Payback

Based on Margaret Atwood’s bestselling book Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, this feature documentary offers a fascinating look at debt as a mental construct and traces how it influences relationships, societies, governing structures and the fate of the planet.
 

Screenplay

Jennifer Baichwal

Production

• National Film Board of Canada, Montréal
  Ravida Din

Principal Cast

Louise Arbour, Karen Armstrong, Conrad Black, Raj Patel, Bill Rees

Jennifer Baichwal

Jennifer Baichwal has been directing and producing documentaries for 18 years. Her films have played all over the world and have won awards both nationally and internationally. Manufactured Landscapes (2007) about the work of artist Edward Burtynsky, was released in 12 countries. Her other acclaimed documentaries include Act of God (2009), The True Meaning of Pictures (2003) and Let it Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles (1999 Emmy Award). Payback (2011) is based on Margaret Atwood’s Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth. Baichwal is currently in production on a film about water with Edward Burtynsky, Nick de Pencier and Daniel Iron.

Filmography

• Manufactured Landscapes (2006)

  • 2007 Genie Awards (Best Documentary)
  • 2007 Sundance Film Festival, Park City

• Act of God (2009)

  • 2009 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Toronto
  • 2009 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

• The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia (2002)

  • 2003 Gemini Awards (Best Arts Documentary)
  • 2003 Sundance Film Festival, Park City
  • 2002 Toronto International Film Festival