HBO presents The Yes Men Fix the World

July 11, 9:01 PMCable TV ExaminerChristine Nyholm

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HBO presents The Yes Men Fix the World, a documentary that follows the exploits of  professional tricksters, that premieres on July 27. Two tricksters penetrate the world of big business and pull off outrageous pranks in this film.

Pranksters Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, aka The Yes Men, refuse to take no for an answer. The pair infiltrates the world of big business and pulls off outrageous pranks in an effort to highlight the human toll of greed and profiteering. Chronicling their exploits, The Yes Men Fix the World follows Bichlbaum and Bonanno as they champion worthy causes while battling the excesses of today’s free-market economy through high-profile, politically charged hoaxes.
 

The Yes Men Fix the World in an exclusive HBO documentary which debuts Monday, July 27 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT). Other HBO playdates include: Aug. 2 (9:00 a.m.), 6 (12:05 a.m.), 8 (2:30 p.m.), 11 (12:30 p.m.) and 14 (11:00 a.m.). HBO2 playdates include: July 29 (8:00 p.m.) and Aug. 15 (8:30 a.m.).
 

Following its 2008 summer series, HBO Documentary Films kicks off another weekly series this summer, presenting a provocative new special every Monday night at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT) from July 13 and through Sept. 7. Other July presentations include “Teddy: In his Own Words,” launching the series July 13, and “Prom Night in Mississippi,” debuting July 20

The Yes Men Fix the World is an official selection of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival,. The film follows The Yes Men – Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno – as they take on Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil, Halliburton and the U.S. government, posing as official spokesmen who make altruistic announcements that fly in the face of institutional interests.

In the film’s opening scene, Bichlbaum, purporting to be a Dow Chemical representative, goes on the BBC to announce that after 20 years of denial, his company will finally clean up India’s toxic Bhopal plant and compensate all the victims of the industrial disaster that occurred there. As people connected to the issue celebrate the news, Dow’s stock plummets.
 

Pundits ask whether the duo perpetrated a cruel joke by giving Bhopal survivors false hope, so Bichlbaum and Bonanno travel to India to ask residents for their reactions. Some say they were disappointed to learn of the fraud, but others seem pleased that the prank called attention to the shameful neglect of big business and government.
 

At conference after conference, The Yes Men take on some of the world’s biggest businesses. Attending Canada’s largest oil conference, they impersonate Exxon Mobil officials and present biofuel candles made from “climate-change victims.” They then claim to be Halliburton executives unveiling apocalyptic “Survivalball” suits that will be marketed to the super-rich.
 

The Yes Men function as gonzo journalists. They interview scientists and families in New Orleans, where Bichlbaum poses as a U.S. government spokesperson and promises — to a believing Mayor Ray Nagin, among others — to reopen public housing and force Exxon to pay $12 billion to restore the region’s wetlands as a response to Hurricane Katrina.
 

Throughout the film, The Yes Men spoof the twisted world of free-market think tanks in their crusade to call into question today’s big business methods.
 

Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (The Yes Men) have been called “the Jonathan Swift of the Jackass generation” by author Naomi Klein. Their 2004 feature documentary “The Yes Men” received numerous festival awards and was distributed theatrically around the globe. Most recently, THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD was named Best Documentary at the Berlin Film Festival

THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD is an Arte France, Article Z, Renegade Pictures UK, Britdoc, Charnay-Bachrach production. Written, directed and produced by Andy Bichlbaum and Michael Bonanno; co-directed by Kurt Engfehr; executive producers, Alan Hayling, Patrice Barrat, Jess Search, Juliette Timsit; producers, Doro Bachrach, Ruth Charny, Laura Nix; editor, April Merl; animation by Patrick Lichty; original music by Neel Murgai and Noisola.

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