Film 'Money Puzzles' premieres, simplifies the complexities of economics

• Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Professor Michael Chanan’s latest documentary film premieres at Lisbon’s international documentary festival, Doclisboa on 29 October 2016.

Money Puzzles questions the myriad forms of money in modern times, investigates the effects of austerity and examines the nature of debt to educate audiences about money and economics, free of jargon.

A sequel to Chanan's 2012 film Secret City which focused on the City of London, Money Puzzles looks further afield at the global financial system in which the City of London is embedded.

‘Money is inherently puzzling and economics is jargon ridden and opaque. Money Puzzles cuts through this opacity. It is designed to raise awareness and spark debate, educating viewers about little known facts about money and the economy.

‘The film exposes details as to how the economy is steered. For example, the money in our pockets is just three per cent of money in circulation, while 97% exists in the form of debt such as credit cards, loans and mortgages. Money Puzzles investigates the consequences of a debt-driven economy on a global scale, and reports on grassroots movements of solidarity and debt activism in countries like Greece and Spain’.

As well as premiering Money Puzzles, Professor Chanan is curator of a major retrospective at Doclisboa, For an Impossible Cinema: Documentary and avant-garde in Cuba, comprising 12 programmes surveying the radical changes in Cuban documentary cinema in the 1960s.

Money Puzzles premieres in the UK on 23 November at Goldsmiths, hosted by the Political Economy Research Centre. Click here for tickets to the screening at Goldsmiths.

Visit the website for the trailer and further information.