustainability at The Co-operative.

TPFF co-founders previously campaigned with Danny Glover on the critically acclaimed film ‘Bamako’, by Abderrahmane Sissako, which was executive produced by Glover and his producing partner Joslyn Barnes of Louverture Films.

I’m fully supportive of what Tipping Point Film Fund is doing. To use the medium of film to move and inspire people to get involved in important social justice issues is critical. In the US, we have an opportunity right now – with an administration that is hopefully listening – to exert an influence on how policy is shaped and implemented. We must make use of that opportunity and momentum and ensure our voices are heard.

- Danny Glover – Actor, producer and campaigner

Download the full launch press release.
All media enquiries to Thea Palmer – 0772 3090 787.