Bitter Seeds is the final film in Micha X. Peled’s Globalization Trilogy, following Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town and China Blue. The films won 18 international awards, aired on over 30 television ...
The Globalization Trilogy
Narrative Short premiers on a UNESCO magazine
Micha Peled wanted to show that even under the severe restrictions of pandemic lockdown, storytelling isn’t dead. The 20-minute video is made up almost entirely of a zoom conversation where the filmmaker is seeking advice on a life or death matter. It now appears in the U.N. magazine H.A.S. as THE DAY BEFORE XMAS. 
The short’s revised version, BABYSITTING IN SAN FRANCISCO, highlights the exorbitant cost of child raising in the city. French and Japanese subtitles are available. The blurb:
Sometimes helping a friend is a complicated matter. Even a matter of life or death. So I needed urgent advice. Some say this is but an absurd joke. Others that it’s a subversive story whose only truth is in its scrolling end credits. You be the judge. As for me, I’ll always wonder if I did the right thing.
FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE wins its first grant
Mass Hum
anities announced a grant of $15,000 for our film in development, Forbidden Knowledge: The Return of Psychedelics. This is the largest amount the Massachusetts Humanities Council has given for film development.
The project is also supported by the San Francisco Film Society, which provides us with free office space at the Film House, located at 644 Broadway, 4th floor, San Francisco .
The film is co-directed and co-produced by Micha Peled and Caleb Hellerman, a producer for PBS News Hour for science and medicine.
Bitter Seeds wins the Green Award in Berlin
Bitter Seeds has won the 2013 Cinema for Peace International Green Award . The award was founded by Leonardo DiCaprio in 2010. Micha Peled was at hand to receive the award from the head of the UN World Food Program in Berlin. Among the finalists Bitter Seeds beat to win the award were Gus Van Sant and Matt Dillon with feature Promised Land and Jeremy Iron with Trashed.
Bitter Seeds Wins IDA Humanitas Award
The International Documentary Association (IDA) selected Bitter Seeds for the Humanitas Award.
This award is given to a film that explores the hopes and fears of human beings who are very different in culture, race, lifestyle, political loyalties and religious beliefs in order to break down the walls of ignorance which separate us
In his speech, Micha Peled’s dedicated the award to India’s farmers. But it was his comment about Monsanto at the end of the speech that got the most attention. See the speech clip here.
Bitter Seeds Wins Korean Green Award
Bitter Seeds won the Jury Award at the Green Film Festival In Seoul. “Showing your film at GFFIS2012 is prestigious honor and happiness for all of us,” said festival organizers. It comes with a 30,000 Won award.
Bitter Seeds won the Green Screen competition Award at IDFA, the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam. Fifteen films competed, of which three were nominated. Earlier, the film had won the Oxfam Global Justice Award (see below).
The competition jury president, Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost), read out the jury’s the reasons for the award:
One film in particular stood out for its skillfulness in weaving together an economic, agricultural and sociological narrative, but above all in telling a number of different human stories. It showed us struggle, but also a possible way of escape. It added up to so much more than the sum of its parts. It was masterful, cinematically rich and it totally grabbed us in the guts. That film is… Bitter Seeds by Micha X. Peled.
Recent News
TBF’s Forbidden Knowledge Gains Access
We are the first filmmakers to be granted access to filming participants in FDA-approved trials with psychedelics before, during and after the therapy sessions. Until now, requests from filmmakers were denied on the grounds that camera presence may interfere with the scientific integrity of the study.
But Dr. Michael Mithoefer, the leading psychotherapist in the country in treating PTSD victims with MDMA (Ecstasy), has agreed to allow us to film participants in his 2017 pilot study which treats both the PTSD patients and their significant others. The IRB regulating the study has also approved our filming.
Most PTSD patients do not fully recover using any existing medications and therapies. In early trials, the MDMA treatment has shown remarkable results with chronic patients who have already exhausted all available options. Promising trials are also undergoing with psilocybin (Magic Mushrooms) in treating depression and addiction. While psychedelics remain illegal, the FDA is expected to grant in early 2017 approval for launching Phase 3 trials, which is the last stage before an experimental drug is approved for medical use. The film will follow the progress of Phase 3, which will test psychedelics on hundreds of patients throughout the country.
Forbidden Knowledge: The Return of Psychedelics (working title) is expected to be released around the time Phase 3 trials will be completed and the Federal government will be faced with a difficult decision: whether to allow psychedelic substances back into American medicine.
In Production: GOAL! The Incredible Journey
Can soccer help people out of homelessness?
The transformative power of sports launches Kay from Charlotte, Angelina from Sacramento and their teammates from around the country out of their shelters and lives at the margins of society to represent the U.S. in the Homeless World Cup. This initiative combines soccer with assistance in transitioning out of homelessness through job, education and housing. Boarding an international flight, the players embark on a journey of a lifetime, where they will meet and compete against homeless soccer teams from 50 nations, and be challenged to their limits. (More…)
Micha Talks Up GOAL! On the Radio
May 6, 2015
On Wed. May 6 Micha will be discussing this film on the radio 7-8 PM EST (4-5 PM PST). The show A Kind Voice on Sports is hosted by Elisia Owens Mumford who is kindly dedicating the entire hour to GOAL! The Incredible Journey. You can call in and be part of the conversation at (347) 850-8907.
