All the Yes Men want is a little truth.
Amidst a society of hush-hush corporations, two political activists pose as spokespeople for Dow Chemical Company and others to spread hidden realities.
Films For Action will screen “The Yes Men Fix the World” tonight at 7 p.m. at Liberty Hall Cinema on 644 Massachusetts St. The event will cost $4, with proceeds helping bring more documentaries to Lawrence.
The Yes Men, like Films For Action, is seeking change in a proactive manner. Films For Action, based in Lawrence, provides an informative and often persuasive way to learn. It does so with a film, a more familiar medium than books in today’s screen-happy generation.
On its website, Films For Action’s international mission statement says that its films are meant to increase awareness of varying social, environmental and media-related subjects that are not granted proper attention by mainstream news outlets.
“Our goal is to provide citizens with the information and perspectives essential to creating a more just, sustainable and democratic society.”
At a local level, Films For Action has city chapters that work to influence action within the community. Many of the organization’s films are shown on local Public Access TV channels. It also has a free lending library of films for people to watch or screen in other areas. On its website, Films For Action lists its films, which are viewable online, by 42 different genres. They range from a subject as general as “Education” to something more precise like “Peak Oil.”
“The Yes Men Fix the World” is just one in an extensive line of truth-seeking films presented by the organization. In the film, two men are out to expose Dow’s responsibility with the Bhopal disaster of 1984 among other chunks of concealed information. They’re not considering the repercussions. As the trailer says: “Sometimes it takes a lie to tell the truth.”