Free Lunch Society
May 05, 2017 | IMDB 7.8
94 min Watch NowDocumentary
What would you do if your basic income was taken care of month after month? Would you stop working? Follow your passions? Take more risks? The four-figure sum that all four members of the Wardwell family receive each year from the Alaskan government’s crude oil profits goes towards a college fund for their children, something they would otherwise be unable to afford. Filmmaker Christian Tod, himself a fervent supporter of the idea, explores the model of an unconditional basic income and takes a look at trial systems already underway in the US, Canada and Namibia. Wandering the history of this utopia reminiscent of science fiction he eventually ends up in Switzerland, where the new system was voted on in 2016. In this multifaceted and highly entertaining documentary, Tod broaches life’s existential questions and fuels the debate on one of the most prevalent economic topics of our generation.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
Zeitgeist
Who’s Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Economics
Zeitgeist: Addendum
Blood Money: Inside the Nazi Economy
Overdraft
Le business du commerce équitable
The China Hustle
Four Horsemen
A Decent Home
Surviving Progress
Food for Profit
Detropia
Laissez-faire
Davos
The Unforeseen
System Error
Trader
Sassnitz vs. Trump: The Dispute Over Nord Stream 2
The Divide
Musician
SIMILAR MOVIES
Zeitgeist
IMDB 7 | Jun , 2007
A documentary examining possible historical and modern conspiracies surrounding Christianity, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the Federal Reserve bank.Who’s Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Economics
IMDB 0 | Oct , 1995
This documentary profiles economist and writer Marilyn Waring. In extensive interviews, Waring details her feminist approach to finances and challenges commonly accepted truths about the global economy. The filmmakers detail Waring's early rise to political prominence and her successful protests against nuclear arms. Waring also speaks candidly about wartime economies, suggesting that government policies tend to marginalize the fiscal contributions of women.Zeitgeist: Addendum
IMDB 7.2 | Oct , 2008
Zeitgeist: Addendum premiered at the 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival. Director Peter Joseph stated: "The failure of our world to resolve the issues of war, poverty, and corruption, rests within a gross ignorance about what guides human behavior to begin with. It address the true source of the instability in our society, while offering the only fundamental, long-term solution."Blood Money: Inside the Nazi Economy
IMDB 7.9 | Feb , 2021
How did Nazi Germany, from limited natural resources, mass unemployment, little money and a damaged industry, manage to unfurl the cataclysm of World War Two and come to occupy a large part of the European continent? Based on recent historical works of and interviews with Adam Tooze, Richard Overy, Frank Bajohr and Marie-Bénédicte Vincent, and drawing on rare archival material.Overdraft
IMDB 7 | Jan , 2012
Overdraft is an award-winning film featuring leading thinkers and policymakers from across the aisle exploring major topics such as entitlement programs, defense spending, tax reform and the choices that America’s debt forces on individuals and businesses. Independently produced, Overdraft was launched in August 2012, and made available for broadcast on public television for two years through the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA).Le business du commerce équitable
IMDB 8.5 | Aug , 2013
More and more fair trade labels are entering the market and are being positively received by consumers. In 2012, around five billion euros were spent on fair trade products. But is it really always fair where it says fair? Filmmaker Donatien Lemaître visited plantations in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Kenya. The investigative documentary reveals how international corporations try to improve their image with the help of the fair trade concept - at the expense of small producers and their employees.The China Hustle
IMDB 7.2 | Mar , 2018
An unsettling and eye-opening Wall Street horror story about Chinese companies, the American stock market, and the opportunistic greed behind the biggest heist you've never heard of.Four Horsemen
IMDB 7.1 | Mar , 2012
Documentary about the modern apocalypse caused by a rapacious banking system. 23 leading thinkers – frustrated at the failure of their respective disciplines – break their silence to explain how the world really works.A Decent Home
IMDB 6 | May , 2022
Mobile homes have long been an affordable option for people who struggle with the cost of other housing in the United States. But now the economy of mobile home parks is under threat as private equity firms are buying up properties and looking to squeeze more money out of mobile home owners. Filmmaker Sara Terry uses this backdrop to explore urgent class issues that resonate across America, and especially in the high-priced rental market of New York City.Surviving Progress