Goal! completes Kickstarter run
We hit our target, but we’re still fundraising because we had to use some of our own money to reach the 30K marker. After deducting Kickstarter commissions, we cleared only 21K. If you’d like to support this important film, please contact us. All contributions are tax-free
GOAL! is an inspiring documentary about how soccer helps the homeless regain control of their lives. It follows the five women who go on the U.S. team to the Homeless World Cup.
See trailer.
Click for our Kickstarter Clip
Production Almost Completed for Goal!
Jan 10, 2014
We did follow-up filming with our characters , Kay in Charlotte, NC, and Maria in Minneapolis to see how their lives have changed since the trip to Poland. (More…)
Filming the Homeless World Cup
Kay in Charlotte, near the car in which she was sleeping before going to the Homeless World Cup
Maria has started community college, where she is busy conjugating Spanish verbs.
Nov. 20, 2013
The U.S. sent both Men’s and Women’s teams to the Homeless World Cup, which took place this year in Poznan, Poland. Over 50 countries participated, and the place felt like an Olympic Village. Our players, who have never left the country before, had a real eye-opener to the Big World out there. Friendships formed easily. We filmed there for ten days with two Polish shooters. (More…)
Opening Ceremony.
Women’s Team USA.
The San Francisco Foundation Supports New Project
August 20, 2013
The SFF selected our new film, GOAL! The Incredible Journey for funding of the early production phase. (More…)
Teddy Bear Films filming in Times Square
July 20, 2013
The three-day, eight-camera shoot of the Street Soccer USA Cup is a key part of our new project. Production begun in March. Many thanks to GoPro for donating HERO 3 cameras, which enabled us to get some awesome footage… (More…)
Bitter Seeds at United Nations Film Festival
October 7, 2013
Bitter Seeds will screen at the UNAFF festival on October 24th at 7:50PM at the Palo Alto, CA, Oshman Family Jewish Community Center Cultural Arts Hall. Micha Peled will do a Q & A after the screening.
The San Francisco Foundation supports new project
August 20, 2013
The SFF selected our new film, GOAL! The Incredible Journey for funding of the early production phase. The film’s blurb:
Can soccer help people out of homelessness? The transformative power of sports launches Grant, Gina and teammates out of their shelters and across the world to represent the U.S. in the 64-nation Homeless World Cup. The journey is extraordinary yet bumpy. But can it bring them back to the workforce?
San Francisco and Sacramento Mohawk Street Soccer teams at the 1st West Coast Cup.
Can soccer help people out of homelessness? The transformative power of sports launches Grant, Gina and teammates out of their shelters and across the world to represent the U.S. in the 64-nation Homeless World Cup. The journey is extraordinary yet bumpy. But can it bring them back to the workforce?
China Blue in Spain Red
Barcelona, June 14, 2013
Our film China Blue has weighed in on the debate on the economic future of Spain, when it was featured at the 4th annual Social Responsibility Week in Barcelona.
Micha Peled skyped in his part in the post-screening Q & A.
Bitter Seeds to air in Canada and Iran
June 2013
The film broadcast rights have been acquired by Radio Canada and Iran’s official television channel in English, Press TV. So far, Bitter Seeds has aired on tv in eight countries, including PBS.
Trilogy Travels from Canada to Brazil
May 2013
Cinemas are beginning to program the three Globalization Trilogy films together.
![Global Trilogy-slide[1]](http://teddybearfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Global-Trilogy-slide1.jpeg)
Micha Peled is traveling with the films to Vancouver, for screenings organized by the Vancouver Int’l Film Festival. Local Radio and press have been reporting on the events. Follow a screening at the legendary Pickford Film Center in Bellingham, WA, the Trilogy travels to Port Townsend, where Micha’s visit has also received advance coverage. From there Micha is flying to Sao Paolo, Brazil, to present the film at the 2nd Ecofalante Environmental Film Festival. All of this takes place during the last two weeks of May.
In June 2-9, the Globalization Trilogy films will be presented at the Rafael Cinema in San Rafael, CA, with Micha doing Q & As after each screening.
Bitter Seeds wins International Green Award
Berlin, Feb. 9, 2013
Bitter Seeds has won the Cinema for Peace International Green Award. The award, founded by Leonardo DiCaprio in 2010, is given at a gala event during the Berlin Film Festival. Micha Peled will be attending. Among the finalists Bitter Seed beat to win the award is Gus Van Sant and Matt Dillon’s feature Promised Land.
India Village Tour – Farmers React to Bitter Seeds
Maharashtra, India – Nov. 25, 2012
Bitter Seeds has gone on an India village tour, where Micha Peled and local activists showed it to farmers on a mobile projector unit. Farmers’ reactions were recorded on video and will later be placed on line.
The village tour, a dream-come-true to film director Micha Peled, was coordinated by Video Volunteers through a grant obtained by Link-TV.
