Capital in the 21st Century

In the more than six hundred pages of his best-selling Capital in the 21st Century, Thomas Piketty explores why the one-sided accumulation of capital leads to increasingly greater social inequalities and the transformation of a democracy into an oligarchy. Director Justin Pemberton has taken this book, rich in graphs, numbers and complex economic terms, and transformed it into an energetic audiovisual lecture, which, with the contribution of leading economic experts, explains the history of the complicated relationship between power and prosperity. This alluring kaleidoscopic collage humorously exposes the weaknesses of capitalism and points out what we may lose if we fail to reverse current developments.

 

 

“While we were making the film, I thought of Capital as a wild animal that can be really destructive when it’s just left to roam and follow its instincts but actually can be tamed and used for good and under the right circumstances.” J. Pemberton

 

New Zealand director and producer Justin Pemberton (1971) has degrees in psychology and broadcast communications and was involved in filming television documentary series and video clips. His first feature-length documentary, Love, Speed and Loss (2005), is a portrait of the New Zealand racer Kim Newcombe. He focused on other prominent sports personalities from his native country in the docudrama The Golden Hour (2012) and the documentary film Chasing Great (2016).