IMDB 7.3 | Nov , 2011
Humanity’s ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, “A Short History Of Progress” inspired “Surviving Progress”, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by “progress traps”—alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn’t an evolutionary dead-end.Food for Profit
IMDB 8 | Feb , 2024
The film exposes the links between Agrifood and politics. With a pool of international experts it analyses the many problems related to factory farming: water pollution, migrants exploitation, biodiversity loss and antibiotic resistance.Detropia
IMDB 6.7 | Sep , 2012
Detroit’s story has encapsulated the iconic narrative of America over the last century – the Great Migration of African Americans escaping Jim Crow; the rise of manufacturing and the middle class; the love affair with automobiles; the flowering of the American dream; and now… the collapse of the economy and the fading American mythos.Laissez-faire
IMDB 10 | Jan , 2015
A historical perspective to understand Neoliberalism and to understand why this ideology today so profoundly influences the choices of our governments and our lives.Davos
IMDB 6 | Jun , 2021
Beneath its reassuring façade, Davos is each year at the heart of the Western and capitalistic world. Every chief of State and everyone who is someone in the money world meets with their peers in the Swiss village. What is really at stake in Davos ? Julia Niemann and Daniel Hoesl create a fascinating observational documentary in which judgement is never handed out and where the dialectics of conflicts matter more than easy and reassuring answers. The film asks the viewer some uncomfortable questions by focusing on challenges that the new global economy poses to the world.The Unforeseen
IMDB 5.8 | Jan , 2007
A documentary about the development around Barton Springs in Austin, Texas, and nature's unexpected response to being threatened by human interference.System Error
IMDB 7.2 | May , 2018
Melting glaciers, gullied seas, the financial markets are about to collapse. Spectacular images of how growth continues to be blinding. Outside you can hardly see anything because of the smog and the smoke screen.Trader
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1987
Filmed before Wall Street's October 1987 crash, this film is a riveting one hour documentary of a fascinating man, Paul Tudor Jones II delivering a rarely seen view of futures trading and an explanation of the workings of this frantic, highly charged marketplace. It also examines Jones' prediction that America is nearing the end of a 200-year bull market.Sassnitz vs. Trump: The Dispute Over Nord Stream 2
IMDB 2.5 | Nov , 2020
Sassnitz is a small coastal town at the Baltic Sea on the Island of Rügen. In its vicinity are the world-famous chalk cliffs, a tourist magnet. The Mukran Port is also part of the municipality. The overseas port is the starting point for the construction of Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline that connects Germany directly with Russia. In 2020, the port town hit the international headlines. Even the New York Times reported and cited Mayor Frank Kracht as a staunch opponent from the northeast German province against the rumbling America of Donald Trump. The reason is the undisguised threat from Washington to ruin the international port economically if the natural gas pipeline continues to be built from there. Many jobs and the region's economic stability are at risk. Reporter Klaus Scherer documents the case, questions experts as well as those affected and looks at the behavior of national politicians towards the USA and how they react to the interference in internal affairs.The Divide
IMDB 6.7 | Nov , 2015
The Divide tells the story of 7 individuals striving for a better life in modern day US and UK - where the top 0.1% owns as much wealth as the bottom 90%. By plotting these tales together, we uncover how virtually every aspect of our lives is controlled by one factor: the size of the gap between rich and poor.The film is inspired by "The Spirit Level" by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.Musician
IMDB 0 | May , 2007
Common sense says you can't make a living in America playing avant-garde improvisational jazz. But Ken Vandermark does it anyway. Among musicians, Vandermark's work ethic is almost mythic. The Chicago reed player has released over 100 albums with nearly 40 ensembles, spends over eight months per year on the road, and lives every other waking moment composing, arranging, performing—and trying to discipline his two hyperactive canines. Though Vandermark was the recipient of a 1999 MacArthur genius grant, he still spends most of his life in smoky clubs and low-budget recording studios, hoping people will plunk down hard-earned cash to hear his wholly non-commercial music. Following the artful cinéma vérité style of the internationally acclaimed Sheriff (Work Series #1), Musician (Work Series #2) forgoes all interviews and voice-overs. It is a fly-on-the-wall time capsule that expertly captures every subtle sound and texture of this most American of art forms.