EarthRights International congratulates Milena Kaneva, director of the film Total Denial and winner of the Vaclav Havel Award at the One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival. The film was personally chosen for the special prize by Vaclav Havel, world renowned author, dramatist, poet, political dissident, and the first Czechoslovak president after the Velvet Revolution. Vaclav Havel presented Ms. Kaneva with the award on Thursday, March 2nd, in Prague.
Total Denial follows the story around the precedent-setting lawsuit Doe v. Unocal, brought by EarthRights International and co-counsel on behalf of 11 Burmese villagers caught in the path of the Yadana pipeline project–a joint venture of French and American energy giants Total and Unocal and the brutal Burmese military regime. The Burmese military, while providing security for the Yadana project, forced villagers living along the pipeline route to work as slaves, clearing the pipeline route and building infrastructure such as helipads for the project. The military relocated villages, and committed countless acts of murder, torture and rape while “securing” the gas pipeline. Thousands of men, women and children were forced into hiding in the jungles of Burma, or into refugee camps in Thailand, their villages destroyed to make way for the pipeline.
Shot over 5 years from 2000-2005, the documentary takes the viewer from the jungles of Burma to the courtrooms of America, and features extensive interviews with EarthRights International founders Ka Hsaw Wa and Katie Redford.
Total Denial has also been selected for the Toronto Hot Docs festival which takes place from April 28th to May 7th, 2006. For more about Total Denial, and Milena Kaneva, visit www.totaldenialfilm.com .
Further Reading:
- Total Denial, the award winning documentary
- Doe v. Unocal
- One World Film Festival
- Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
