Cidade de Goiás, June 16, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The denunciation of patent laws and the commercialization of natural resources was the big winner at the V International Environmental Film and Video Festival, concluded yesterday (15) in the city of Goiás (GO). The Canadian film, "The Bottom Line - Privatizing the World," directed by Carole Poliquin, is an hour-long documentary about the sale of water and the growing process of establishing patent rights for the use of natural resources. The film induces the spectator to reflect on the future of the environment. The director won the Cora Coralina trophy. The prize is worth R$ 50 thousand.

According to the jury, their selection was dictated by the global scope of the themes and their relevance to environmental questions. "I believe that the day will come when big companies will respect the human being. It won't be tomorrow, obviously. We have to go to work; that's why I make films," Poliquin declared.

The full-length film points out the difficulty of making progress in cancer research, for example, because elements necessary for this task are under patent protection. According to the film, the patents are "secluding" resources that belong to nature, and they will multiply the foreign debt of poor countries ten-fold. (DAS)